Valley Dale (part 5)
"If I may ask, why did you decide to do your Mage trails?" The young filly enquired with the same expression of mild interest that the previous questions had been asked with. "I thought that the College of Sorcery's traditions would have died out by now?"
Yet, the thinly veiled eagerness in the tone of her latest question indicated that she was trying to overtly push the conversation where she wanted it to go. The filly was finally losing patience with Luna’s deflection.
'Oh, how very direct of her. No more subtlety then?' Luna thought in her mind.
The meal that she was sharing with Windy had been a lot more interesting than Luna thought it would have been. The filly clearly wanted to ask her something but was trying to get more of a feel for the alicorn before hoof.
It was a more cautious variation of the same brand politicking that her mother had tried and returned a similar level of success. She just wasn't skilled enough of a politician to pull one over on the seasoned ruler. Though her possible motive still eluded Luna. It probably wasn't anything malicious, but it intrigued the alicorn nonetheless as she tried to puzzle out the mind of the young pegasus, similar to what Windy herself was currently trying to do to her.
The filly reminded Luna of her sister in a way. Trying to play her cards close to her chest and never saying what was truly on her mind. It was very reminiscent of how Celestia used to behave when they were younger. Always trying to understand the mind of who she was talking to, figuring out the exact right thing to say and the exact right question to ask to get what she wanted.
Luna looked down at the fork that she held in her hoof. Turning it over in her grasp as she pondered on how to answer Windy's question. She could just distract and deflect as she had done up until now, but she felt sad at seeing this filly try to build walls around herself. She regretted not trying to form a closer emotional relationship with her sister and instead allowed her to regress into her own mental fortress surrounded by impenetrable walls of masks and manipulation.
She didn't delude herself into thinking that she could radically alter the trajectory of Windy's life with only the day or two that she would spend in Valley Dale, but would it kill her to engage with the filly on a closer emotional level?
Luna wouldn't tell the Windy the whole truth of course, but perhaps she could offer something more substantial about herself and in turn, get the filly to open up more and figure out why she was so guarded about her motivations.
With her decision made, the disguised alicorn adopted a more serious expression, placed her knife and fork down neatly in the centre of the plate of her mostly finished vegetable pie, and then used her magic to move the plate to the edge of the table on her right. The invisible flash of her horn marked the creation of a sound-dampening spell that manifested around their table.
The filly, who had been carefully watching Luna, interpreted this as a sign that the small talk and roundaboutisms were over and a more earnest conversation was about to take place. Windy's expression grew equally serious but tinged with a nervousness and trepidation that she wasn't able to completely hide.
"I was miserable with my life at home, feeling like nothing that I did mattered anymore. I wanted a change, a chance to go out and do tangible good in the Equestria. Doing everything I can to make the world a better place."
It felt a bit wrong to have such a mature and personal discussion with such a young pony, who was probably still a teenager, but if Windy wanted a more mature discussion, then Luna would give her one. Let's see her digest that.
The filly leaned forward in her chair, eager at the sudden inroads that Luna had just offered, but there was an undercurrent in her expression for internal conflict and deeper contemplation at the alicorn's words. Something about what Luna just said seemed to strike a deeper chord within the pegasus.
'How interesting.'
She was searching for something in this conversation and some part of Luna’s answer took her a step closer to finding it.
"You left your family behind?" Windy asked in a tone that approached breathlessness. She didn't bother disguising her interest in the conversation with a facade anymore. She was too invested.
"My sister and I had grown apart for many years. Until one day, I woke up and realised that each of us would be happier if we lived our lives separately." Luna replied candidly. Her decision sounded so much more noble after being twisted into a technical half-truth.
She obviously couldn't tell Windy that she was a failed ruler who grew to be so despised by the citizens, nobility and even her own family that it became impossible for her to effectively govern. Eventually deciding to cut her losses and run in the middle of the night.
It was probably the correct decision in hindsight, but it didn't sound very heroic when laid out so bluntly.
"Was it worth it to leave your family behind?" Windy asked with unmasked intrigue. Luna's face fell at the question. She should have expected it. It was a logical follow-up question, but the cracks in her own mask formed as the question that had so heavily weighed on her mind was spoken out loud and she wasn't prepared to hear it.
'That was the question, wasn't it?'
