Obscuring Light
When the warm rays of dawn began to stream over the mountain peaks, appearing like gilded ribbons spanning the length of the sky, it brought with it a crisp breeze that swept over the hills and forests of Equestria. The layer of frost that had accumulated overnight, blanketing the land in thin coat of ice, soon melted away as Celestia’s sun rose over the peaks, taking the place of its nighttime counterpart and marking the start of a new day.
Cinnamon Garcia hardly felt any inclination to appreciate the scenery however as it sped by in a blur of green outside the window, her attention focused mainly on the collection of papers laid out before her on the opposite seat. She had spent nearly the entire night of the trip reviewing them making sure that each one was up to date and presentable, and as a result she felt ready to drop at any moment. She was tempted to give in to the weaknesses of her flesh, to lean back into the seat and let herself doze off and make up for the nearly twenty or so hours she had been awake. Or was it twenty-five? She paused in her work to retrieve the time piece in her suitcase, found it to be unreadable due to her overworked mind, and returned to looking over the papers.
The other passengers were not helping with her concentration no matter how much she glared at them. Their conversations were minimal, yet still loud enough to where she found it to be a grating distraction, causing her to grumble whenever she lost her focus. The foals were the worst; perpetually energetic little nuisances that had yet to have drilled in them the concept of indoor voices, not to mention personal space.
A duo of foals galloped past her, giggling and hollering as they chased each other across the passenger cars, causing the pegasus mare to grit her teeth, resisting the urge to tell them to bugger off. Cinnamon’s only reprieve was when their noisome antics carried over to one of the other cars, where the unlucky ponies in there could be entertained by their horseplay, allowing her at least a few minutes of peace.
“Tomfoolery,” the aging mare muttered darkly to herself, refocusing on the task at hoof. She had to make sure the numbers and figures laid out before her were correct. Her employer expected them to them be ready by her arrival, and she was determined to make it so. She had already spent the last several weeks making sure that her trip to Canterlot was going to be a successful venture, she could not afford to screw it up now.
The pair of sparkly blue eyes peering at her from the seats in front of her might though. Cinnamon looked up at the foal, then back at her papers, trying to ignore him. A few moments later she looked up again, only to find that the foal had yet to understand her need for basic privacy, a concept that children in general seemed to care little about.
Starting to become fed up with her unwanted audience, Cinnamon grumbled, “Young colt, don’t you think it’s rude to stare at somepony while they’re working?”
The eyes blinked at her, clearly not comprehending. “Whatchu doin’?” a tinny voice asked, young enough to sound like the colt only recently started to learn the basic intricacies of vowels.
Rolling her eyes, Cinnamon responded gruffly, “Attempting to sort out these papers, and you looking at me while I do that is not helping me.”
“Can I help?”
“Yes, you can help by not bothering me, thank you,” she bit back.
“You’re welcome!” he replied happily, then proceeded to hop off his seat. Cinnamon eyed the little blue colt as he ran past, presumably to go find somepony else to annoy. Glad to be left alone, Cinnamon rubbed her eyes. Outside the window she noticed that the landscape had gradually faded from open fields to the wooded forest that lay at the base of the Canterhorn mountains. She guessed that it would be at most another two hours until they reached Canterlot, which she would spend cooped up inside with a bunch of overly loud ponies and hyperactive foals.
She stretched her wings, feeling the joints creak from misuse. Aside from a nap she also desired the open air; she did not do well when forced into long periods of inactivity, and the overnight trip from Manehatten had left her wanting to get out and fly around. Even a little glide along the narrow corridor of the train car would be enough to set her restlessness at ease. Unfortunately flying inside was expressly forbidden. Even worse, she would be emulating the antics of those troublesome foals. She wondered if the train had anymore coffee to offer, until she remembered that she had already drank it all
Maybe a small nap would do her some good.
Despite her unwillingness to drift off, Cinnamon finally decided that torturing herself like this was not going to help, and set her papers off to the side. Her eyelids felt like lead, drooping lower and lower with every second that passed. Just when she was about to nod off completely, she was jolted back into the realm of awareness by the loud baritone voice of the conductor as he came trotting into the passenger car, addressing the ponies seated inside.
“Attention folks,” he stated. “We’re going to be making a scheduled stop in about ten minutes. Soon as the train stops yer free to move around, so long as ya make sure yer on board when we get moving again.” With that the stallion trotted to next car to repeat the announcement. Cinnamon grumbled, upset at being disturbed, but grateful for the opportunity to move around as he suggested.
Just as the conductor had said, the train gradually began to slow down, coming to a complete stop at a lone platform. Once the all clear was given, multiple ponies, Cinnamon included, filed out of the car, stretching their legs and ironing out the kinks in their joints as well as taking the time to look around. Cinnamon did likewise, taking in the scent of the trees. She looked back, wondering why they had stopped in the first place. She saw a pair of ponies on a rail trolly, rhythmically operating the lever to guide an additional train car, presumably filled with material goods, onto the mainline to attach to the rearmost car.
She also saw large wagon parked next to the platform, decorated to an almost garish degree with bright yellow stars. It appeared unconventional for a wagon, as it looked like sections of it could actually fold outward into a stage. Its purpose in being here was indiscernible to Cinnamon, although she could not help but catch sight of the group of ponies standing next to it. They were having a rather heated discussion judging from their gestures, as hooves were pointed both at the wagon and the forest.
Though what they said was indiscernible, it was clear to her that whatever they were conferring about was potentially worrisome.
Cinnamon shrugged, deciding that whatever they were discussing had nothing to do with her. She unfolded her sore wings, working out the kinks in her joints. With a few flaps she was airborne. Remembering the conductors warning about making sure she was punctual in returning to the passenger car, she kept her flying to a minimum, hovering about ten feet or so above the ground. She was just happy to get out of that stuffy car, feeling her previous weariness fade away just a little bit.
The excited shrieking of foals interrupted the moment, drawing her attention to the group of fillies and colts as they exited the train, eager to burn off the pent-up energy. Cinnamon understood their excitement at finally being free from the confines of the train. Hopefully once they returned, they would be less inclined to bother her. A few of them branched away, taking their game to the edge of the trees. Parents and guardians stood by, keeping careful watch to ensure they did not stray too far. Cinnamon moved further away so as not to be bothered.
Eventually Cinnamon had her fill of hovering around, gently alighting upon the grass. It seemed that it would be a few minutes’ yet until they had to take their leave, so she decided to pass the time by trotting around, relishing the time to herself for as long as it lasted. She ambled towards the trees, appreciating the scenery.
She flicked her ears, listening to sounds of the pines.
Something was off, she noticed, and it took her a moment of thought to realize what it was. There were no birds calls. In fact, Cinnamon also noticed that almost everything in the vicinity was unnaturally silent, save for the rustle of trees and the conversations of the ponies behind her. To her, this made no sense, as it should still be a while yet before most flocks journeyed south for the coming Winter. Guiding the flocks was her favorite part of the season; she even had it marked on her calendar for when it was supposed to take place.
