5 - Past to Present
"When I returned to this world, my mind freed of the shackles of my hatred... My sister forgave my weakness, even as she struggled to forgive herself for her failures..." Toby had gone entirely still, listening raptly to Luna's words. "I was lost, adrift..."
Before I had gone, I had a purpose, but then, even that little calling had seemed so far distant. My sister had taken the position in my absence. There was not a thing I could do that wasn't something another pony could do, arguably better than I could.
But my sister... she is a clever mare. She had prepared for that day. One of her visions, I should think. She knew I was coming, and she planned so fastidiously. When I was lost and miserable, she came to me, that serene little smile on her face. "Sister, I have something for you."
But she held nothing. nothing floated beside her. No box was lurking just out of sight in the room. It was just her, Celestia, my sister, looking at me with a kindly little smile. "Something only you, ruler of the night, are capable of doing properly."
"Some ruler of the night." I sat up, vision a blurry mess. Maybe there had been a box and I had missed it. "You can move the moon as well as I can."
"I can, if I must... but for me, it is a chore, and for you, a calling. The day is my domain, and the night is yours."
"A lonely domain!" I shouted at her. "I don't want to go back to being alone... Sister, we just... I don't want to go back to that!" I hopped up and threw my small form at her, grabbing onto her leg as if I could just hold tightly enough to stop her from retreating to her day realm, away from me.
Toby raised a paw.
Luna frowned faintly. "Yes?"
"You not... that smaller," he objected.
"I was at the time," she patiently explained. "As small as any foal." She raised her hooves. "So far separated was I from my purpose and so weak from my banishment. Now, shall I continue?"
"Yes, please." Even as visions of tiny Luna danced in his head. Oh, if only he could hug Mini Best Princess.
She had brought a gift without a size or shape, because it was knowledge. She taught me a magic that was, she said, quite hard for her to do. "For one," she explained. "The best time to use it is when I am normally quite tired. You, on the other hoof, would be just waking and ready to begin."
"It's a night magic?"
"Precisely so." She showed me each step. Each little magical bit. "But it is far from a lonely thing. You will approach ponies when they are most vulnerable, when they are most exposed. You will be their comfort, their closest confidant. You will know them in ways I never could and never will."
It was so difficult to even imagine, back then. I would be closer to ponies than my sister? Ruler of the day? What they accepted as the true princess of Equestria? They would... love me? I see your doubt. I know you adore me, dear Toby. This was a different time. I felt very alone...
But I learned. I eagerly devoured the knowledge she shared with me, and soon I was hurling myself into the dreamworld. You know it. You, who sneaks in there without magic. How do you manage that? Nevermind, I suppose you don't really know. Be that as it may, I began to roam those shifting avenues of slumbering minds.
Some where peaceful, others exciting. But the ones that needed me were frightening or sad or angry. The ponies that suffered in so many ways, unspoken in the waking hours. The things that they dared not speak, but gnawed at their thoughts. But there I was, to offer some help.
At long last, I... I'm getting off track. You are not interested in how I stopped my pity party.
"Never bored Best Princess," assured Toby, bobbing his head. "Want... I want to hear more," he said with slow methodical words, trying to impress Best Princess by speaking correctly. "Please."
She smiled faintly. "If you insist..."
The crusaders pointed at their various trophies and mementos of their adventures. "We help ponies," explained Apple Bloom.
"Find their purpose," continued Sweetie Belle. "Sometimes even not ponies."
"Like Gabby!" Scootaloo grabbed a picture of Gabby off the wall and showed it to Little Hop.
Little Hop squeaked at the picture. "Birdcat! Birdcats are mean." She frowned at the birdcat, even if it was all smiles in the picture.
Sweetie inclined her head with confusion. "I know a lot of griffons can be kinda... rough."
Apple gestured at the picture being held by Scootaloo. "But Gabby's an exception. She's totally nice! Even for a pony, she's just... great. She's a crusader too!"