'Was it worth it?'
It was something that she had asked herself nearly every waking hour for the past three days. Her logic and reason lead her to the same conclusion every time. That there was no other option. However, that didn't stop a suffocating blanket of regret from descending on her. Whether that was regret at her choice or regret that she had allowed her relationship with Celestia to deteriorate so badly, she wasn't sure.
"I don't know," Luna gave the only honest answer she could give. "I think so, but I don't know."
If Windy's expression looked like she was experiencing inner turmoil before, now it looked more like an open civil war waged in her mind. Her ears pressed against her skull, her eyes shut and her teeth clenched.
'Is that what she was looking for?'
Is that what she wanted from this conversation? The answers to her own burning questions. Heard from the mouth of somepony who had already done what she wanted to do.
Luna hoped that she was wrong about Windy's motivations. She hoped that she misinterpreted every single clue and that her read on the filly was completely off because she did not know if she was emotionally prepared to handle the next words that were likely to come from the mouth of the young pegasus.
As Windy looked to form a resolution in her mind, she opened her eyes, which now only held determination and looked intently at Luna.
"Will you take me as your apprentice?"
The former princess did not know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. The cruel poetry of it all. Her mind was inadvertently drawn back to a memory that she lived through so long ago.
The small, dark blue filly looked up at the strange, grey-coated stallion that stood before her. His blue, star-embroidered cloak fluttered in the wind.
She stood weakly on her hooves, barely able to carry herself any further after weeks of starvation spent in the wilderness. Her similarly emaciated older sister stood next to her and beheld the stallion with eyes full of caution and calculation. Yet the eyes of the small, blue filly held nothing but boldness and steely determination as she spoke to the unicorn in a firm voice that belied her thin, trembling frame.
"Will you take us as your apprentices?"
It was almost too poetic to be possible that she would find herself on the opposite end of the exact same conversation that she had so very long ago. With a filly that seemed to embody both the best and worst aspects of Luna and her sister.
'Was it Fate or Destiny?'
That her life would come full circle in such a way. Did that mean that she should accept? Carry on the unbroken cycle of mentor and apprentice?
'Was that enough justification though?'
To tear a young filly away from her home and expose her to the worst that the world had to offer for no better reason than because Windy wanted adventure or was spiteful to her family.
Yet, would Luna’s discouragement be enough to keep her shackled to this town if she was determined to leave? Windy held potential, Luna could feel that, but she wasn't yet strong enough to face the world by herself, not nearly. Perhaps the safest place for her to be would be by Luna’s side.
She could teach Windy. Use her vast experience to help the filly avoid the same mistakes that had ruined Luna’s family. But, what right did the former ruler have to try to live vicariously through this filly and shape her into some sort of alternative version of her own younger self that had made better decisions?
Countless arguments and counter-arguments churned in her mind, like a violent maelstrom. She held a flat and unfazed exterior expression, but her thoughts threatened to consume her.
Yet, as each argument was whittled down to nothing in her mind. She arrived at the only logical conclusion. The only response that she could possibly give to the young pegasus.
As Luna’s eyes met with those of Windy's, she could see that a mixture of excitement and dread had bled into her expression of resolve and determination. The longer that Luna silently contemplated her answer, the greater the filly's anxiety grew until she was openly shifting from side to side in her chair and fidgeted with her wings.
Luna opened her mouth and prepared to give an answer that would forever shape the life of the young pegasus.
"No,"
The simple answer rocked the filly, who leaned back as if she had been struck.
"What! Why not?" Windy demanded loudly, as she stood up from her seat, her hooves tightly clasped on the edge of the table. Her wings flared. The filly's facade now completely forgotten.
It was obvious how much this potential opportunity meant to the pegasus. Luna hated to shoot her down, but there was no other option. She had embarked on this journey to charge headlong straight into the teeth of the most terrible dangers of this world. She would not endanger the filly's life in such a way.
"How old are you, Windy?" Luna asked in a soft voice. A genuinely remorseful expression on her face.
The pegasus looked taken back at the question but soon responded.
"I'm sixteen years old," she answered heatedly. "But, that doesn't matter! I've been training all my life for this. I'm more than ready." Windy declared with a fiery look of determination.
'She really is both the best and the worst aspects of my sister and I.' Luna mused. Remembering the incendiary arguments that she used to have with Starswirl.
