A Friend to the Night

by Silverintuition

New Meetings and Night Flights

Moon Struck stayed with Fluttershy for a while, learning about all the different critters she had tended over the years. Her favorite was hearing about the time Fluttershy stared down a cockatrice.

"I wish I was as brave as you are." Moon Struck said, snuggling the small gray bunny she had first held. It had curled up against her front hooves as she lay in the grass, listening to Fluttershy's stories.

"Oh, I'm not brave," Fluttershy answered meekly.

"Of course you are! You stared down a cockatrice! You calmed an angry manticore! You scolded a full grown adult dragon despite your fear! You befriended Discord despite what everypony else thought of him, and despite the bad things he had done to you and your friends in the past! I don't think I know a single pony in all of Equestria that is braver than you, except maybe Princess Luna," Moon Struck stared at her now blushing friend.

"But of course Fluttershy here is brave," A sudden draconquus said, appearing from no where with a pop, and floating around the two pegasi mares, spooking some of the critters back off into the bushes. Moon Struck stroked the gray bunny and soothed him into staying curled next to her, Fluttershy doing the same with the brown and white bunny who had hopped under her tail to hide. "Although I don't appreciate the insinuation that she would have to be brave to be my friend," Discord eyed Moon Struck.

"I didn't mean like that. I meant, she had to stand up to what her friends wanted to do and to keep her promise with you. It can't have been easy telling her friends no, even if she remembered what happened before, when you first broke out of stone. Although it would have been kind of funny seeing Rarity push around a giant rock..." Moon Struck stifled a giggle. "But still, despite the others not trusting you back then, and wanting to turn you back into stone, Fluttershy stood up for you and defended you, and even told her friends no. That had to have been one of the bravest things she's ever done. I wish I had her kind of courage." She finished, snuggling the gray bunny some more to hide her unhappiness.

"But you are brave. You have traveled all over Equestria, watching the world and caring for it every night. You are a lot like Princess Luna in that way. I don't think I could ever do something like that. Being alone in the dark of the night scares me. Who knows what could be lurking in the shadows after all?" Fluttershy said to Moon Struck.

"But the night isn't just darkness, and darkness doesn't necessarily mean its bad either. Darkness doesn't equate to evil, just like light doesn't always equate to good. And you can't have one without the other, there are shadows in the day, just as there is beautiful pure light in the night. Look," Moon Struck gestured to the moon and the stars, "the night is full of wondrous light. The moon and the stars watch over the night, wrapping it in a soft cool embrace. Unlike the sun that can burn and scorch, the moon is a gentle kiss of light." Moon Struck stood, passing the small gray bunny to Fluttershy before she flew up into the sky, and floated in the moonlight as it poured down upon them. "This is the light of a soft embrace, holding the world close. It is a world of imagination and dreams. A world of chaos and order, perfectly balanced." Moon Struck twirled in the light shaft before gently floating back down to the ground where Discord had settled himself in next to Fluttershy, much to the dislike of the critters.

"Pfft, order and chaos balanced? Why would you think that?"" Discord asked sarcastically.

"The light and the dark have found a way to exist together, one does not overshadow the other. The ponies may not frolic and play in the night, but they do in their dreams. And in dreams, order does not have to exist. Ponies can dream about anything, no matter how crazy anypony might find it. I dream of a world of night, shooting stars and fireflies. But I also dream of rivers that flow up, waterfalls that fall into the sky. Rainbows made by moonlight, also known as moonbows. I dream of my someday home, where the furniture will be on the ceilings and walls, I'll have doors to no where, and rooms that are bigger than they appear. A fireplace that only has blue flames that give off cold air. " Moon Struck rambled.

"Oh that last one is a wonderful idea! I wonder why I didn't think of it before," Discord laughed, clapping his hands. "I wonder if I could get away with a small windigo instead of fire..."

"Discord," Fluttershy began to reprimand him.

"Alright, alright, no windigos.