Scootaloo bobbed her head. "Uh huh. Gabby's totally a nice creature. You run into griffons before?"
"Griffons... hurt my mom," her voice became smaller as she went. "Killed."
All three of them tensed, sharing glances with cringes on their faces. Scootaloo put the picture back where she found it, pinning it back on the wall. "Bad creatures are bad, but..."
Sweetie joined, "But we can't blame all of them because some of them were... bad."
Apple Bloom pointed at Little Hop. "But let's put that aside fer now. You can stay here." She spread her hooves to indicate the room as a whole. "Nice an' comfy!"
"That is more than bad," flatly noted Little Hop, frowning at her new would-be friends.
"I can't really argue that." Scootaloo shrugged softly. "But Gabby wasn't involved in that. She'd sooner get hurt herself before she let anycreature else get hurt. You don't have to like her--"
Sweetie bobbed her head. "But don't hate all griffons. That isn't nice either."
"You don't know!" Little Hop pointed and swept her paw in a wide accusation. "Did your parent get killed?" She homed in on Scootaloo.
"Uh, they're fine... doing adventuring stuff." Scootaloo scratched behind her head helplessly.
"You?" She pointed at Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie squeaked. "Well! Um... no..." She sank. "They're fine."
Little Hop pointed at Apple Bloom with less anger, her voice softening. "Was she... killed?"
Apple Bloom cringed, ears falling. "No... were an accident... Shoulda been safe as anythin'... but it was just an accident. A stupid accident..." She suddenly clopped the floor. "'Least your mom... you know why. I never quite got it. She just... fer nothin'. Like that. She was there, then she weren't no more."
Little Hop's moment of rage bubbled oddly, her eyes wandering and her words having a hard time coming out. "It's not better!" she finally got out. "It isn't..."
"Yeah..." Apple Bloom came closer, offering a hoof.
"It isn't better." But she took the hoof, grabbing it between two paws and squeezing it.
She didn't say it wasn't worse either.
I was timid at first. I did not understand their pains and their little personal triumphs. They were living in a world I scarcely understood, but, most importantly, they were still ponies. They still feared pain and being left alone. They still wanted to be loved and respected. They were people, and so was I. Even with so little perspective, this much I knew, and that is where I started.
I showed them they were loved. I told them they were worthy of respect. I pointed them towards their strengths and encouraged them to reinforce them. I tried not to judge, not until I knew more. I became... the princess of dreams, there to chase away nightmares and cast the silvery light of the moon on their uncertainty, to banish that confusion, even if only for a moment.
They... began to love me. That love was not what they had offered to Celestia. I did not compete with her, nor her I. Our relationship was entirely different. I became as a friend, a confidant, intimate. They whispered secrets in my ear that I will carry without repeating, knowing that it was safe with me, that... I would respect its importance, and their importance.
She ruled their waking moments, but I was the princess they turned to when their eyes closed and their mind could remind them of what they had left undone, unsaid. When they rolled and wailed in bed, unhappy... I was there to rock them back to peaceful slumber, and with it, I earned a place. I... was my sister's equal. I grew in size quickly as the weight settled on my shoulders, not pushing me down, but instead forcing me to stand taller.
And that is how I became the princess of dreams.
"Best Princess," corrected Toby with a broad smile. "Thank you for sharing. I liked that story."
She reached to boop his nose softly. "But it is a secret. You, fellow dream traveler, must do for me as I have done for others. Speak never of this tale, for it is for you and I alone. Do you accept this?"
His ears perked for just a moment before gravity drew them back down. "Oh! Yes, yes, yes." He began to nod quickly. "I will never say. Safe, here." He put both forepaws on his chest over his heart. "Best Princess secret." He licked his fuzzy lips, slowing back down. "Is the story done?"
"It is not." She inclined an ear at him. "I am duly impressed you thought to ask. Let us continue."
