• Published 9th Jul 2020
  • 1,366 Views, 51 Comments

Moondance Game - BattleCat311

  • ...
3
 51
 1,366

Old Faces New Friends

Chapter 2.

Nock, Nock, Nock

Moony poked her head out of her bathroom confused at the knocking on her door. She wasn’t expecting any company today and she hadn’t ordered anything from the school. In fact, with the way she acted at the end of the party last night she wouldn’t have been surprised if half the ponies from the party started to avoid her.

She had been a grumbling and prickly mess by the end of it and it had shown. The only saving grace was Lemon heart stepping up to take control of the party.

Nock, Nock, Nock

Moony finished up in the bathroom and placed her sofa back down onto her floor. With a little experimentation, she had found out that she could level up her levitation skill by just lifting heavier and heavier things. Witch in turn helped to level up her INT Stat and her own level. So far, she was up to lifting the couch for a few minutes before it got too much. Much better than the ten seconds she had started with that morning. Soon she might be ready to levitate multiple objects at once.

She could also compound that by reading a good book while conducting the levitation exercise, their-by speeding up her INT gain as well. She was already up another 2 points and having all the extra mana was exhilarating.

Unfortunately, her level itself had not yet risen.

Nock, Nock, Nock

“I’m coming” She yelled down the hall while drying off from her shower. Experimenting with her new powers had taken most of the night and she had found great pleasure and joy in tangibly improving herself. A fire had been lit under her and now she was determined to be the best pony she could be. Even if her classification in the fandom was Anthro. Witch was a classification that lent itself to more…. lewd paths.

She opened the door and three mares rushed into the house all trying to hug her. Her friends Minuette, Lemon Heart, and Twinkle Shine had come in so fast that they launched her back and into the side of her sofa. Thankfully her regen kicked in before she felt much of anything otherwise, she would have had a very bruised spine right now.

“Oh, my gosh Moony. I’m so sorry. Here let me help you up.” Twinkle Shine said as she reached down and pulled Moony back up onto her feet and into a crushing hug. Or it would have been crushing if Twinkle shine’s head didn’t only just reach her own chin. She had all the right curves for a mare her age but had never been very tall.

“Um, Twinkle shine, you can let go now,” Moony said as she tried to pry her oldest friend from herself. Even if the hug felt good.

The others were no help as they just stared amusingly at them.

“NO. You need hugs.” Twinkles Declared with all the stubbornness of a little chuwawa.

Moony looked down in confusion and asked. “Um, please elaborate.”

Twinkle shine looked up from the hug and stared up at her with those big soul-filled eyes. Twinkle Shine was the scrappiest of her friends and had been with her since their first year of school together. She had been the new kid in school who had earned the orphanages scholarship to Celestria’s school for gifted unicorns. Leaving behind her old class on the other side of town, leaving her in a class of strangers.

“You need hugs. Lemon said that you felt awful last night when Twilight didn’t come to your party. We know how much you’ve been crushing on her. I wanted to go and throw some rotten apples at her but Minuette and Lemon said that would be illegal. This evening Lemon said she felt a lot of negative emotions coming from here and we got worried. And the best thing for feeling bad is hugs.” Twinkle shine was so sure of her logic that she just squeezed tighter.

Minuette and Lemon Heart must have agreed with her because they both took either side of her and hugged her with all their might as well.

It felt nice. Like a warm blanket on a cold night or a warm cup of coco after a snow.

Moon Dancer could feel the love and care just pouring out of them and the tension in her shoulders began to lessen as she drank in the effection.

“He,He,He,Gyurg.He,Her Herg” Moony began to laugh slowly and tears fell from her eyes onto her friends. The three mares around her just hugged her harder.

“Um, girls? Did we just break moony?” Minuette said as she let up on the hug. A flash of concern in her eyes as she looked over Moon Dancer. Quickly racing for a pack of tissues.

“Sorry, it’s just that. Here I was. Trying to get Twilight Sparkles' attention. I wanted to be her friend so badly. I completely ignored the friends I have. You girls are worth more to me than a hundred thousand twilights.” Moony wrapped her arms around their bodies and hugged with all her might trying to convey how much they meant to her.