"The night brings in this imagination, this fun. Under the sun you have to follow rules and live in an orderly fashion. It's so dull and lackluster; but in the night, you can run free of all of that. It brings its own balance that way." Moon Struck continued, rolling her eyes at Discord.
"I suppose, if you put it that way it does kind of make the night seem less scary and more... fun." Fluttershy said, looking away from Discord who now was shaping small pink and blue cotton candy clouds into different shapes, one of which being a small windigo. Moon Struck couldn't help but notice that three much smaller pink clouds were shaped like butterflies, just like Fluttershy's cutie mark. Fluttershy also noticed as they began to flap their cloud wings and flit around her, making her giggle gently. Discord began making other animal shapes, some made from cotton candy clouds, some made from balloons. Some were made from flowers he plucked from around the garden. They danced and changed colors all around Fluttershy, so Moon Struck took that as her queue to leave. When she got to the door back to the Gala hall, she looked back at the still giggling Fluttershy, and the warm smile of the draconequus.

"They look so happy together, with nopony else in the world," Moon Struck thought to herself. "I wish I could find that kind of happiness with somepony else." She sighed, with a fleeting smile to her two friends in the garden, she went back to the party.

Moon Struck was lost in her own thoughts as she weaved her way through the crowds, but without looking she had managed to run into somepony. When she looked up, she saw a light gray pony, with a gray-violet mane, wearing a very simple blue-gray frock.

"Oops, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," Moon Struck apologized immediately.

"Okay." The earth pony said simply.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Moon Struck asked, worried.

"No." The pony replied.

"That's good. My name's Moon Struck, by the way." Moon Struck sighed with relief.

"I'm Maud Pie." Maud answered.

"Pie? Are you Pinkie Pie's older sister then? She did mention she was bringing her sister to the Gala." Moon Struck asked.

"I am." Maud blinked.

"So, you have a rocktorate, right? That's pretty cool. Do you have a favorite kind of rock?" Moon Struck inquired.

"Boulder is my favorite rock." Maud replied.

"Boulder?" Moon Struck questioned curiously.

"He's my pet rock," Maud said, pulling a small rock from inside a pocket and holding him up for Moon Struck to see.

"Is... is Boulder a type of basalt?" Moon Struck stared at the rock.

"He's a magnesium rich basalt." Maud answered, putting Boulder back inside her frock.

"Cool. I have a pet rock too, but she's at home watching my stuff till our new home is built. She's a piece of anthracite I found in my travels across Equestria." Moon Struck replied happy to have found someone else with a pet rock. "Maybe you can come see her some time, you live near Ponyville right?"

"I live in a cave." Maude said.

"Even better, I can come see you if you don't mind then, and I'll bring Stardust along. Oh, Stardust is my pet rock." Moon Struck smiled.

"Okay." Maud answered.

"Alright, by the way, you have some frosting in your mane." Moon Struck said, pointing to a little bit of pink frosting on the end of Maud's mane. With that, Moon Struck gave a slight nod to Maud before walking back off into the Gala. She had wandered back over to where Apple Jack had her apple stand, but Apple Jack wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was the filly from before, and two other fillies. One was a white unicorn, with a purple and pink curly mane and tail, wearing a white and light purple dress, the other was a dark mustard to almost orange coated pegasus with a pinkish-purple mane and tail, wearing a deep green dress.

"Can you see any more frosting on me?" The pegasus asked the other two.

"I don't think so. Wait! There's a little more just under your mane," The unicorn said, using her magic to float a napkin up to wipe off the pink frosting.

"Thanks," the pegasus said to the unicorn with a smile.

"What are friends for," the unicorn answered with a big grin.

"Oh hello there! Did Apple Jack find ya to apologize?" The earth filly she had seen before asked when she saw Moon Struck.

"Uhm... no? I actually came over to try to apologize again for what I said to her earlier. I was hoping that after a little time she had possibly cooled off enough to let me say sorry and explain why I said something so stupid." Moon Struck said, crossing her front hooves and looking sheepish.

"She went off to say sorry for getting mad at ya, and all that. She should be back soon if ya don't mind waiting though," the filly said. "My name's Apple Bloom by the way, and that's Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell. Nice to meet ya!"

"I'm Moon Struck," Moon Struck replied, nodding to each filly in turn.