One pony I met was quite old. She had led a good life, and was satisfied with it, but she held fear, so much fear. "What happens, after that?" she had asked me. "What happened to my parents, and their parents? Are they just... gone? Will I just be... done? Gone? I'm tired, but I'm not that tired."
She held the most ancient of fears, of death, of the end of any life, no matter how long. "Was your life not full of wonder?" I asked, trying to distract her from that.
"I have... but it seems smaller by the day. I know I'm getting close. I know I will die soon. What then?" She suddenly grabbed me with her hooves. Hooves were especially good at grabbing things in dreams. "There's still so much of the world I haven't seen. They're making new things... and I never got a chance to see them either. I don't want to go."
"But go... we must eventually," I noted, unsure how to soothe that particular pain.
"At least tell me where." She sat back, crossing her wrinkled arms across her breast. "I heard some ponies say you're born again. That wouldn't be the end of things. Then I'd get t'see it all." Suddenly she clopped her hooves, a big smile on her face. "IF that's true, my daddy should already be here, jus' as some new pony. Can ya find 'em? Tell me he's alright, even if he's, I dunno, a unicorn or something strange like that."
So she told me all about him, all she could remember. As it turned out, she remembered quite a bit about her father. It was impressive, considering how old she was, and how long ago her father must have passed on. Still, I listened, as was my duty, and left her with a little smile. She was a little happier, knowing I'd look for him.
And I did. As I visited others' dreams, I kept searching for hints of this pony long past. I did not have faith that ever I would find such a thing. Even were a pony to return in such a way, they would surely be a new pony in any way that mattered. I could have passed right through his dream and likely saw no hint of previous experiences.
But I found something. It was... an echo? A strange patch in the dream fabric, not quite a dream, but more than a simple decoration. I stopped to examine it, and there, appearing only for a moment, the cutie mark of the pony I had so long hunted for. I reached for it and fell into it as if it were a dream.
But it was not a dream.
"What was it?" Toby inclined his head. "Find pony?"
"Neigh." She shook her head softly. "An impression, half-formed and tumultuous, co-mingled with other abandoned thoughts. I was lost until my sister found me there, tossing and turning in my bed as so many ponies I had helped. She shook me awake and held me as I wept."
Her expression hardened. "There is nothing to be found in the dreams of the dead. You must not search for such things. If ever you were to happen on something like it, avoid it. They are gone. Take solace in this unquestioning fact. They are at a peace we shall never know."
Toby sagged. "Not best story ending..." He perked up. "What about old mare?"
"I told her what I found... She smiled. I still do not understand it precisely." Luna gazed past her flying guards. Canterlot was approaching them swiftly. "She said that it was enough. That something had outlived him, even if it wasn't him precisely. She didn't fear what was coming, and she thanked me."
Toby shared in the lack of understanding, inclining his head left and right. "Not want that. I do not want to be dangerous to you." He thumped a paw on his chest. "Never that."
Luna curled her neck forward, gently resting her forehead against Toby's, their horns jostling for space without poking one another. "If ever I happened on yours, I trust it would be a confusing but welcoming place, where my greatest danger would be being embraced by countless Tobys all at once."
Toby's dour expression brightened, imagining that. "Yes! That is better." He turned in place as they came in for a landing. "We are here. Remember when this Toby home? Happy memories." He hopped/stepped off the chariot before it had come to a proper stop, not that this bothered him too greatly, coming to a smooth stop on his own. He was ready to offer a paw towards Luna as she disembarked.
She stepped down, one leg raised to accept Toby's paw as she did so, not that she likely required it. "I do. Those were good times. Let us work to make more of them." She moved the hoof that had been held to point at the castle. "Come with me. Tell me all that has happened, and we will act to turn things right."
Together, they strode through the city.
Cadance paced before the rows of armed ponies. They were all ready to fight, for her, for the Crystal Empire. She didn't like it. "My dear ponies, not a single one of your lives is worth the price we are being asked to pay. Scouts continue to scour at this very instant, hoping to find what is truly behind this, that we can find an answer, something better than... this... But until that bears fruit, we must stand ready, together."