Sixteen was far older than the age that Luna had begun her apprenticeship, but the circumstances were not the same. Windy was not a starving orphan that she had found in the forest. She had a home. A family. Wind Chill might not have been the most attentive mother, but from what little she had spoken of her daughter to Luna on their tour. It was easy to see that she cared about Wind Scale.
Perhaps it was hypocritical of Luna to espouse the virtues of staying connected with family, but she refused to believe that Windy and her mother had burned the bridges between them so thoroughly that fleeing was the only option left available.
"You have family here Wind Scale," Luna tried to reason in a calm tone.
"And? So what?" The filly shot back. "You left your own family behind. And besides, I wouldn't be alone. I'll be travelling with you."
The alicorn grits her teeth at that. Why could this filly not understand how fortunate she was? The mayor might not be a perfect mother, but she was far better than no family or family that did not give a shit about you.
"I would be a poor substitute for a guardian, Windy. A mentor is not the same as a mother." Affirmed Luna in what she hoped was a de-escalatory tone.
"I was cared for by a team of nannies, so I wouldn't know what it's like to be raised by a mother." Windy seethed.
"You were still raised by ponies that cared for you. You don't know what it's like to be alone," Luna said, losing patience. Her own voice began to rise in volume. "To live your life without love or affection. Without family that cares and supports you. That isolation and detachment has broken ponies stronger than you. You have no idea what you're asking for!"
That appeared to be the exact wrong thing to say though as Windy sneered at the words.
"I am alone!" Windy seethed with a long-built that never had a chance to boil over until now. "My mother would rather spend her every waking moment mingling with her snooty, rich friends and figuring out new and innovative ways to grovel before nobles that don't give a damn about her than spend time with me!"
Luna recognised pent-up anger when she saw it. How long had this been bubbling up inside of her? The alicorn chose to let go of her own charged emotions, remain silent and let the filly continue to rage. She couldn’t take her away from this town, but at the very least she could lend an ear for Windy to vent her frustrations against. Hoping that it would grant her some level of catharsis and perhaps then she could be reasoned with.
"Everypony in this town would rather beg for scraps at the noble's table than try to do something about it. No pony sees it except for me. They are so content in their own little world that they don't see how far under the hoof of the Old Towns they are!" Windy carried on her rant gathering momentum as it drifted further and further away from the conversation topic as she aired out her grievances.
'Had she ever told anypony how she truly felt before?'
If her mentality was anything like Celestia’s, then probably not. Luna looked sadly at the filly in front of her that was still continuing to rant. This was probably the most honest conversation that she has had with anypony since she was a foal. The dams that held back her emotions and desires had been broken down in trying to convince Luna to take her as an apprentice and now it all spewed forth.
"And the worst part is that I can't do anything about it! Even if I became mayor, there is nothing that I could change. There is no justice. It's NOT FAIR!" Windy's voice cracked as she shouted the last line. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she lost control of her emotions.
'Fairness and justice. Is that what this was about?'
Is that what her Talent Mark represented? A set of balanced scales wrapped in a whirlwind. The pursuit of justice in an inherently unjust world.
'What a truly unfortunate Talent Mark to be burdened with if that is indeed the case.'
The need to make fair a society that can not be made fair. That not even an alicorn could make fair. It would explain her anger and frustration, as well as why she would wish to join Luna on her Trials.
Did that make Luna a hypocrite? To think of Windy's supposed destiny as impossibly doomed, when she herself was currently embarking on a quest to wage a one-mare war on all evil in this world.
The pegasus in question was currently slumped over with her head resting on the table atop her folded forelegs, crying. Her anger had burnt out leaving her with nothing, but miserable exhaustion. Not being able to express herself for so long had evidently resulted in emotional volatility.
Luna had underestimated how much this opportunity to travel with her had meant to Windy. This wasn't just a naive young mare trying to live out a fairy tale fantasy. She had pinned her hopes and dreams of fulfilling her destiny on Luna and the alicorn had so ruthlessly crushed those aspirations under her hoof without even realising how important this was to the filly.
The former princess gazed mournfully at the young pegasus as she tried to figure out a way to resolve the current predicament. She remained firm in her resolve to not endanger the filly's life by bringing Windy with her on her travels, but surely there had to be something that she could offer the filly.