"So you're the new nightwatch for the weather? How cool! Rainbow said you've been all over Equestria, moving clouds and controlling the weather everywhere! Have you ever battled any super storms? Or hurricanes?!" The pegasus filly was jumping up and down, talking rapidly.

"Well, there was this time a tornado of parasprites hit us in Fillydelphia, I was asleep at the time they came round and it had woken me up when they had been banging around my home at the time, eating all my food. Completely destroyed my specially grown night blossoms too," Moon Struck frowned, remembering the horrible little fluff balls. "Princess Celestia had to come clean up the havoc they caused. But other than that, mostly just minor storms and such. Lightning, thunder, nice long storms where I got to walk around on the top of the clouds above the storm, causing the lightning to strike where it wouldn't hit anypony. Was usually pretty fun. Although, the snowstorm up north of Vanhoover by the Luna Bay was beyond cold. Part of the bay froze even; I admit I spent a good portion of the night ice skating instead of taking care of the clouds. It may have caused a slight problem with an avalanche and not being able to reach the islands in the bay for two weeks. But it all worked out in the end," Moon Struck continued her weather rant.

"You caused an avalanche?" Sweetie Bell squeaked.

"It was an accident! And the day crew should have cleared some of the storm too, but they spent the day building snow forts and having snowball fights. We all ended up having to work through the day and night to get the whole mess cleaned up though," Moon Struck blushed. "Anyways, why did you have frosting on you? Maud had some in her mane too, come to think of it," Moon Struck thought back.

"Well, we sort of had a little accident at Joe's donut shop before coming to the Gala." Scootaloo answered, embarrassed.

"But at least we smell good now," Apple Bloom laughed.

"True," Sweetie Bell chimed.

"Good point," Scootaloo smiled.

"Moon Struck! There ya are! I've been lookin' all over this danged Gala to find ya. I just wanted to say sorry for snappin' at ya like that. I should have listened to what ya had to say first, before sayin' anything myself. You were right, I am just a stubborn pony. Would ya forgive me?" Apple Jack said, coming up to stand next to Moon Struck, holding her hat in front of her chest.

"You don't need to apologize, Apple Jack. You had every right to be mad at me. I let my stupid pride and emotions get the better of me, and I took it out on you when you were just trying to be a good friend to me. I'm sorry for calling you stubborn and being such a jerk," Moon Struck rushed to apologize.

"How 'bout this; we were both wrong and both being bad friends by not listening to each other or thinkin' of the others' feelings. So, we are both sorry and both forgiven, deal?" Apple Jack said, putting her hat back on her head and offering a hoof to Moon Struck.

"Deal!" Moon Struck smiled, shaking Apple Jack's hoof with her own.

"Now that that's settled, how about an apple fritter, on me of course," Apple Jack winked.

"Sure," Moon Struck laughed, taking an apple fritter from Apple Bloom. Taking a bite of the apple dessert, Moon Struck was amazed by how fluffy and delicious it was, despite how long it had sat out. "This is amazing! I don't think I've ever had an apple fritter this good. Think you can teach me how to make it?" She asked Apple Jack after swallowing the bite.

"Course I can, if ya don't mind gettin' a little messy," Apple Jack chuckled.

"No problem there. How about this, you teach me how to make these delicious fritters, and I'll let you have some of my secret apple butter, okay?" Moon Struck said, finishing up the last of the fritter and licking her hoof clean.

"Our apple butter is delicious too, but I wouldn't mind trying somepony else's. Who knows, maybe we can learn something from each other," Apple Jack smiled.

"Can we help too?" Apple Bloom piped up excitedly.

"Sure, we can all get about it in a couple days after Moon Struck has settled in; what do ya say, Sugarbait?" Apple Jack asked Moon Struck.

"Well it would have to be either really early, or really late, since I do have my nightly duties to adhere to, but other than that, it sounds like a plan." Moon Struck replied after thinking about it a moment.

"Alright, just after the sun sets, before you get to work then. Why don't you go on out back into the Gala, Pinkie was saying something about wanting you to meet her sister Maud." Apple Jack finished, before giving Moon Struck a nudge.