[+1 Str – because hugs]

She ignored the screen and instead focused on her friends. Minuette blushed and looked away, trying to pretend she wasn’t a big softy inside. Twinkle shine lit up like a heartwarming tree.

Lemon heart was going to help wipe away some of the tears running down MoonDancers' face when she noticed MoonDancers new hairstyle.

Then Lemon heart said. “Wow, what did you do with your hair? It looks…. not horrible anymore!” She could not find any other way to refer to that mess she had before.

Lemon heart may have been the empath of the four, but she was also the bluntest pony you will ever meet. Good luck trying to hide anything from the mare that could feel out your emotions. She often came across as uncaring but that wasn’t the case at all.

I reached up over to my new hairstyle. After seeing myself from a third-person perspective I decided I didn’t want to look like a slob. It was bad enough I looked like Twilights missing twin sister. But looking like a generic nerd was just asking to propagate a stereotype.

Suddenly I felt very self-conscious as I chewed on my bottom lip and racked my fingers threw my new hairstyle. “Um, do you all like it?”

Now instead of a mop of hair sticking out of my scalp, I had a high proper ponytail (ironically). It wasn’t extravagant or anything, but it was a start in changing myself.

“Awww. Moony you look so Adorable right now.” Said Twinkles as she gushed at how adorable her friend could be without even trying. She often worried that her friend would turn out to become a hermit and never do anything in her life because of how anti-social she was.

After a moment Minuette let go and said. “Oh, yeah, we weren’t just here to check on you. We wanted to invite you to the Summer sun celebration tonight. I know it won’t be the same with Princess Celestia gone off to Ponyville this year, but it should still be fun. Please say you’ll come.”

Moon Dancer hesitated for a moment since going out to a party so soon after the botched one she made sounded like a bad and emotional idea. However, she could never say no to Twinkle when she started using those big blue puppy dog eyes of hers. With all three of them, she stood no chance.

“Alright, you can turn those things off now. Leave the puppy eye look to Twinkle Shine.” Moony agreed begrudgingly but in good humor. It might be nice to get out of the house and bond with her friends. Celestia knows that she had ignored them for far too long.

“Um, moony why is your ceiling full of holes.” Twinkle Shine asked as she pointed up at her ceiling that now contained dozens of holes from her relentless Magical Blasts.

“Oh yah, that. Well like you said, I wasn’t exactly feeling at my best.” She sheepishly admitted while her friends stared at her a little impressed at the destruction she could cause.

In reality, she had been experimenting with her magical blasts all night since it had been a great stress reliever. She could now confidently blast a magical beam out of her fingers instead of her horn. And it had felt so good to let go of some stress.

Moon Dancer winced. The cost of repairing that roof was not going to be cheap. Or she would need to find a spell that would help her with the repairs. It might take a while and some research, but she would repair it.

Unlike most ponies in her class, she owned her own home. So, there was a certain level of handiness and frugality with owning your own home when your job didn’t pay that well. Or when you were still a minor.

It had taken a considerable effort and sleepless nights on her part, but she was never going to mooch off anypony. She had seen too many fouls in the orphanage becoming spoilt bullies because people kept insisting, they were special and never telling them no. All because they were poor little orphans. In spite of the fact that most Orphans in the city were better than some resorts.

She was not going to ask her somewhat sister, her brothers, the academy or even the princess herself when It came to her living arrangements. Her independence was something she cherished and valued, only compounded now by her graduation. One meeting with Sunset Shimmer had seen to that.

Still, that also meant the roof was her responsibility. “I’m just glad you guys came to check up on me or I might not have snapped out of it before my roof was unsalvageable. Now let’s go. I can fix it tomorrow.”

All three mares stared after their friend. All of them knew that Moondancer was a bit better than the average unicorn. She didn’t have the top grades in class for nothing. Second only to the royal pupil herself. But even a strong unicorn would have a hard time making such big and numerous holes in their roof without being laid out for days.

Since moony still looked a little emotionally off they let it go. After all, she was trying and that’s all anyone could ask for. Bugging her till she had an emotional meltdown was not something any of them wanted to cause.