Perhaps they happened to stop in the part of the forest where no birds resided at all for miles around where even sensitive equine ears could not discern them? Cinnamon frowned at the thought, finding it to be just as unlikely.
Cinnamon looked into the trees, wondering if she could glean some sort of clue to the oddity. Her eyes narrowed when she found that her vision seemed to be obstructed by. . . something. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, sleep deprived as she was. She discovered with increasing alarm that her exhaustion was not to blame. Before her, saturating the forest like poisonous miasma was a fog, a shroud of thick darkness that even the light of the sun seemed unable to pierce.
Cinnamon backpedaled, hurrying away from the unnatural sight.
Something was wrong.
A scream sounded to her left. Cinnamon’s heart hammered away in her chest, all remnants of exhaustion completely forgotten. Her wings instinctively unfolded, ready to take flight at a moments notice. She looked, saw what looked like a dozen ponies rushing towards the forest, all shouting in frenzied alarm.
The foals.
Cinnamon wasted not a second longer as she surged forward to help look for the foals. As soon as she arrived though, the foals came galloping back out of the brush, crying and shouting. Cinnamon saw one of them, the same that had been looking at her over the seat, nearly topple his mother as he collided into her chest.
“Honey! What’s the matter?! What happened?! Are you hurt?!” the mare asked frantically, her horn lighting up. Despite her questions the colt seemed unable to say anything resembling a coherent response, babbling and crying indecipherably. Cinnamon couldn’t make heads or tails of what he said.
The distinctive din of trees snapping like twigs reached the ears of everypony within earshot, and they looked to see the tops of the pines swaying as something huge came crashing through the forest directly towards them.
“Everypony, get back on the train, now!” the conductor commanded, the authority in his voice compromised by the terrified urgency that laced it.
Cinnamon was in complete agreement, swiftly trotting to the train car, pressed in from all sides by the rush of frantic ponies. As disorganized as the mass of stallions and mares was, in less than a minute everypony had boarded the passenger car, including the workers. While the conductor counted heads to ensure none had been left behind, Cinnamon, her nerves on the edge of sending her into a panic, looked outside the window, wondering what had frightened those foals so much.
She soon saw it, and the even that mere glimpse was more than enough to freeze the blood in her veins.
A great eye, huge and burning like a fiery coal, peered out of the veil of darkness, cutting through darkness. Its gaze was steady, unblinking as it stared at the passenger car with what could only be hatred.
It was looking at her.
The eye moved, and Cinnamon caught a glimpse of the form of some massive, beastly monstrosity. It was approaching them, dragging the miasma with it in its wake, creeping over the grass like a blanket of death. She screamed, drawing the attention of everypony on board to the sight.
More screams followed; a window broke somewhere inside. The sounds of panic were drowned out by an enraged howl. The Cinnamon could only watch as the darkness swept over them.
The drink Celestia had been holding in her magic dropped, unexpectedly released from her grip. The crystalline glass impacted onto the ground, spilling her drink and shattering into a hundred jagged pieces. She doubled over, clutched at her chest with her gilded hoof, suddenly feeling short of breath.
“Princess!” one of her guards shouted in alarm, her escort rushing forward to help her.
It seemed everypony in the palace garden had taken notice, trotting forward to satisfy their curiosity of what was going on.
“Princess! Are you well?!” another pony asked. Celestia thought about the question, unsure what her answer should be, or if it was even worth an answer. Again, her stomach seemed to churn with distaste.
Had she been poisoned? No, she knew what that was like. This was something else entirely, yet it evoked a feeling within her gut that she unfortunately had become somewhat intimate with over the past number of days since it began. That same creeping feeling, the one that had been plaguing her nonstop like an insect buzzing in her ear. . . it now felt as if somepony had taken a blade to her heart, and she had to check to make sure that was not the case.
Suddenly she noticed the crowd of ponies gathered around her, looking on in trepidation and worry. Even duke Amadeus was there. He would no doubt be quite peeved at having his party ruined, but at the moment Celestia was willing to take what she could get from the insufferable stallion. Realizing that she had yet to say anything and thus assuage their concerns, Celestia quickly rearranged her thoughts, composing herself in a matter more befitting of a Princess.
“Not to worry, my little pony,” she said to the guard that had spoken. “I just happened to become a little lightheaded, is all. It must be the altitude.” As much as Celestia tried to pass off the event as nothing to be overly concerned about, she could tell her guards and the partygoers were clearly not buying her lie, however well intentioned it had been. Hoping to change the subject before they could challenge her on it, she quickly said to him, “I do thank you for looking after me though. If you do not mind, can I inquire as to your name?”
Caught off guard by the sudden request, the armored stallion stuttered a bit, then stood at attention, saluting her as he replied, “Stalwart, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Stalwart,” Celestia said with a smile. “Now, if you would be a dear, would you please go and fetch my assistant, Raven, for me?”
“Yes, your majesty,” Stalwart acknowledged, saluting her once more before hurrying away to meet her request. As Celestia watched him go, she heard the clicking of silver tipped hooves approaching from behind. She turned to face Amadeus, the stallions’ mustache twitching in barely hidden annoyance. Even the words he spoke were laced with disdain.
“My dear Princess Celestia, are you well?” he asked. “I would hate to think I invited you if it was going to be too much for your health. Shall I send for one of my physicians to look you over.”
Celestia met the duke’s snide gaze with a quaint smile. “That will not be necessary. Rest assured, Amadeus, I am right as rain. I fear I may just be working myself too hard as of late. I hope I did not disrupt your little get together. If so, I am willing to see myself out if I am causing you embarrassment.”
The duke seemed to shrivel under her response. Celestia knew the only reason so many ponies had gathered in the palace gardens was because Amadeus had promised she would be present. Of course, she had not been made aware of this until after she was invited, but at the moment Celestia was happy to knock the duke down a peg or two. She really could leave any time she desired, doing so would only hurt his standing in the court. Celestia did not fancy herself to be a spiteful sort of mare, but the idea was quite tempting.
“Oh, don’t be silly Princess,” he responded. “Trust me, we are glad to have you present. I don’t believe there’s anything you can do that would dampen the mood.”
‘That’s what you think you little-‘
“Hey! Watch it!” a mare exclaimed with such indignance that Celestia almost thought it was directed at her. She discarded the thought upon realizing her foolishness as she looked to see Raven barreled towards her, heedless of the glares and shouts of disdain thrown her way. If anything, she seemed to relish the insults and remarks, basking joyfully in the misery of the nobles as she crashed their party; even from a distance Celestia could plainly see the smug grin that threatened to spread across her aides’ muzzle.
“Excuse me for a moment,” she said to the Duke, not bothering to acknowledge the look of disapproval he shot at her as she dismissed him, trotting over to meet Raven.
“Alright, what’d you do now?” the mare demanded of her, looking her over like a mother would a troublesome filly. Celestia reluctantly felt a grin of her own tug at the corners of her mouth, finding the mares’ doting to be rather charming.