"I actually met Maud before coming back over here, but I wouldn't mind talking with her again, she was nice. And Boulder was cute too," Moon Struck smiled. Apple Jack gave her a sideways glance before shrugging. Moon Struck waved at the three fillies, and gave Apple Jack a quick hug before heading off in search of Pinkie Pie and Maud.

As Moon Struck made her way through the crowd, she heard the laughter of Pinkie Pie before she saw the bright pink pony bouncing about in circles.

"Maud! You smell just like a donut! Delicious!" Pinkie chortled as she bounced and sniffed her sister.

"It was frosting," Maud said monotonously.

"You're right, there's some pink frosting still here on the end of your mane! Hee hee hee!" Pinkie continued laughing after wiping the frosting out of Maud's mane.

"Pinkie! Maud!" Moon Struck called out to the two. Maud just blinked at her, but Pinkie came barreling at her as if she was shot from her party cannon.

"Oh oh oh! Moonbait! You have to come meet my sister Maud! You will just love her! And I know she will love you too," Pinkie laughed as she pulled Moon Struck over next to Maud. "Maude, this is my new friend Moon Struck! But you can call her Moonbait too, it's her nickname! And Moonbait! This is my big sister Maud! She has a rocktorate and lives in the crystal cave just outside Ponyville! It's really pretty in the cave, we should have a party there sometime to celebrate your new friendship with each other," Pinkie continued her bouncing, bubbling happiness as she ranted the greetings.

"Pinkie, I met Maud earlier. And Boulder too, of course. I was going to bring my pet rock, Stardust, to meet Maud and Boulder at some point too." Moon Struck rolled her eyes at Pinkie's overly excited prancing.

"Oh my gosh! You both have pet rocks! You are going to be bestest friends in no time! Of course, Starlight is also Maud's bestest friend, so we need to get you introduced to her too. I think she is off with Twilight and Princess Celestia talking about her friendship travels in Equestria. You two will have so much to talk about since you've been everywhere in Equestria, and Starlight traveled everywhere with Trixie as well. And then you can talk to Maud about all the rocks and everything else you've seen, and you will all be the bestest friends EVER!" Pinkie shouted.

"I know you want us all to become friends, but it isn't something you can force. If they don't like me, then that's all there is to it. Although, I do like Maud; I think she's really interesting." Moon Struck rolled her eyes at Pinkie again before turning to smile at Maud.

"Thanks." Maud said, a slight nod of her head as she blinked once.

"Oh I knew you two were gonna be the bestest friends ever!" Pinkie shouted as she threw her hooves around Maud and Moon Struck's shoulders.

"Pinkie... can't... breathe..." Moon Struck gasped as Pinkie's hoof hold choked her neck.

"Oops, sorry Moonbait," Pinkie giggled as she let them go.

"You said somepony named Starlight also traveled Equestria? I think Twilight mentioned her at one point too. Who is she?" Moon Struck asked, rubbing the back of her neck where Pinkie had been grasping right before.

"Starlight Glimmer used to be a big meany who had her own village and everything! She ruled it and took away everypony's cutie marks using her magic and stored them in a giant rock in a cave overlooking the village. She even took away my cutie mark, and the cutie marks of Fluttershy, and Rainbow, and Rarity, and Apple Jack, and even Twilight! But we helped to show everypony in the town that Starlight had taken away their cutie marks to make everyone equals, but she hadn't removed her own cutie mark, so she was making herself different which was not what she had supposedly been trying to do by taking everyone's cutie marks. In the end, everyone got their cutie marks back, but Starlight ran away. Then she came back for revenge on Twilight by changing the past so that Rainbow Dash wouldn't do her sonic rainboom as a filly, which is how we all discovered our cutie marks, and because Starlight changed the past, it changed the future, and all of Equestria was doomed because we didn't become friends!" Pinkie rushed out, before taking a deep breath. "Then, Twilight convinced her to become good and helped teach her about friendship, and resolved everything that made Starlight go all crazy evil in the first place. So Starlight was Twilight's official pupil, and after she completed all her training and finally felt ready, she went out to explore Equestria and see what she could learn about Friendship as she traveled with her friend Trixie everywhere! Oh, Trixie is a showpony who does magic shows. Though, they aren't very good," Pinkie rolled her eyes before giggling.