On the way to the party, Moon dancer was having the time of her life casting [Observe] on just about everything she could feasible see. It seemed that distance wasn’t an issue and only things cast with an obscurest spell seemed to block [observe] but then after the spell leveled up a few more times even those didn’t matter anymore. Just leaving a foot note under the descriptions that they had such a spell cast on them.

This was also a great time to see how she stacked up against other ponies. If she concentrated a little, she could see their Level and name above their head like in actual games. Sometimes with a title as well. but casting the actual [Observe Skill] showed her their stats.

Most of the ponies around all seemed to be between levels 5-10 while foals and young ponies were levels 1-7. She got the chance to [observe] a few guards and saw that they were all level 15 or higher. Their states all were higher than most average ponies. Depending on their tribe they had different boosts. Earth ponies had higher VIT and Str, Pegasai more Dex while Unicorns had a touch more INT.

She was betting that INT was more a measure of one’s magic pool rather than a real measure of one’s intelligence. Mister Rolling oats had a high Int score but rarely knew anything that didn’t have to do with oats.

But the most surprising result was her own friend's scores.

Each of them had high INT and WIS scores in comparison to the average unicorn. With Minuette also having a higher STR and DEX Score than the rest of them. Probably because she was a hyperactive Mare who had an endless abyss of energy and just never stopped doing things. It was no wonder she was both a maid and a certified surgeon.

“So where is the party anyway?” Moony asked as they walked among the clean streets of Canterlot. She needed to get a conversation rolling or ponies would start to wonder why she was staring at things so intently.

Lemon Heart swelled with pride as she pointed up the castle. “Well you know I’m part of the castles party planning committee now. So, I helped to organize and plan all the parties. Including the castles annual summer sun celebration!” she exclaimed while jumping around. Being an empath must have helped a bit since she could judge the mood of a party and help to steer it in the right direction. Such an ability was invaluable in many jobs.

We were all a little floored when she said she got a job as the castles party planner. We all thought she was going to inherit her family’s sweet shop. But we were all happy for her anyway.

“Aren’t we a little underdressed for a party in the castle?” Minuette asked nervously. She normally worked in the castle as a maid but partying in the castle was a bit different from working there. High-Class ponies would expect you to be dressed to the nines during one of the parties or they would ridicule you and ruin your night.

“Nope. Without the princess there, it’s not as formal. It’s mostly just going to be castle staff and their families. Games, food, and music, what could be better. And since it’s the summer sun celebration the sunrise is going to be spectacular.” Lemon gushed and pranced around so much her aqua hair was starting to dance with her.

Moon Dancer realized that the sun was not going to raise on time. Because out there in Ponyville. About now. Nightmare Moon. The boogieman of ponies. Was loose and terrorizing Equestia.

Not her problem.

Everything would go fine.

Nightmare moon would be defeated by the Elements of harmony and blasted in the face with a friendship canon that would brainwash her into being good again. Or strip away the parasite that was nightmare moon. Honestly, Danial didn’t seem to know much about it and just theory’s proposed over fan fiction. So the true origins of nightmare moon would be a mystery.

Moon Dancer pondered on visiting the Old Castle in the Everfree forest latter. It was a long castle that had been abandoned years ago. But for some reason, the show depicted that there was still a treasure trove of books and items left on site.

She might not care for facing off against the nightmare but saving a library of books was well up her ally.

[Quest alert ]

[Explore the castle of the Two sisters and collect all the poor abandoned books.]

{Reward – library]

[Bonus Objective ???]

Well, it looks like I know what I’m doing tomorrow.

According to the show the old castle still held hundreds of ancient tomes and scrolls filled with lost knowledge. Some of them had to be skill books that contained old esoteric spells. There was also the chance that she could get to study Nightmare moons armor. The show was clear that it had been left behind when Nightmare moon turned back into Princess Luna.

Yes, it was steeling. But she didn’t care. Those books had been left out for nearly a millennium with no one doing squat to preserve or take care of them. As far as she was concerned it was finders’ keepers.

The fact it will inconvenience Twilight when she was asked by Princess Celestia to clear out the old castle plays no part in her decision at all. Nope. Nada. Niet.