“I swear Raven, it was not my fault. Not this time at least,” Celestia replied with a soft smirk. She looked over her shoulder, finding Amadeus glancing at the two while trying not to make it obvious he was prying on them. “Let us take this somewhere more private,” she suggested. Understanding her intentions, Rave replied with a subtle nod. Once the two were far enough away that they did not have to fear being overheard by the nobles, they stopped by one of the many statues placed in the garden, and Raven turned to face Celestia.
“What is going on Princess?” Raven questioned, adopting a stern countenance over her previously boorish behavior. “I was just going through your schedule when suddenly I hear from your guard that you’ve had a heart attack or something. I know you’ve already told me what you think of these gatherings, but I don’t peg you as the type to stage a health condition just to get out of them.” Celestia blinked at being referred to by her title by her friend, suddenly finding herself wishing Raven would just use her name as she had requested. With a rustle of her great wings, she chose to ignore it.
“You’re correct Raven. I apologize for worrying you, but there is something that I wish to discuss with you.” Quickly checking to ensure their conversation was still private. “Raven, do you trust me?”
“With my life Princess.”
Celestia was somewhat dismayed by the lack of hesitation in Raven’s answer, as it sent a slight frown across her muzzle. She set aside her reservations however, focusing on the reason she had summoned her aide.
“Then you would trust me when I say that something is amiss?”
At this, Raven tilted her head at the Princess, not quite understanding what she meant. “”Amiss”, Princess?” She looked past Celestia at the gathering of ponies. Even with her head turned away Celestia could still feel their prying eyes boring into the back of her head, like serpents waiting for the moment to strike. Her next question was hushed, as though she were afraid to speak too loudly as she leaned in a bit closer towards the taller mare. “Am I to assume that it has something to do with the court?”
“For once, Raven, I wish that were the case.”
Raven blinked, caught off guard by Celestia’s answer, and the Princess could almost see the worry and trepidation building in her eyes. “What do you mean?” she asked, her tone hesitant.
“Call it a gut feeling. At the moment that’s all it is, but lately I’ve been feeling. . . things. They beset me at random hours of the day and night, and it leaves a sick feeling in me. I don’t know what it is, but I fear what might happen if I just ignore it.”
“What do you suggest we do, Princess?”
Celestia sighed, her brow furrowing. “I wish that I had an answer to that question Raven, I really do. But presently I am unsure if it really is something to make known to the general public, and I hesitate to cause widespread panic over what could be nothing.”
Raven nodded her head. “I get you,” she said. “You want to be discreet in finding out what the source of this. . . feeling is.” She smirked at Celestia, an expression that the Princess could not help but admire from her friend. “Are you suggesting that I, you know, look into things? See what I can dig up?”
“If you don’t mind that is,” Celestia answered, offering a grin of her own.
Raven waved off the statement, shaking her head. “Come now, Celestia. I knew what I was getting myself into the moment I signed my name on the dotted line. What kind of mare would I be if I didn’t have the grit to live up my reputation.”
Celestia suppressed a chuckle, suddenly finding herself amused by her friends’ willingness to leap into any situation on her behalf. She only wished that she could curb Raven’s narrow minded obedience, but knew that doing so would likely have the opposite effect. Her trip to Neighpon, which Celestia had personally orchestrated for her assistant, was proof of that.
“Thank you, Raven. I knew I could count on you.”
“Anytime Princess.” With that, Raven bid Celestia farewell, trotting away to embark on the task set before her. As for Celestia, she returned to Amadeus’s party, wondering if it was not too early for her to ditch the event without coming off as rude. The potential horrors of the future could wait though; for now, she had the real horrors of bureaucracy to look forward to.
Celestia almost found herself preferring the former. Almost.
When Astrid’s consciousness emerged into cognizance, it did so sluggishly and with much complaining at being forced to boot up. Her brain throbbed within her skull with an incessant migraine the moment she cracked her eye open, feeling as if her head would split open from the pressure. She lazily looked around, gauging what the time was. She came to the conclusion that it was sometime before the afternoon judging from the rays of sunlight streaming in through the slats of the window, landing right on her face as it was wont to do. How it always seemed to be able to do that was beyond her knowledge, leaving her to accept the phenomenon as a universal constant. She refused to tolerate it for a moment longer though as she rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.
Astrid was unsure how long she had been out, but for some reason she felt hardly rested at all. Her fatigue was intense enough that even the small act of rolling onto her side left her drained and eager to return to her dreams, as unpleasant as those had been as of late. Her filmy thoughts processed the possible reasoning why she felt so drained, eventually settling on the notion that she was simply worn out from the events of the past few days. After what she had been through, anybody would feel tired, both physically and emotionally.
Astrid closed her eyes, and was about to let herself be carried back to sleep, when all of a sudden she was unwillingly dragged back to unwanted alertness.
The quiet din of whispering voices tickled at her tattered ears, making them in annoyance. At first Astrid assumed it was merely Moondancer, the mares’ voice echoing from the other room or something. However, the more the whispering persisted in keeping her awake, the more it became clear to Astrid that she did not recognize them.
“. . . do you think it is?”
“I dunno, Miss Moondancer didn’t say.”
Again, Astrid opened her eye, reluctantly clearing away the remaining cobwebs of her thoughts as she attempted to piece together what was going on. There was a youthful quality to the whispering, not unlike Sterling. However much concern she felt about the possibility of dealing with new arrivals, it was overridden by her annoyance at their presence, wondering why they would be so rude as to rouse her from her troubled slumber. She attempted to ignore, finding the task difficult as they continued to speak.
“What do you think it is?”
“I just said I dunno.”
“Yeah, but what do you think it is?”
“I dunno.”
“Is that your answer for everything?”
A pause, then, “I dunno.”
The amount of cheek in the response was palpable enough that Astrid could practically hear the smirk it came from, and she felt all the worse for having heard it. A groan that matched her opinion of the remark sounded off, followed by, “Really Misty? You know what, come here. Let me see your wing.”
“What are y- ow!”
“Shush! Quit bein’ a baby, you’re gonna wake it up.”
‘Too late for that,’ Astrid thought bitterly, hoping they would eventually lose interest and go away if she continued to ignore them. Just when she thought she would finally be left in peace, she felt the tip of a feather tickle the back of her neck.
Deciding she'd had enough, Astrid sat bolt upright, snatching the feather out of the air, turning to glare at her hecklers, summarily finding herself flummoxed by the sight of two fillies, one a violet pegasus and the other a bright blue unicorn with a bow in her pink mane. Both fillies jumped backward, startled at her sudden activity, staring at her in wide-eyed surprised.
“Do you mind?” Astrid demanded grumpily.
The two fillies looked at each other, seeming to come to some unspoken consensus before proceeding to scream their little heads off as they scurried away like the pests they were. “Miss Moondancer! Help! It’s gonna eat us!” the pegasus cried.
“Oh come on,” Astrid mumbled as the two rounded a corner, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “I’m not that ugly.”