The ponies, stallions, mares, crystal and not, all shouted in a great cheer of solidarity. They were all ready. Cadance wondered for a moment if she was the wrong one, for being what felt like the only one that wasn't prepared. "As gruesome as this event has been, it has shown no sign of being more than the activities of a lone band of ne'er-do-wells. We will show them the might of a creatures united. Tsuki, pony, yak, dragon, and all else that have signed friendship accords with Equestria. To attack one of us is to attack all of us."
The cheer was even louder, joined that time with the non-pony members of her soldiers. Since the expanding influence of Equestrian friendship values, exotic creatures had begun to immigrate, even as some of her ponies went farther afield to explore the world outside their country, to places so far removed they didn't even have them on the map. Their world was shrinking. And it had no room for such violent brigands.
"Shining Armor." She looked to her husband. "I turn it over to you for orders."
"Yes, Ma'am!" He saluted sharply, but that didn't stop him for going for a smooch when she passed, or stop her from returning it, the two locking lips and forgetting all that was around them for a moment. Their little army roared with a new approval. Their royal family was not bound by pomp and circumstance, but a love that still burned so brightly it kept away the snow of the far north.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat as he let her go. Facing his force, he nodded once firmly. "Thank you all for being here. Our first order of business is to ensure that our tsuki allies can resume trade unmolested. They left their territory and were in ours when they were attacked. It was our failure that let them be attacked, and killed. We will not allow a repeat." He had to pause, a new roar rippling over the force, tinged with anger at the unnamed attackers.
He began dividing up his forces, giving some the assignment of ensuring safe passage between the Crystal Empire and the Tsuki warren.
"What I do?" Shining Armor looked down to the little tsuki cub they had sent him. "I am here to help!"
"You need to pay attention," advised Shining. "What we're having them do, you have to write home to tell everyone else about, so we're all on the same page. If they write you, you should come tell me as soon as possible. The faster we talk, the better."
The kit saluted in the tsuki fashion, thumping his chest and flashing his horns. "I will not fail!"
Shining smiled at the youth's vigor, reaching to muss the fur atop his little head. "I feel better with you at our side."
Nothing stopped the equestrian forces. The trade lines were clear as the sky above and the cool breeze that blew across them.
The same count not be said for the scouting forces. A lone pegasus was soaring at full speed, craning his neck left and right as he scanned for trouble. Then there was pain. He hadn't seen what struck him, just that it hurt, everywhere. He began to plummet, barely righting himself enough to hit the snow at an angle, tumbling with a great spray of snow in all directions. He slid to a stop with a pained groan. The landing had been at least as bad as whatever had forced him out of the sky. "What was... that?"
A figure had dropped just in front of him, holding something that glowed unfriendly shades of red and blue. "The pony hegemony on magic is at an end," spoke this figure in a male voice that held not a drop of pity or concern. "They will hide behind it no longer."
The pegasus scrambled, or tried, barely managing to start to rise when the figure twisted the rod in their hands, causing a crackling beam to engulf the pegasus. The smell of burning feathers and fur wafted in the air as their desperate gurgles for mercy were ignored. The former pegasus limply crashed to the snow that puffed up around their lifeless form. "Don't get up on my account." The figure launched up and away, leaving the evidence of their meeting there to be found later.
Celene landed in the great hole as she had intended, plummeting at dangerous speeds, but her legs were out and ready. When she slapped against hard stone, she compressed, that power binding up in her powerful legs in the instant of impact, extending that frightful moment of exchange from lethal to merely stinging. "I home!" she shouted.
Other tsuki looked up. Some hurried towards her, others moved away. All reacted to the arrival of their most physically powerful doe one way or the other. Her loyal were closest at hand, hugging and exchanging sniffs and pats. One saluted, flashing her horns. "Your partner with ponies. Get there safe, thank me."