"Hey! My shows are amazing! You just can't appreciate it because you are just... just weird or something!" A light blue unicorn shouted from behind them.

"Trixie," A pale pinkish-purple unicorn said, smiling at the light blue unicorn.

"What? She started it!" The light blue unicorn responded.

"Hi Starlight!" Pinkie jumped over to the pinkish-purple unicorn with a smile. "Hi Trixie!" She then turned to the light blue unicorn, although her smile faltered just a tiny bit.

"Hi Pinkie, hi Maud," Starlight said, smiling at both. "You must be Moon Struck. Twilight was telling me about you just a bit ago." She then directed her smile to Moon Struck who was unsure what to think of being talked about by the Princess of Friendship, and to her student no less.

"Wow, Starlight! How did you figure that out?" Pinkie asked, astonished.

"Just a guess, honestly," Starlight replied. Then she walked around Pinkie over to Maud. "Maud, I found this when we were traveling through a swamp just south of Horseshoe Bay when we left Baltimare." Starlight pulled a small crystal from out of her pocket and handed it to Maud. "I'm not really sure what it is, but I thought you might like it." Starlight smiled at her friend.

To everyone's surprise, except Pinkie's, Maud licked the white clear crystal that Starlight handed her. "It's halite." She said simply.

"Halite? Isn't... isn't that just salt, if I remember right?" Moon Struck asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yes." Maud blinked.

"Cool, nice find Starlight," Moon Struck smiled at her.

"Oh, uh, yes." Starlight said, slightly confused.

"Thanks," Maud said as she put the piece of halite in her pocket with Boulder.

"You're welcome," Starlight replied, with a slight smile.

"So Starlight, did you enjoy traveling Equestria? And Trixie, do you think I could see your show later? I always enjoyed watching magic shows from up in the clouds at night as a filly." Moon Struck asked the two mares.

"If you want, we can find somewhere to sit down and rest, and I can tell you all about the things I saw. You can tell me what the places I visited were like during the nights then, too," Starlight responded.

"If you really want to see the Great and Powerful Trixie do magic, it will cost you," Trixie answered.

"Trixie," Starlight reprimanded.

"Oh fine, Trixie will do the show for free," Trixie huffed.

"If you'd rather not, it's fine, I don't want to put you out." Moon Struck hurriedly said.

"Don't mind her, Moon Struck, that's just Trixie's personality. Come on, I think I saw a place we can all sit down near that wall over there," Starlight said, leading Moon Struck, Trixie, Maud, and Pinkie off to a nearby set of tables. But just as Pinkie was about to sit down, a guard came up and whispered in her ear.

"Oh my gosh! It's my turn! Sorry girls, I'll come chat later. Time to go sing the Pony Pokey!" Pinkie bounced off excitedly, pushing past ponies to get to the stage.

Shaking her head, Starlight turned to Moon Struck. "So, where do you want to hear about first?" She asked.

"Well, why don't you start from when you and Trixie left Ponyville, I guess," Moon Struck answered. And so, Starlight, with much embellishment from Trixie, told Maud and Moon Struck all about their travels and the strange friendships they made along the way. She also told about all the problems they came across, and some of the better nights and worse nights for where they camped out.

"Wow, I remember that chimera, her heads never agreed. I just flew off since it wasn't worth my time to bother with them, but I also had that option. Having to outsmart her and get away like that? Genius!" Moon Struck laughed as Starlight finished her story.

"Sounds exciting," Maud blinked.

"Of course it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie bragged.

"I'm just glad we got away, honestly," Starlight said. The four mares sat and talked about rocks and different places in Equestria, trying hard to ignore Pinkie's very loud rendition of the Pony Pokey. When Pinkie returned to table of giggling ponies, she ran up and pulled Maud as a song by the actual band started to play.

"Maud! I love this song! Let's boogey!" Pinkie bellowed out as she yanked Maud off into the crowd.

Shaking her head, Moon Struck looked at the other two, "I guess we could always join in and dance too," she laughed.

"No thank you; Trixie does not dance with ponies below her status." Trixie said, a little too quickly.