Consigning herself to the fact that she was up for good now, leaving the prospect of further rest as nothing more than a distant pipe dream, Astrid decided that she was too riled up to even attempt to go back to sleep as she slid off the couch, wondering where those two even came from.
Stretching her arms over her head, Astrid let out a deep yawn, rubbing the sand from her eyes. She still didn’t feel very well rested, but decided there wasn’t really anything that could be done about it. Maybe she could inquire after Moondancer to see if she had something to help; preferably laden with caffeine.
When she pulled her hand away, Astrid noticed something peculiar about it, more so than usual that is, and for a moment she wondered if her eyes were merely playing tricks on her.
Was she. . . paler?
Astrid ran her other hand along her palm, the pointed tips of her fingers dragging across her coal-black skin. For some reason unbeknownst, something did not feel quite right about it, and she was unsure what to make of what she thought she was seeing, or if it was even worth her prolonged attention.
Before Astrid could come to any sort of conclusion from her observation, she was distracted by the click of approaching hooftsteps, and she looked up to see Moondancer trot into the room, trailed by the fillies as they ineffectively concealed themselves behind her magenta tail. The mare took one look at Astrid, then let out an impatient sigh as she put a hoof to her forehead in exasperation.
“I’m fairly certain that I made it explicitly clear to you two that you were not to disturb her, and what do you do? You wake her up.”
“Don’t look at me! It was Misty’s idea,” the unicorn filly stated, thrusting an accusatory hoof at her accomplice.
“Well Shimmer was the one who woke it up with my feather.” The one identified as Misty extended her right wing, gesturing at the offending area. “That was a primary you know. Do you know how long those take to grown in?”
Astrid grimaced in discomfort as the argument became more and more heated between the two, doing her no favors as her headache flared within her skull in protest at the noise. She clenched her eyes, rubbing her temples in a vain attempt to mitigate it, an action that did not go unnoticed by Moondancer as she glanced disapprovingly at the fillies.
“Well maybe you should’ve-“
“That’s enough!” At Moondancer’s decree, both fillies fell silent as their ears fell back in admonishment, allowing Astrid to breathe a sigh of relief. Addressing Misty and Shimmer directly, Moondancer’s voice was heavy with disapproval. “You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves, acting like this. Do you want to me to send you home so you can explain to your parents why you’re not getting your lessons? Because I of half a mind to do just that.”
Despite the sternness of Moondancer’s statement, there was something about it that impressed Astrid as disingenuous, hinting at the notion she was merely bluffing. Neither of the fillies seemed to catch onto it though as they said in glum unison, “No Miss Moondancer.”
Nodding, Moondancer added, “Good. Now then, Misty Moon? Shimmer Shine? Is there anything that you would like to say?”
“Sorry Miss Moondancer.” Their coordination in the response was impressive to Astrid, making her suspect that this was far from the first time they had earned the ire of the Moondancer. Astrid suppressed a chuckle, glad none of them seemed to notice.
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” Moondancer corrected, directing their attention to the imp with a tilt of her head.
Surprised by the statement, Astrid raised her palms in protest. “O-oh no, please. That’s fine, you don’t need to worry about that, really.” Despite her objection, her words fell on deaf ears as Moondancer herded the unruly foals over.
They hesitated, uncomfortable with being pushed into close proximity of Astrid, until with some encouragement from Moondancer by way of an expectant glare from the older mare they muttered, “We’re sorry.”
“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Astrid sighed, not sure if she liked the attention she was getting. She hoped they at least understood what she meant from her tone, but found that hope to soon be in vain when the two fillies gave her perplexed expressions, looking to Moondancer in question. The older mare could only offer a shrug in response. Astrid groaned from deep within her throat, her annoyance mounting with every verbal interaction she had with the ponies, each one highlighting the one-way language barrier between them. If this was going to continue, Astrid felt she might as well not even speak at all if her words were just going to fall on deaf ears. Nevertheless, she was going to have to find some way of circumventing the issue and get her intentions across, especially if she was going to be in the care of Moondancer.
Was she in Moondancer’s care? Astrid was not sure, the mare seemed to be willing to shelter the girl for the foreseeable future, at least that was Astrid’s hope. It only then occurred to her that possibly the only reason she was even being allowed to reside on the mares’ home was due to Sterling. It was a sobering thought, and she reminded herself to thank the colt when if she saw him again, or try to at least.
Realizing that she still had Misty’s feather in her hand, an idea occurred to Astrid. Hoping to smoothen things over between them, she offered it to the filly, trying to give as friendly a smile as she could. It seemed to have the opposite effect however, the filly’s eyes angling towards her fangs.
“O-oh. Uh, thanks,” she spoke, the gratitude sounding very much insincere to Astrid. She chose not to comment on it though as the filly tentatively leaned forward, grabbing the feather between her teeth before retreating to huddle next to Moondancer. Astrid rolled her eyes, Moondancer following suit as she cast a look akin to tight lipped disappointment at Misty, which went largely ignored by the filly.
With a slight shake of her head, Moondancer mentioned, “Well, I suppose now that you’re awake I can finally open the curtains. It’s a bit dim in here.”
“Sounds good,” Astrid replied absently as she hopped back onto the couch. Truthfully she was not sure what the problem was. It did not seem dim at all to her, in fact it was practically bright as daylight. The moment the thought occurred to Astrid, a dreadful realization descended upon her, and she looked to Moondancer in alarm as the mare approached the window, and she said with mounting apprehension, “W-wait a second, don’t-“
Her warning came too late however as Moondancer was already throwing open the curtains, her horn aglow as they were spread apart.
Sunlight spilled into the living room, momentarily blinding Astrid and forcing her to clench her eyes until her sight adjusted. Even with her senses momentarily overwhelmed, Astrid was all too aware of the feeling that permeated her small body, and she didn’t need to look to know what the light did to her.
“There,” said Moondancer in a satisfactory tone, the mare appearing as little more than a blur at the edge of Astrid’s vision. “Now we can actually see. Sterling should hopefully be arriving soon, and then we can get started on. . .” The sentence died in Moondancer’s throat the moment she turned around, seeing two petrified fillies and a shadowy silhouette sitting on her couch.
A tense and heavy quiet settled over the room, in which all three ponies stared at Astrid. Her eyes darted between them, attempting to gauge the likelihood of defusing the situation before they started screaming. Raising a finger, she began, “Now I know what you’re all probably thinking-“
Astrid never got the chance to finish her sentence as the front door opened, and in walked none other than Sterling.
“Hi everypony, what’s up?”
No one paid his question any heed, however. From the moment the pinto colt trotted in, their full attention was given to the enormous splotches of red that caked his muzzle, streaming down his face in crimson rivers.
Everyone, save Moondancer, screamed at the top of their lungs.
“Sterling, I’m going to ask you a couple of questions, alright?”
“’Kay.”
Retrieving the damp cloth from the kitchen sink, Moondancer brought it over to the colt. “Tilt your head back, you’re getting blood all over the floor.” Sterling complied as she proceeded to wipe away the caked-on blood from his muzzle, ignoring his fussing while she cleaned him. He had other injuries, mostly scrapes and bruises, but at the moment Moondancer was focused on his nose-bleed.