She racked her brain to come up with an answer. Until suddenly a rather elegant solution began to form in her mind.
Luna leaned over and laid a comforting hoof on Windy's shoulder. An easy feat with her enormous height.
"What if I told you that there was a way for you to one day become my apprentice?" Luna said in a quiet, soothing voice.
Windy's head snapped up at the offer. A spark of anger briefly warred in her eyes, as if she wanted to renew their argument, but her hope and curiosity quickly smothered that spark as she awaited for Luna to continue with undisguised interest.
"Tomorrow I will teach you the fundamental techniques of advanced pegasus magic. If you can master them by the time I return to Valley Dale in two years, when you are an adult, and you still wish to travel with me, then I will accept you as my apprentice." Luna pitched the offer that she had crafted.
It wasn't perfect, but it solved multiple problems. It would give Windy time to repair relations with her mother, as well as time to truly weigh her options and consider if an apprenticeship under her was really what she wanted. It would test her commitment to practice every day and learn by trial and error to master what Luna taught her.
The alicorn would also be far more comfortable in taking on an adult as her student, who had spent multiple years contemplating Luna’s offer.
The filly desperately searched the former princess's face for any signs of deception. Almost unwilling to believe the offer laid before her.
"Do you promise to come back?" Windy asked in an almost pleading tone.
"I promise."
Stats
Page generated in 0.021 seconds
Total duration
622 users online
833,724 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Thank you for the new chapter:D
Ok an apprentice request on her third day, that's fast but I guess it proves Luna is likely going to be popular, though my money is still on that unicorn filly who talked to her when she first got into town I suspect she's gonna stow away with Luna and see Luna's true form so to keep her quiet Luna will have no choice but to keep her.
11663192
An interesting theory and I don't like to give away spoilers, but I'm afraid that you are chasing a red herring my friend. Luna will have multiple apprentices and at least one of them will be a unicorn, but not that foal. She was just a cute foal that got the ball rolling on the magic show plot line, but that is the end of her involvement in the plot (maybe I'll give her a brief cameo in the magic show chapter). She is also like 4 years old. Way too young to be of any help on Luna’s journey.
Also, Mages are very rare in Equestria and being an apprentice to one is a very prestigious opportunity. Its no surprise that Luna would get lots of offers.
11663197
Ok it's just sometimes authors put little things in the story to let the reader know that ok this will be important later, ps that's something I do, the filly was brought into the proverbial spotlight and for a brief second was focused on it made me believe it was something significant and the fact that it was brought up directly after that a bunch of kids here have no families it just looked like something that turned into nothing.
11663208
Sorry to get your hopes up. There are are many other things in this story though, that I've briefly touched on that will become massively important later.
Almost there. 999
Someone, anyone PLEASE give me one more like!
11663233
YES!!!!!!!
1000!!!!!
Thank you so much guys. Its a milestone that I never thought that I would pass.
11663242
Congratz!
Ahh, I would love to see Luna get an apprentice but I guess that'll come later.
I wonder how Tia's doing now.
Congrats on the 1000 likes! Hope this story is starting to get more recognition!
As for Luna not taking Windy as an apprentice at the moment, I actually kinda like it. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hate it if she actually did get her. I just feel that, at the moment in this story, Luna is still trying to reconcile with her own emotions and come to terms and to figure out her new paths in the Equestrian society. I still feel that she should figure all this out, at least partially, by herself.
11663233
can't, mine is allready in there.
11663305
No problem. Well, thanks for the favourite anyway. :)
Still waiting that fullout Panic, when Equestria learns their Princess is missing.....or all out purge of the Nobles by Celly's hands if 1 of them says the wrong word
It seems to me that the dialogue was rather crumpled. As if a lot of details were cut out, well, although it is, but still the this seemed incomplete to me
11663322
Same. A good amount of time has passed and yet NOBODY has bothered to raise the alarm or word spread about Luna going missing. Did Celestia really hate Luna so much that she doesn't give a crap her sister disappeared without a trace?
11663341
The original conversation was a fair bit longer, but it was quite monotonous and it didn't flow very well. I'm still fairly inexperienced with dialogue as an author. Having two characters get into an argument is something that I've literally NEVER written before. I'll get better as the story goes on and my writing its dialed in.