She may have to pull out her old teleportation book in order to get there in one piece, but it would be well worth it. Teleportation was a hard skill to gain for a unicorn and few ever truly mastered it. If her old Study book on it was still around, then it might be a Skill book that could teach her what she was missing to properly cast a teleport. Or the system would help her learn it.

Soon the quartet of mares arrived at the party to the sounds of dancing feet and merriment. The castle was filled with glowing Lantern candles, springtime flowers decorating every pillar and the sound of soft instrumental music floated over the grounds like a cool wave ready to relax all your worries away.

It inspired the pony seeing it to feel relaxed and at ease as they flitted about the party.

I reached over and hugged Lemon heart with one hand. “Lemon, I think you’ve outdone yourself. This party is amazing. Much better than the one I pulled. You really outdid yourself. I guess all those days of throwing secret parties when the teachers weren’t looking paid off.”

Lemon froze and robotically turned to Moony. “You. You knew that was me? HOW?”

“Who else has access to that much junk food and hides streamers in her bookbag?” Moony said as they made their way into the party.

Lemons secret parties at school had been amazing. Even if she hid the fact that she was the one who set them up. And since she set it all up in class before school started the teachers always just let them have their fun for a while before beginning the lessons during cake time.

She didn’t know how they did it, but they managed to somehow get her on the dance floor at one point. DJ PON3 was playing a nice relaxing beat and she let herself go for the night. Thoughts about what would happen later leaving her head as she danced with the girl. Thanking Danial profusely for the dancing lessons he took. The way that the girl all blushed while she was dancing with them was adorable and made her want to do it more often.

Eventually, the time came around and for the Sun to come up. I really couldn’t do anything to stop ponies from panicking, but I at least wanted to stay by the girls so that they didn’t get into any trouble.

Soon the time for the sun to rise had come and gone. At first, ponies had just acted confused or concerned. But then one pony started to panic then another. Then it was like herd mentality took over and everyone started to act like a group of headless chickens running around and bumping into things. I swear I even saw one stallion just run right into a wall three times before he just knocked himself out cold.

If there was one thing about the pony races that I didn’t like, and there were a few, then it was the herd mentality that dictated we all panic and run at the first sign of anything strange. I swear that if most ponies didn’t have hearts of gold then they’d all be rampant racists and xenophiles. It says something that it took almost the very extinction of pony kind for the three great tribes to come together.

Seeing that the crowd was going wild I had hopped up onto a windowed balcony not too far from where we were sitting. I looked around and saw my friends had joined the panicking crowd and were running around like animals. I didn’t want them to get hurt so I lit up my horn and my new semi mastery of levitation to levitate them one by one up onto the balcony with me.

This wasn’t easy by any means since ponies have a natural magic resistance inanimate objects don’t have. So being able to levitate another pony was considered a great achievement. Being able to levitate a dragon around, who had a lot more inbuilt resistance, made Twilight famous in some circle. Though I did have a theory that it wasn’t hard for her at all since her magic had hatched him in the first place. Enabling her to bypass his defense entirely.

First, Moon Lifted Lemon Heart as she looked a little too close to a tilted pillar for her liking. The Pillar toppled over moments later and into the obliterated the food table. Crusting all the foods and spilling out all the drinks. She struggled in my magic for a few moments but calmed down when she saw it was my light lavender aura and I was the one directing her. She was a fast study, so she put together I was levitating her quickly. She was so impressed that it must have knocked the panic out of her.

“Thanks, moony.” She said as I set her down a step away from me. She still looked oddly skittish but holding her hand seemed to calm her down a peg. Moony gave her the most reassuring smile she could as she went back to scanning the party.

She searched out the gardens again and spotted Minuette about to fall off the ledge of the terrace. She was keeping her cool a lot better than most of the other ponies, but a trio of fillies had run past her while screaming about the shadows all being mean. They bumped into her so hard that she lost her footing and was about to fall off the edge before Moony grabbed her.

Her panic was a lot more real than Lemons, so she struggled harder in Moonies' grasp. Nearly falling to your death was a legitimate reason for panic in comparison to the sun not rising. Moony struggled as she flew her completely across the gardens. Ponies all around pointing and screaming their heads off. Screaming it was the end of days. It was honestly getting annoying.