Lilac was going kill her.
Satisfied, Moondancer took a moment to check in on her students and the imp. Having recovered from the initial shock of seeing her guest as some sort of shadowy specter, she had quickly figured out the phenomenon was merely a result of some sort of magical incompatibility with natural light and not an act of hostility as she feared. Even so, the sight had still unsettled her greatly, making her question if it really was a good idea to harbor the imp. She had questions to be sure, but was unsure how to ask them if she was unable to understand the response.
Peeking into the living room, she found the imp sitting on her couch and looking very cross with Misty and Shimmer. The two had gotten over their apprehension even quicker than she had, and were now busy pestering the imp, who seemed to be doing her level best to ignore them, her forelimbs crossed, and her face twisted into an expression of obvious displeasure. Her irritation went ignored while Misty and Shimmer continued to bother her, the former fiddling with her voluminous orange hair and the latter repeatedly opening and closing the curtains, transfixed by the imp switching between a ghostly specter and a corporeal body in quick succession.
Noticing that they had an audience, the imp looked at Moondancer. “Atished nesami ido ni aw ishita.”
Moondancer nodded slowly, feigning comprehension as she turned her attention back to Sterling. She checked the cloth, gauging whether or not to soak it again before moving in to finish cleaning him up of the blood upon his muzzle. Sterling continued to fuss, eventually batting away at the cloth, stating, “I’m not a baby, I can do that myself.”
“Sorry,” she apologized sheepishly, letting him snatch the cloth of her magic. Despite his insistence, Sterling managed to only spread it across his face in great smears of red, making him look even more garish than before. It took all of Moondancer’s willpower to keep herself from snatching the cloth back and doing it properly, as she had no desire to let him terrify the others a second time. With no small amount of effort she put her peeves aside in favor of more pressing matters. “So, first question,” she began. “What happened to you?
At her inquiry, Sterling looked away, grumbling something under his breath that Moondancer didn’t quite catch. “What was that?” Sterling I can’t hear you when you mumble.”
Still refusing to look at her directly, Sterling muttered irately, “Glim and her buddies jumped me on the way here, alright. Are you happy now?”
“What?!” Moondancer stammered, floored by the insinuation as she struggled to come up with a proper response. “Of course I’m not happy. Sterling, I know you don’t want my help, but I simply cannot stand to let this go on anymore.” Shaking her head in dismay she asked, “What is Lilac doing about this? Is she really going to just stand by and let this keep going?”
Sterling remained silent, his eyes directed to the floor.
“Did. . . did you even tell her anything about this?” Moondancer asked incredulously, and when Sterling continued to provide no response she put a hoof to her forehead with an utterance of “Oh sweet Celestia.” The revelation weighed heavily on Moondancer, making her wonder for how long this had been going on, and her inexperience in anything resembling social interactions, much less ones as tense as the dilemma presented to her, reared its ugly head, and she laboriously wracked her brain for an appropriate response. She came up empty though, and could only shake her head in dismay, feeling useless because of it.
Sighing heavily, Moondancer finally said, “Okay, let’s just. . . move on from that, and I’ll think of a way to deal with this later.” Fixing the colt with a stern expression she added, “ But you can bet that I’m going to bring this up with Lilac, especially if you won’t do it yourself.” She punctuated the statement with a stamp of her hoof, causing Sterling to flinch. “But for now,” she said in a gentler tone, “For now though, I do have another question that I wanted to ask you. When you were telling me about your friend last night. . .” She paused to consider her next words, having no desire to come off as accusatory to the colt, reminding herself that it was very possible he had no knowledge of his friends’. . . quirks. “Was there anything else that you wanted to tell me?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you met, was there anything. . . odd about her that stood out to you.”
Sterling removed the cloth, inspecting it before giving her nonchalant shrug. “Not really, unless you count the whole ghosty thing, not liking the sun, and the part with the giant arm.”
Moondancer nodded, feeling somewhat perturbed that the colt had neglected to inform her about all of this before now. She knew he had a penchant for being inattentive at times, but she was happy to leave him to his woolgathering so long as it did not negatively impact his studies. In this instance however, she would have very much appreciated if he were just a little more. . .
“Wait. . . what?”
“Can’t these two take a hint?” Astrid muttered, unhappy with the circumstances she found herself trapped in. It could certainly be worse, she supposed, but she could also not have her hair be worn as a scarf by one of the fillies. Which one was it again? Misty? She was reasonably sure the one currently fiddling with her hair was Misty. Either way, they were both annoying her to no end, especially Shimmer at the window, repeatedly blinding Astrid as she opened the curtains over and over again no matter how many dirty looks the girl shot her way.
“So soft,” the pegasus filly said lavishly while burying her face in Astrid’s hair, muffling her voice.
“If you knew where that’s been, you probably wouldn’t be doing that,” Astrid commented blandly. Misty appeared to be unconcerned by her advisory statement, continuing to smother face in the apparently irresistible mass of orange hair. Astrid rolled her eyes, wondering when Moondancer was going to return. Probably not for a little while yet from the state Sterling arrived in. The colt looked like he just came from a crime scene. Astrid huffed, doubtful that she could tolerate this kind of attention for much longer.
Just then, an idea occurred to Astrid, and a devious grin spread across her face. Perhaps there was something she could do. After all, there was no harm in having a little fun of her own to pass the time, right?
She looked to Shimmer, seeing that the unicorn filly had gotten the curtains stuck in the close position, and was busy attempting to free them. Misty was still enjoying fondling her hair, allowing Astrid the time she needed to concentrate as she manipulated a length of her hair into the desired shape. Previously, the action would have left her gasping for breath; now though she at least had a semblance of control over it, however small it was. As such, she could only perform small actions with the unconventional ability, but it would suffice for what she had planned. Already she was imagining the looks on the filly’s faces when they saw it.
After a few moments of intense concentration, she was finished, and Astrid wiped beads of sweat off her brow as she inspected her handiwork. Orchestrating the strands into the shape of a spider had taken more effort than she initially expected, and the end result would have a hard time holding up against prolonged scrutiny, but Astrid would be satisfied as long it had the desired effect.
Suppressing her grin, Astrid gained Misty’s attention with a few taps on her head. “Hm?” the filly mumbled, lifting her head out of the mass of follicles, a few strands still stuck to her muzzle, only to find herself confronted by a large, orange arachnid dangling in front of her nose. Immediately her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and Astrid prepared herself for the eventual outcry.
“Oh sweet Celestia,” Misty breathed, her voice quiet. Then she suddenly blurted out, “That is so cool!”
The grin Astrid had been trying so hard to keep from showing vanished entirely, replaced an expression of bewilderment. “What?!” she exclaimed in stupefied incredulousness, dumbfounded that the filly had not only not been fooled, but was also impressed by Astrid’s attempt to frighten her away. Before Astrid could question it, she was yanked sideways as Misty took hold of her hair, inspecting the fake spider with an awed gleam in her velvet eyes while she proceeded to bombard her with questions.