"Thank you." Celene slapped her fellow doe on the shoulder. "Not sound happy."
"Not mad... partner weak." The doe rolled her eyes. "Why like?"
Celene shoved the other doe, and got a shove in return, the two facing each other with anger in their eyes. Celene was the first to smile. "Bet he clever."
"Clever? Is one of worst talkers." She shrugged softly. "Not clever."
"Bet clever," insisted Celene. "Is very clever. What you fight about?" And the doe told Celene of their argument, about his not wanting to move, and challenging, and being hurt. Celene was laughing by the end of it. "He trick you. Not move hurt buck, so be hurt, not move. He wait for friend. Friend come. He win, you lose." Celene flashed her teeth, bright and sharp. "Why like."
The others nodded with growing understanding. Their alpha doe had good taste in bucks and could see hidden qualities they had missed.
Celene shrugged as she turned away. "Bet he not hurt. Be he already jumping around favorite pony." She snorted softly. "Have news. Deliver kit. Kit safe with ponies. Attack again, hurt them." She slapped her forepaws together. "Hurt bad."
Her does cheered at the personally delivered news of her martial victory. "We need fight more. We make them hurt. Make them regret."
"Welcome back." Quick Stroke stepped forth from shadows as he was wont to do. "The scouts spoke of your confrontation. Care to add your own perspective?"
"Strong, but not strong as Tsuki." Her does cheered at her words. "One use magic." She made a motion, imitating pointing the stick at something. "Bad magic, turn. Throw it back." The cheer resumed. "Not hardest magic."
"Hardest?" He raised a brow.
"Magic Sombra use harder. Harder turn. Harder shape." She wriggled her fingers and dropped, grabbing a clump of dirt, shaping it into a little bowl. "Shape. Hard shape." She threw the bowl aside. "Not as hard."
"If it isn't that hard," argued another doe nearby. "We can shape."
A cheer erupted, their confidence swelling.
"Careful," cautioned Celene. "Sharp knife not shape. Sharp claw not shape. Sharp beak not shape. Fight."
"Fight!" They roared, thudding their chests against one another in what could have been fighting postures, but the feelings in the air were that of solidarity, not a fight among them.
Quick nodded at the intel provided to him. "I see. Magic users... but not ponies?"
"Not pony," grimly confirmed Celene. "Birdcat."
"Griffons? Curious... I will relay this to Sombra." And he vanished, fading into the shadows he had come from.
"Your majesty," he greeted as he stepped out just behind Sombra. "They use magic, but are not unicorns."
"Kirin?" Sombra turned to face his assistant. "I heard of them. Their horns are unnaturally knobby and curved."
Quick had the sense to not mention Sombra's curved horn. "Not kirin, griffons, according to Celene, and I have little reason to doubt her in this instance. I have never known griffons to be magic users. Is this a talent they developed while we were locked away?"
"Perhaps..." Sombra raised a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. "We should share this information with our allies, so they know to distrust the griffons. Perhaps they know more of it and will allow such secrets to be spilled, in the name of 'friendship'."
"I will see it done. Our hostage was delivered to the ponies successfully. They have accepted our offering without complaint."
"Fools." Sombra licked over his lips with a smile. "And of ours?"
"Their guard has been agreeable thus far. I wonder at times if they even realize they are a prisoner." He softly shrugged. "That the tsuki treat them as an honored guest surely has something to do with it."
"Excellent... We will have revenge."
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Hmms.. I do like me some Christmas Rose with my Kenturky Fried Chicken Katzenburger.
Then again, melting that much ice and snow too quickly would really lead to problems.
Colored red and blue, burns... Hmmm...
Once the Tsuki develop martial arts they will be very formidable, even moreso than present. Wonder if they can adapt the Gryphon Magitech?
Keep going! ;)
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They are close contact wrestling type Fighters.
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Tsujitsu!