I placed her a step to my right and waited for the panic to die down. Holding her hand helped her calm and focus upon me. I could feel both her and Lemon Hearts beating quickly with how tightly they were gripping my arms. I smiled reassuringly to Minuette before resuming my search for Twinkle shine.

I desperately searched the crowd for any sign of her Twinkling purple main. Witch is a lot harder than you’d think considering that just about every other pony had mains in every shade of the rainbow. Some even with literal rainbows. Also, with everyone running about like ant colonies I was hard-pressed to single out just one speck of purple.

I found Twinkle Shine cowering behind one of the picnic tables. A host of spilled drinks and food splattered around her and on her dress. From what I could tell the dress also seemed to have a few tears in it. I quickly focused and ignited my horn.

During my search, I had dripped into a meditative trance to increase my magic regeneration and fill my reserves back up. I needed to stay perfectly still while doing it but thankfully I could still at least use my eyeballs. It just wasn’t quite as effective as traditional meditation. Using two long-range levitations had used up almost all my magic. Thankfully I could feel the Levitation skill had leveled a time or two without even looking at the screen. Enabling me to Levitate Twinkle faster and easier.

When I lifted Twinkle shine I could feel that she was thrashing and trying to resist. Unlike Lemon or Minuette who tried to magically thrash Twinkle as well only resisted physically. That was not a good sign since it meant she wasn’t even thinking straight enough to use magic.

As I placed on the ground in front of me, I didn’t let go of the levitation just yet. I held just enough that my magic circled her middle and kept her from leaping off the balcony, but she could not move.

Twinkle shine was in full-on panic mode. She was always the most skittish pony in our group. She was prone to worrying and panicking over the slightest of threats. She eventually got over them but there was always that initial few days she would be skittish.

But now she was having a full-on panic attack. She wasn’t seeing us. She wasn’t hearing us. And if I wasn’t mistaken, she was starting to hyperventilate.
I needed a way to calm her down. But with both hands already tied by Lemon and Minuette, I only had one idea. One stupid, embarrassing, and glorious idea.

I leaned forward and kissed her. I kissed her deeply. Pressing my presence conformingly against her. Twinkle was so surprised and floored that she nocked herself right out of the panic attack and into honest surprise.

The kiss was warm, wet, and tasted of cinnamon buns and blueberries. I knew from Danial’s mind that most people had a standard sweet taste to them, but it seemed ponies had different tastes. After a moment Twinkle leaned forward into the kiss.

“Um, is that just for Twinkles or can we get in on that action?” Minuette said. She might have meant it as a joke but with her hands still trembling, I decided to take it seriously. I knew I wasn’t good enough for these girls but if a kiss made them feel better than I would give it.

I leaned into my other two friends and gave them both kisses as well. Not a full-blown soul-sucking thing like I did to Twinkle Shine to drag her out of her panic but enough to make them forget about any trouble. Minuette tasted sweet with just a hint of spice while Lemon heart had a sour and shockingly lemony flavor to herself.

I hugged them all close and was about to try and reassure them when a vase flew from nowhere and nearly hit Minuette in the head. It just barely managed to miss and fly over her scalp and shatter upon the castle walls. Leaving behind a few torn off hairs from her head.

She didn’t go back into a panic, but she did Reach out and clutch at Twinkle like a safety blanket.

Seeing all my hard work being undone and the sight of my friends being scared made me mad.

I have not been treating them the way they should have been. Haven’t cherished them for the awesome ponies they were. If it weren’t for them, I might have very well become a shut-in just like the Moon Dancer from the MLP show.

I turned away from my friends and turned back to the balcony.

“ENOUGH,” I shouted across the garden. My voice not quite reaching royal Canterlot voice levels but close enough. It had the desired effect of making all the ponies in the garden stop and freeze. The feeling of fear now geared towards the voice rather than some obscure threat.

“Are you all cowards or ponies. There is no reason to be running around and tearing up the place like a flock of headless chickens. Yes, the sun hasn’t risen yet. But it’s not the end of the world. For all, we know Celestia has simply been delayed.”