“How did you do that?” She questioned eagerly. “You got some sort of magic conditioner or something?”
“No! Now let me go, that hurts!” Astrid demanded angrily while she attempted to make her escape. Her request went completely ignored.
“Hey, Shimmer. C’mere and look at this,” Misty called to her friend. The young unicorn abandoned her attempts to free the curtains and hurried over, finding herself equally enamored by the form Astrid’s hair had taken, and before long the imp found herself flanked on both sides by the fillies, wondering when Moondancer would return to save her.
Thankfully she did not have to wait very long as Sterling trotted into the room with Moondancer close behind, her brow furrowed in deep consternation. Astrid felt rather self-conscious when the look was directed at her. She fidgeted anxiously, unsure if she had done something wrong or not.
“Oh, hi Miss Moondancer,” Shimmer piped up upon noticing the mare’s presence. She held up fake spider
in her hoof and proclaimed, “Come here and feel this. Her mane is like super soft and stuff, and it does tricks too.” Despite the invitation, whether Astrid approved of it or not, Moondancer did not feel inclined to oblige, which was just fine with the imp. The concerned noise she made did not sit as well though, doing nothing to alleviate Astrid’s nervousness.
“Uh, n-no thanks, I’m good,” she declined, her answer laced with none too subtle hints of unease, giving Astrid at least some comfort in knowing that the mare was just as apprehensive. She almost felt relieved when the clock on the wall began to chime, the discordant tune echoing throughout the household, startling them slightly. Moondancer glanced at the clock, her eyes widening behind her glasses. “Oh shoot, we need to get started,” she muttered in mild alarm. She called all the foals over, allowing Astrid to breathe a sigh of relief now that she was no longer having her hair be used as scarf. “Okay, listen up. You three got a few minutes to do what you want while I get things ready. After that we’ll begin your lessons.” A unanimous groan of despair emanated from the foals, and this time Astrid was unable to suppress a chuckle, earning her a glare from young ponies. Astrid felt hardly bothered by it, but her moment of mirth was cut short when Moondancer addressed her directly. “Oh, don’t think you’re off the hook. I got some special plans for you.”
“What?! Oh, come on!” Astrid exclaimed indignantly, which in turn garnered a series of snickers from the foals at her expense, to which she responded by sticking her tongue out at them.
“Hey, none of that from any of you, unless you want to be sent home with extra homework,” Moondancer chided, raising an eyebrow at the group of youngsters. She let the warning sit for a moment, then said, “I’ll come let you know when everything is ready. Try to behave in the meantime, alright?”
“Yes Miss Moondancer.”
Nodding in approval, Moondancer left the room. Astrid shook her head and sighed as she worked to untangle her hair, unsure why she had to be included in the others’ activities, though she suspected the mare may just be doing it to keep a better eye on her. As much as Astrid might begrudge the possibility, she couldn’t exactly blame the mare for it either. Nevertheless, she was still uncertain how much good it would any of them, even if she knew what was preventing every pony she met from understanding her. Maybe Moondancer had a method to work around that issue? Astrid hoped that was the case, as she was starting to become quite annoyed with being little more than a passive observer. She would just have to wait and see though.
“So, we got a few minutes before class starts,” Shimmer piped up. “What do you guys feel like doing?” The question hung in the air for a moment as all three foals put hooves to their chins in thought. Astrid could hardly care less what they their plans were at the moment. Her main concern was untangling her hair; somehow in the process of morphing into the apparently not at all convincing spider it had gotten itself stuck and unable to unravel on its own, leaving the girl hard pressed to untangle it. While Astrid busied herself in the effort, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that she had three sets of eyes focused squarely on her.
She froze, like a deer in headlights, her eyes darting between them. She couldn’t tell what they were thinking, and she did not like that. Not one bit. “Uh. . . what are you doing?” she asked, worried.
Rather than answering, the three exchanged looks with each other. Then they smiled in some sort of unspoken consensus, and looked at her. Shimmer’s horn lit up, and a little box filled with brushes, combs and other assorted beauty supplies floated into view.
“Uh-oh,” Astrid murmured. She looked down the hallway Moondancer had vanished into, calculating her odds of escape. Sparing one last glance at the foals, she made a mad dash for safety. She didn’t it more than a few steps before the little terrors were upon her, leaving her helpless and at their mercy.
“See, that doesn’t feel so bad now, does it?” Misty asked teasingly, gently brushing the knots and tangles out of Astrid’s hair, aided by Sterling while Shimmer worked on her fingers. Most of the supplies, intended for use on rough hooves, went largely unused. It did little to stop the filly as she set about polishing Astrid’s pointed digits.
Astrid grumbled, though it came out more as an insincere groan. Truth be told she was actually enjoying the treatment, uncalled for as it was. The feeling of the brush going through her locks, clearing out two days’ worth of being dragged around the streets with nary a hint of care applied to it, felt incredibly pleasant to Astrid, almost to the point of ecstasy. She didn’t know it was even possible for her hair of all things to experience such sensations. She refrained from letting that be known however, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of knowing they were right in favor of keeping up her stubborn façade.
It was hardly very convincing, as a sigh of relief escaped her nostrils, taking with it a not insignificant amount of pent of stress and tension with it. Misty chuckled, at the reaction. “Told you.”
Astrid gave a slight shake of her head, and decided not to argue against the filly in favor of just enjoying the attention. The feeling intensified when Sterling starting to comb close to her scalp. The moment the bristles made contact with her skin, Astrid felt something akin to that of a full body stretch, and she groaned in deep satisfaction. When the feeling stopped, she wondered why the two foals had ceased. She looked behind her, only to find the two enveloped in a wave of orange follicles that flowed from the back of head that covered most of the living room floor. Sterling and Misty, unable to escape in time, were left coughing and sputtering in their attempts to free themselves.
“Sorry,” she offered sheepish grin. “It kind of has a mind of its own sometimes.” Even as she made the statement Astrid found herself wondering how it happened in the first place. Was she really in that much need of a good brushing?
Laughing as her companions floundered in the sea of orange, which had already begun to revert into its original position on Astrid’s scalp, Shimmer said, “Geez, and I thought I liked getting my mane brushed.”
Astrid gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders to the question, while Misty and Sterling dusted themselves off before resuming their work, mindful to not get too close to her scalp a second time. Astrid wouldn’t have minded if they sipped up a second time though; in fact, she was almost tempted to snag a brush and do it herself.
“So, Sterling,” Misty began. “Moondancer didn’t really tell us anything about your friend here. Care to fill us in on where you found her?”
Sounding all too happy to oblige, Sterling answered, “Sure thing! See it all started when I woke up yesterday morning. . . well, afternoon actually. Okay more like early evening but anyway, I was on my way here yesterday when I found myself pursued by none other than Glim and her army of like, twenty other hulking foals hot on my tail.”