Starlight rolled her eyes at her friend, before turning to Moon Struck and saying," I'll just sit here with Trixie. We traveled pretty far today, and I'm a little too tired to dance. You go have fun with Pinkie and Maud."

"Alright, if you're sure." Moon Struck said before turning and starting to walk away; she couldn't help but overhear Starlight talking to Trixie as she was leaving though.

"Trixie, you can just admit you don't know how to dance," Starlight poked her friend in the shoulder.

"Trixie does too know how to dance, she just doesn't want to dance with such a big crowd around, that's all." Trixie said.

Moon Struck smiled and made her way through the crowd after Pinkie and Maud. She found Maud standing a little ways in, and Pinkie bouncing and dancing like crazy.

"Isn't this song great, Maud?" Pinkie laughed. "Moonbait! Come dance with us!" Pinkie yelled when she saw Moon Struck, much to the disapproval of the ponies surrounding them. Moon Struck smiled and walked up next to the two earth ponies, before stopping next to Maud and swaying slightly to the music.

"Woo! Yeah! Uh huh! Who got the moves? We got the moves!" Pinkie yelled as she danced circles around Moon Struck and Maud. As the song finished, Maud went back over to Starlight and Trixie to talk more, Pinkie bounced off to find some yummy sweets to eat and get her energy back, and so Moon Struck was alone again in the Gala hall. She walked over to the entryway, hoping to find Twilight. As she started to exit the hall, somepony spoke from behind her.

"Moon Struck? Where are you going?" Twilight asked. Moon Struck turned around and saw Twilight standing next to Princess Celestia.

"Oh, I was looking for you actually. I was hoping I could leave my dress in the carriage. I wanted to go for a flight in the night, this party has kind of worn me out emotionally and mentally. I've not spent so much time around so many ponies in a long time, and its a bit too much for me to handle all at once. So I wanted to go clear my head for a bit, but long flights in a dress like this are kind of hard to do, with all the extra weight and cloth getting in the way." Moon Struck answered, embarrassed.

"You can leave the gown in one of the suite rooms that's not currently occupied, if you would prefer. I can have one of the guards take it up for you as well," Princess Celestia said.

"Well if it isn't too much of a bother, then I accept your offer, Princess," Moon Struck replied with a slight bow towards Princess Celestia.

"If you would like, I can go with you on the flight," Twilight said to Moon Struck who was already pulling her dress off just outside the door of the Gala hall.

"I appreciate that you would leave the Gala for me, but I would much rather go alone. It's a good way for me to get my thoughts together and just relax. I shouldn't be too long though, and once I'm done I'll come right back and meet up with you again, okay?" Moon Struck answered after she got the dress completely off. Princess Celestia called a guard over, who took the dress and walked off to another part of the castle.

Twilight gave Moon Struck a quick hug. "Be safe out there," she whispered.

"It's just the night Twilight, it's not like I'm off to battle dragons or something. I'll be back soon, goodbye," Moon Struck gave Twilight a fleeting smile as she walked down the stairs and exited the castle. Once outside, she took to the sky and felt immediately refreshed as the night breeze blew through her mane. She flew high above Canterlot, off into the clouds, so far that the castle looked like tiny fireflies in the distance and the music from the Gala was nothing but a memory. She found a cloud just large enough for herself to rest on, and lay down, sighing in relief. Moon Struck was coming to truly love her new friends, but there were just too many ponies down there, it made her feel like she was suffocating. Being up here in the night sky soothed all her fears and worries, and brought her back to herself. Before she realized it, though, she had drifted off to sleep beneath the stars.

Author's Note:

Once I have it all figured out, I will be releasing a side story about Maud's day with the cutie mark crusaders in Canterlot, and a lot more explanation on why they had donut frosting all over them. And why the cutie mark crusaders are banned from Joe's donut shop as well.

There will also be further hints at Fluttercord shipping later in the story, so be prepared for that if you are more of a Twicord or Dislestia fan.

On another note, yes this chapter is a tiny bit longer than previous chapters, but this was also the wrap up of the Gala. The next chapter will be... a surprise of course! Enjoy!