One braver or stupider stallion in the party with blue hair and ash skin spoke up and asked as loud as he could “But what if the princess is in danger? What if the sun never rises again? What If Nightmare moon herself returned from the grave?” His voice was not nearly as commanding as hers but not as potent as hers had been. But it did start making everyone skittish again.

“Then we will deal with it. For now, there are a million things that could be. For all, we know A baby accidentally fired a missed spell and turned the princess back into a foul for a night. There is no reason to panic. Look around. All that’s happened is that it’s still night and you all have managed to destroy several tables, tons of good food, and set fire to the curtain! Speaking of which.” Using an old water summoning spell I learned in school I overcharged it with a lot more magic and launched it at the curtains to put them out.

“Now here’s what’s going to happen. Your all going to find the rest of your families and make sure they're ok. If someone got hurt you will take them to the hospital, if not you will take your family home and sleep until you regain some sense. I’m sure by tomorrow the royal guard will have everything well in hand. Now Vamoose.”

The crowd began to disperse now that some sense had been knocked into them. A lot of the older stallions and mares were beyond embarrassed that their children saw them acting so un-composed. They soon picked up their kids and left.

There were a few ponies that had scrapes and bruises but only one needed any medical attention for a sprained ankle.

Moon dancer didn’t really expect too many things to go wrong. After all the show wasn’t incorrect when it showed that most problems in Equestria were solved stupidly simply. Captured by Dimond dog? While till your let go. Your gearing up for a battle against buffalo? You better bake a whole lot of pies. Accidentally insult a foreign dignitary. Sing a silly song till they get so annoyed they leave.

Moon Dancer turned back to her friends who were staring at her with wide eyes and mouths agape.

“What?” I asked.

“Ok, who are you and what have you done with Moon Dancer?” Minuette said jokingly. Seeing as I was acting completely out of character for myself. The Moon Dancer from two weeks ago would have been down their screaming her head off just like every pony else. Plus, they have never seen her take such command before. There were very rare ponies that could be good leaders and those ponies often became mayors, governors, and other high ranked officials.

“When we were in sixth grade you wanted to seem older, so you tried to wear the sexy underwear. Only to chafe so badly after Hoof ball that you needed my to help to get you home.”
I turned to lemon heart. “You accidently got splashed with water in a white dress in the middle of restaurant row and needed to borrow my sweater to get home.”

I stared at Twinkle and she gulped this time from a different type of fear. “And someone replaced Mrs. Harsh whinnies whole desk with a cake look-a-like because she insulted cooking as a profession.”

“You can prove nothing,” Twinkle yelled. Pointing out a finger like a certain lawyer.

They all smiled with the tension diffused. Lemon heart wanted more time to think about that kiss so she tried to find whatever distraction she could. “Oh, sweet Celestia. This party is going to take forever to clean up. And the Drapes! We’re going to have to get all new ones.”

“Do you want some help with the cleanup. It’s still going to be a few hours to sunrise, so I don’t think anyone’s going to be coming around any time soon. At least we can clean up the food and send the clothes to the wash.” Moon dancer said. She was still knackered from having to use so much magic in such a short span but she could at least help. Even if she felt like she just needed to sleep for a week.

“Um, what do you mean a few hours? Sunrise should have been twenty minutes ago.” Minuette asked intrigued.

Moon dancer considered telling them about the show but decided against it. After all, she had no way of knowing what if the show was accurate and what was now no longer going to happen. Not to mention that most of the show couldn’t keep a straight timeline so any finer details and planning around them were right out the window for her.

However, there was one excuse that could work well and was socially acceptable too.

As she floated her friends down to the ground she said distressingly. “I got a hold of a scroll of prophecies Even better the scroll actually wrote out what was going to happen rather than making irritatingly vague comments like most prophesies. You have no idea how frustrating those old Prophetic tomes can be. Three full paragraphs just describing when a person was going to be born and then one vague statement about some evil, they will conquer? Fui.”

And it was true. Twilight herself tried to warn Celestira because she had read one of the compendiums of prophecy. Not something just anyone could get their hands on and you would still need to decipher what the buck it was saying but they did exits. Also, things like seers and prophetic dreams happened all the time.