Having already heard the story recounted to Moondancer the previous night, Astrid tuned out the remainder of the conversation, feeling sorry for the filly as she was subjected to his fanciful tale. She noticed that Moondancer was taken considerably longer than few minutes to prepare whatever she had planned. Looking around the living room she also could not help but question where exactly she was going to hold a class in such a mess.
“That’s a very pretty necklace.”
The unexpected statement gave Astrid pause, and instantly her hand went to her pendant, holding it protectively while Shimmer looked at it with a curious gleam in her eye. The action did not go unnoticed by the filly, and she recoiled a bit in admonishment. “S-sorry. I really mean it though, it’s really pretty.” Shimmer leaned in a bit closer to get a better look at the piece of jewelry, and it took every effort on Astrid’s part to not tell her off. “Looks like something those fancy noble ponies would wear. Can I look at it?”
The urge to decline the request was overwhelming, and Astrid was very much tempted to just get up and walk away, regardless of how much she was enjoying the treatment she was getting. Her brow furrowed in a clear display of anxiety, and her grip around her necklace tightened as though it would disappear the moment she let go.
Shimmer regarded her with a strange look that Astrid could not quite identify. Empathy perhaps? Whatever it was, Shimmer proceeded to offer a sincere smile as she said, “I promise I’ll be careful, and to give it back, okay? And may Celestia strike me down if I don’t.”
For all of Shimmer’s assurances, Astrid was still highly reluctant to just hand her necklace, the only thing she had of her home and family left to her name, to the filly, regardless whatever divine powers the filly had called upon to hold her accountable.
And yet, she could not bring herself to outright refuse, not when she considered how sincere the filly seemed. And Astrid knew that she could not keep up her distrust of the intentions of every pony she met, even taking past experiences into account. She needed friends, and if this was the way to do it, then Astrid supposed the best she could do was give at least some leeway. Under intensely close supervision of course.
Inhaling deeply, Astrid exhaled, letting her breath take as much anxiety with it as possible before finally giving a terse nod of her head, and she undid the clasp holding the necklace in place. She hesitated briefly, she reluctantly offered to Shimmer, who gingerly took it in her little blue hoof. Shimmer dipped her head in thanks, examining the pendant, her mouth forming a small circle of admiration. Astrid looked on nervously, already feeling the urge to swipe it back. She felt intensely uncomfortable without it around her neck. She tried to still her growing sense of panic, telling herself that she was getting worked up over nothing. It didn’t help much.
Still examining the necklace, Shimmer said something that Astrid didn’t quite catch. “What was that?” she asked.
Shimmer glanced at her. Again, the filly muttered something, gesturing to the necklace. Astrid tilted her head in confusion, unsure why Shimmer had suddenly decided not to talk normally. She looked to Sterling and Misty, about to ask what was wrong with their friend when she found that they too had for some reason had forgone speaking in clear distinct sentences in favor of muttering things that did not even sound like actual language to Astrid’s ears. There was clearly meaning in their conversation though as Sterling continued to talk long after Misty had checked out, her eyes glazed over.
“Uh, what’s going on here? What are you all doing? It’s starting to really freak me out.”
She turned her attention back to Shimmer, on the verge of absolute panic. Why could she suddenly not understand a word they were saying? Was this what it was like to them whenever she said anything to them? If so, it frightened her, and she wanted to make it stop, but she didn’t what was causing it in the first. . . place. . .
Astrid’s eyes landed on her necklace, still held in Shimmer’s hooves as the filly continued to admire it. It was only them that Astrid realized that it was only when she gave it to Shimmer that it had started, and instantly a seed of suspicion was planted in her thoughts. Could it be? Not even bothering to ask, Astrid lunged forward and swiped the necklace out of her hooves. Shimmer, startled by the suddenness of the action, looked at Astrid with something like she was mildly insulted, uttering something that sounded much like indignation to Astrid. The imp ignored it though as she hurried to reattach the necklace, her fingers fumbling with the clasps before they finally clicked into place. The moment it was back in its proper place, the indecipherable mutterings Shimmer was throwing her way faded, twisting into words Astrid could clearly discern.
“-re you doing? I told you I was going to give it back, didn’t I?” she stated heatedly, her eyebrow raised in clear displeasure. She waited expectantly for an answer, receiving none while Astrid gazed at her necklace in befuddlement, tapping it with her finger. Shimmer seemed to sense that something odd was going on, and her countenance became one more akin to that of concern as she leaned in. “Hey? Are you alright?”
Astrid paid the inquiry little mind, processing what she had just learned. Her necklace, her father's gift to her, was somehow making it possible for her to understand the ponies speech. Until then she had assumed the fault was her own for being able to speak with them properly, but now she had at least a partial explanation for the occurrence. It still did not exactly solve the issue of them being unable to understand her, but at least it clarified one mystery for her, regardless of the additional questions it raised.
“Hello-o-o, are you in there?” Sterling said, waving a hoof in front of her. Astrid jolted, caught off guard by the movement as she was brought back to the present. “You alright there? You kinda spaced out for a moment,” the colt added, all three foals watching her with concern.
Astrid opened her mouth, but found herself unable to say anything. She was at a complete loss, her brain doing somersaults as the revelation continued to bounce around her skull. She wrestled with the errant thought, attempting to subdue it enough to calm her increasingly erratic emotions.
It was at that moment that Moondancer finally decided to reappear with a proclamation of, “Alright fillies and colts. Fun time’s over, time for class to start.” She was met with exaggerated groans and mumbles of disappointment from the group of foals, Astrid included to a degree, to which she raised an eyebrow and responded, “Hey, what did I say about giving me lip? I don’t make idle threats. Now come on, we’re already late as it is.”
Unable to fight her on the matter any longer, the foals all begrudgingly stood up to follow after the mare in single file line, their heads held low like prisoners being led to the gallows. Astrid followed suit, though she lingered behind to look at her necklace, cradling it in her palm. Her brow was furrowed in deep contemplation, seeing the little angel in whole light than before.
Just what had her father given her?
“Ahem.”
Astrid snapped her head upward, finding Moondancer waiting for her expectantly. As much as Astrid wanted to continue to ponder the new mystery presented before, she eventually conceded the fact that standing around twiddling her thumbs was not going to provide any answers. She stowed it away, resolving to ponder it all later as she hurried to catch up with the others down the hallway. She rounded a corner, whereupon she found the others lined up against the wall, gathered before what appeared to be a closet door. Astrid quirked an eyebrow at the sight, but decided not to question it as she followed their example and took a spot next to them. A moment later Sterling squeezed past Misty, much to the filly’s chagrin as she was all but shoved out of the way. The harsh she shot at him was ignored as Sterling sidled up next to Astrid, offering her a friendly smile. Astrid tried to reciprocate the expression, but it came out more as a nervous grimace.
“Alright, now that everypony is present, we can finally get started. And remember,” she added with a glare, directed mostly at Shimmer. “No gum.” Shimmer cowered under the mare’s warning glare. “Now then, let’s get started.” Moondancer’s horn lit up, enveloping the doorknob in an ethereal glow. The door swung open.
A broom fell out, clattering on the floor.