11663354
I don't know whether you remember reading this part or not.
11663361
It did slip my mind, but I'm not fully convinced Celestia is saddened her sister is gone. Considering what she wrote in her diary and how she continously overruled Luna on many key issues she voiced about, Celestia didn't do herself any favors at all. Perhaps it's the stress of ruling, but placing blame or treating your own sibling who rules with you like a burden and not needed doesn't excuse her actions. Hopefully, a later chapter will go into detail about Celestia's true feelings or thoughts.
11663382
That chapter will probably be much later. I want their to be at least some level of ambiguity over Celestia’s motivations and feelings. The majority of interludes will be from those closest to Celestia observing her actions and reactions.
Thanks for the chapter!
Have a great day!
This is a very good and interesting fic. I hope Luna will be happy in her new role as a traveling mage. She deserves happiness. Also, I like your worldbuilding for pre-Nightmare Moon Equestria. Good luck in writing, I'm waiting for the next chapter.
Two years you say, why do I get that sinking feeling in my gut that something bad is going to happen before that?
11663354
Dude have you forgotten that nobody in Equestria knew Luna existed until she returned in the show, not even the wonderbolts knew what they were performing for until her return, if you ask me that sounds like hatred on Celestia's part.
11663402
Well also did not forgot....but expected Celly to raise fullout Alarm lol .....sooo I am quessing that she is In total panic inside of her mask......
Momma WIndy is VERY lucky Luna was able to talk to her daughter. Otherwise there is a good chance she would have slipped away in the night, much like Luna herself. Like she was thinking, this will at least give the family time to MAYBE mend bridges. As well as giving Windy the younger more time to prepare.
She may be dead till Luna returns possibly.
11663242
Then your expectations were set to low. A tale this well done shouldn't languish in obscurity.
Anyone else think that Luna just unknowingly struck a spark that is going to become a wildfire of change?
I think it's either take or accept, but not both.
I don't know how to feel about Windy here. She seems like a smart girl, but she questions Luna in a very nosy way and then out of the blue asks, almost demands, to take her as her apprentice. What did she hope to get out of it?
"Oh yes, child that I have only known for a few minutes and know nothing about, I will gladly make space in my personal journey to become my apprentice."
I don't mean to say that her emotional reaction feels planned or fake on her part. It's just that, to me, that part of the scene doesn't seem to flow naturally. She doesn't bargain with her, sort of in a "look I know I'm a pegasus but I can do this" way, she doesn't give Luna a reason to accept her until her emotional tirade.
Beyond that? I think this is a fine chapter.
11664084
There was a whole cut section of section of the dialogue that went over the different ways that pegasi can use their magic. It didn't flow well though and I didn't want to disrupt a very emotional scene by going into a lore tangent about pegasi magic. I'll expand on it a lot further though when we get to the chapter about Windy's training.
As for Windy asking out of the blue and her demand being unreasonable, well, it was out of the blue and unreasonable, but Windy is desperate for this. Her options are either to try to convince this Mage to take her as an apprentice or try to strike it out alone. Though in hindsight there probably were a few different ways that I could have worded that argument that could have been a bit better.
The take/accept thing, is just a mistake.
Goddamn, this story blew up. Congrats on a banger!
As of this post, you have 1,035 likes. Congratulations!!!
A timeskip will be coming in the future I see. Probably after we get a Celestia POV tho.
So good, we need mooooree!
Great chapter
11664084
Windy's questions seemed to be building to a decision like that right from the start. She was asking a pony in a position roughly equal to one she herself was considering, about her circumstances starting with the reason she was a wanderer. I wonder if on some subconscious level she was perhaps phishing for reasons to give up on her idea, but Luna's answers just happened to be the kind that emboldened her, in particular Luna's desire to be of use to ponies in need.
I feel like that's going to be a rather hard promise to keep
Good reply.
She doesn't give much away, it is substantial enough to qualify as a full answer while she still stayed with the truth.
I'm sure Luna isn't the only one.
*speech check failed*
Sounds good!
Good chapter!
I enjoyed reading it.
That's indeed something I had been wondering about already. I'm glad you will address it later.
11663242
Congratulations!
Found an small error:
I feel like there is something missing between those two words. Maybe 'anger'?