As Twinkle shine Descended down, she asked. “Um, does that mean you know why the sun isn’t up yet?”

“Yup, but I don’t think I’ll tell you till after it comes back up later.”

“Why?” All three asked all at once.

“Because. While I’d love to kiss it all better knowing what’s going on without it already being resolved will send you all back into panic mode.” The three-woman blushed but agreed they probably shouldn’t know what happened yet. They were still a little spooked so they preferred to just clean the place and be done with it.

“Ok, I agree not knowing is better for now. I trust you if you say so. But seriously what happened to you? This can’t all just be from a Main style change. I know the main makes the mare but not this literally.” Lemon heart said.

I grimaced as I realized I’d have to tell them something or they would lose trust in me. While I was a big proponent of privacy and individuality, I didn’t want to lie to them. Yes, they would probably leave it alone if I said it was private info, but I wanted to share something at least. Friendships were about trust. The show got that right at least.

“Most of me changing my mind is private but I guess I can tell you all a little bit about it.” The three scooted closer like foals during storytime. Minuette even somehow getting a tub of popcorn that had survived.

I got the urge to conjure up a campfire and marshmallows if I was doing storytime.

“OK, so…. I was basically told by some pony…… That I was basically Twilight Light.”
The three looked confused. “Um Isn’t that Twilights mother?” Lemon Heart asked. She had only met the mare a scant few times and it wasn’t for long.

“No that’s Twilight Velvet. And it’s not as light as in the spectrum of visible light. See the pony was from a town that had a drink called Bud. But during the health kick of the last decade they tried to make the drink lighter on the calories to appeal to the masses. However, everyone agreed that the light version was just a cheap copy of the original. A watered down, half bakes, inferior copy that no one liked.” I had to stop for a moment in the explanation because I could feel my eyes misting.

You could see the light doing on their faces as the girls started to get the point.

“So, when he described me being Twilight Light, he was basically saying I was nothing more than a inferior copy of twilight. I know I already look like her. And I never had her large magic capacity or stacked up in class. But It Hurt.”

A hug from behind me showed Lemon heart was hugging me fiercely. I looked down at her questioningly.

“I’m an empath remember. And I can feel that it really bothers you, Darling. Heck, you have so much negativity rolling off you that I’m half expecting a wendigo to show up.” She joked said as she pulled Moony in tighter. Trying her best to convey that they were there for her.

“Thanks lemon. So, yah. It’s only part of it but being compared to twilight like that…. I decided things needed to change. That I needed to be better than her. Or at the very least to be my own pony.”

Moony was glad that she had friends that understood just what she was saying. Just how much it meant that she was moving on. Looking back on her life these three were always there with her. They always invited her to hang out. Ate lunch with her. Helped her with her projects and then some.

They cleaned up the rest of the party in companionable silence. A few times royal guards came around to patrol and observe but since we were cleaning up, they left us alone. I had to assume either Shining armor or Princess Me Amora Cadenza had rallied the troops and were trying to restore order.

Which could not have been easy since the guards let it slip that most of the city had been in a panic.

We managed to clean the area in just enough time because just as we threw away the last of the spoiled food the sun finally rose over the horizon.

“Finally. Now will you tell us what happened or are you going to be cryptic again?” Minuette asked. Her job as a Castle maid did depend on the Monarchy paying her monthly wages after all.

Moony quirked one of her eyebrows and hummed to herself to prolong the experience. She then smirked and said as a matter of factly as possible “Nightmare Moon came down from the moon to spread eternal night but was defeated by a plucky band of heroes who found a set of mystical artifacts that blast a rainbow ray of friendship and harmony at her. Defeating Nightmare moon and bringing back a lost Princess of Equestria.”

The sheer look of bafflement and dropped jaws priceless.

She didn’t care if they believed her right away. They would learn she was telling the truth eventually.

Author's Note:

Not as much gamer aspects in this chapter, But i wanted to make Moondancer come acros as a person going threw her own thing rather then a instant grinding machine that kills everything for levels. Their will still be plenty of fighting latter on but i'll be introducing slice of life elements into her game.