“Um. . .” Astrid hummed, thoroughly confused as she suddenly found herself second guessing agreeing to go along with. . . whatever this was.
“Oh come on!” Moondancer muttered irately. “Of all the times it had to run out. Give me a sec’.” She kicked the door closed, and once more her horn lit up. Astrid could hear it sparkling as the entire door was wrapped up in the pinkish aura. About a minute passed, during Astrid contemplated whether or not to just walk away, not seeing the value in wasting her time staying here as well as seriously questioning Moondancer’s teaching methods. She didn’t get to ponder for long however as Moondancer appeared to finish up whatever she was doing. “There. Now we can start.” Once more she opened the door, and Astrid fully expected to find the same closet of brooms and other junk.
Her eyes summarily widened to the size of dinner plates and her jaw went completely slack when she looked inside the closet. Except it was not a closet, not anymore at least. The cramped interior had been replaced by a rather spacious looking room, with shelves filled with books pressed against and a collection of desks and short chair occupying it. There was even a ten-foot chalkboard on the wall.
“Wha. . ?”
Moondancer guided the foals inside, then noticed Astrid had once again fallen behind. She guessed as to what the imp was thinking and said, “I take you’ve never in a simulacra room before.”
“. . . Huh?”
Dusting her hoof off on her sweater, she added, “It’s not much really. Just a simple spell once you get the hang of it, though you need the necessary magical aptitude to actually apply it.”
Astrid blinked, Moondancer’s words falling on her ears and settling on her thoughts like leaves on the wind, before suddenly causing her brain to commit the biological equivalent of a blue screen.
A simple spell.
Magic. Moondancer called it Magic.
Suddenly everything that she had seen over the past two days, from the whole levitating bit that only ever seemed to be an attribute of unicorns, to Trixie’s public performance, suddenly took on shocking clarity to Astrid as she realized that all of that magical stuff was just that. Magic. Real, honest to goodness, bona fide magic.
And that made her wonder; if it was possible for Moondancer to create an entire classroom out of a broom closet, then did that mean it was also possible for her to find an actual means of going home that stretched beyond a hopeless fantasy? The thought weighed heavily on her mind. Too heavily in fact, and Astrid suddenly found it difficult to stand. She staggered backward, her vision swaying.
Moondancer said something, alarm in her voice. Whatever she said was lost on Astrid however, and in mere moments the girl felt herself topple over, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
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Good to see this is progressing so smoothly.
And so the shadow-thingy attacked the train and at the same moment Celestia gets weak. I sense a pattern. Though I wonder when Astrid meets Celestia in person.
I dunno if this has been asked before, but it's bugging me, so I have to ask: is the language Astrid speaks actually translated from any real life language? Or is is actual gibberish?
Regardless, enjoying this story. I hope to see more of Midna's abilities appear soon, since in the game she could be considered quite powerful. Though I suppose that could be the result of the stone thing (fused shadow, I think it's called? Been ages since I played any LoZ.)
The theme of this chapter seems to be foals being foals.
Interesting. So is the necklace strictly equish-to-english, or a universal translator? If the latter, Astrid could finally be understood, if she realizes it.
I want to ask again why that thing exists without Astrid using it, I only remember it being activated by Midna.
After needing to complete that Visual Novel a few times this week for every achivement and this not exactly being my favourite part of the story, including the parts where the Villain stuff happens no matter if it's needed or not, I like her reaction even if I'm not sure if I understood it correctly.
It is just that it's a bit refreshing to how she acts in other stories.
sooo i understood her hair grew in lenght when it was brushed close to her scalp yes?
I think I would like this to happen to Celestia too, I mean if they get victims of that little trick.
Nice story and I see Astrid had a foolproofed plan to escape her first pony school experience.
Oh Lord she's gonna need medical attention
This keeps getting more interesting. Now that Astrid knows how she understands Ponish, maybe some yes-and-no with Moondancer will enable her to reverse-engineer a two-way translation matrix. Also, just what exactly did Trixie become?
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As I noted in a comment on a previous chapter, and the author confirmed, it's basically reversed Japanese, with some of the sounds modified or rearranged for better flow. For instance, you may have noticed that some of Astrid's sentences end with "ishita"; reversed and modified, this becomes "atashi", meaning "I".
First of all, God Damn kids. Never seem able to get a hint at how annoying they are.
The fuse shadow is now attacking. Not good.
Astrid's pendant is actually a translator; interesting. Astrid might want to try putting on one of the ponies to see if then it can understand her.
Is the simulacra room a thing from Harry Potter ?
Finally. Welcome Astrid to Equestria, the wonderful land of magical ponies.
Mistakes found :
Raven
have
Lilac was going to kill her.
She held up the fake spider in her hoof and proclaimed,
made
but she didn’t know what was causing it in the first. . . place. . .
The harsh look she shot at him was ignored as Sterling sidled up next to Astrid,
I take you’ve never been in a simulacra room before.
I'm really enjoying this story, and can't wait to see the rest of it.
Thanks Dilos1! 
well...that's one way to end a chapter, great chapter i hope to see more soon.
Great chapter! I could help but notice you have several sentences where a word is missing. I’d point them out to you but that’s kind of hard to do on mobile settings.
I'm absolutely loving this Story So Far.
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Thanks for spotting those. I'll clear them out at my earliest convenience.
Regarding the simulacra, it actually was inspired in part by some of the nonsense that goes on in Harry Potter. I don't care much for the series, but it does have quite a few intreresting concepts.
Wow this got even more interesting
>fillies grappling a young girl to brush her hair
Pure poetry.
No first contact math from Moondancer?
You have my attention! It seems like Astrid/Midia will have to save the day eventually lol. I do wonder how her meeting Celestia or Twilight would go. I think a meeting with Twilight MIGHT go smoother then one with Celestia seeing as Twilight is friends with Moondancer, and Moondancer has been caring for Astrid/Midia who saved a colt from bullys. I look forward to see where you take this story and I look forward to the next chapter.
PS:I just wanna HUG Astrid/Midia.
I hope your not stopping with the story again, as far as I remember it, it is one of my favourites here on the side.
Not sure if it helps if the story has not many of the main chars so far but it doesn't seems to fullfill so many of the cliches or behaviors I dislike from other chars and which end up happening if I think I found a nice story.
I remembered the Shadow which I was not sure if I liked, but i still have to see if I understood the situation right.
It is only two month so far, but I hope you haven't forgotten about the story yet. I also kind of hope this is not a story where half of the worl has herds.
If I remember it correctly so far it wasn't a topic they really talked about or what Astrif could have seen but I would really prefer it if we don'T see the "one or two Stallion marry five or six mares" famillies.
I was looking for stories that I felt like I haven't heard about them in a while and after just reading a "bad example" again, I suddenly remembered that this could be a problem later.
Is this story in hiatus? Or left forgotten?
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Almost done with the latest chapter. In the middle of moving to a new location at he moment though, which has been doing a bang up job of keeping me occupied.
I had my suspicions about the necklace but ignored them because it was apparently something from the mother.