Born Under Silver Moon Light

by David Silver

14 - Friendly Library

Crescent sat up straight, feeling the weight of the tiara upon her head. "I'm going to be a good queen."

Spike came out of the shadows to lean against a wall. "You know, I'm a dragon, so I'm not really interested in queens. But for what it's worth, I'm rooting for you, Crescent."

Twilight snickered gently, peeking out from her kitchen. "We ponies prefer princesses to queens. Are you certain you want to be a queen?" She emerged from the kitchen, walking at an easy pace through her crystal tower of a castle until she could give Crescent a proper hug, that included the use of both her front hooves and a little bit of her horn magic to lift Crescent into the embrace itself.

Crescent chuckled a little as she was lifted. "Thank you for asking, but yes, I think I would do better as a queen." She hovered, her magic gently lifting her tiara back to her head as she sat atop Twilight's shoulders, hugging the mare's neck with her forelimbs as they embraced properly, her legs resting against Twilight's shoulders and chest. "I was dreaming of you, you know. All of you, but mostly you." She settled in, laying on Twilight's back as they stood, a living chair for a queen to be.

Twilight arched a brow, amused by the position they found themselves in, and the strange topic her friend was bringing up. "Were you now, and you were my queen?"

"Yep!" Crescent beamed with her fantasy. "You were my princess, and I sent you on wild adventures. And then I would tell you when you did a really good job."

"Why thank you." Twilight offered a slight bow. "It pleases me greatly to serve you, and bring glory to your throne. Does Spike know he's the court jester?"

"The court dragon," corrected Crescent. "And he likes it."

Spike cleared his throat. "You heard her, official court dragon." He thumped his hand to his chest with a confident grin. "Was I also big and strong?"

"Adorable and lovable," countered Crescent, her tail swishing rapidly. "It was a nice dream. I can't wait until I am a real queen. Maybe I'll get a castle that looks just like this one, but bigger!" She gasped, ears perking up as she sat up. "Big enough to have my own Twilight!"

"Would you like that?" Twilight trotted along the familiar paths of her own castle. "You can borrow me whenever you like, my liege."

Crescent hugged her future subject from above. "You are the best princess!"

Twilight snorted at that. "Crescent, you realize Luna is a princess, don't you?"

"Yep! But we're different types of princesses." She set her head down on Twilight's shoulder, resting it there as they walked. "You can't beat me there."

"Oh, but I could," teased Twilight. "I am a princess of friendship."

"And I am the queen of the land!" Crescent hugged all the harder. "But, as princess, Luna is the princess of dreams and the night. She can't be beat there. You're both best, at different things."

"I'm glad you accept that, but you are a little young to be a queen yet, aren't you?" Twilight tilted her head curiously as they walked through the hallways of the palace, going towards a library, as it was a natural direction to travel when aimless wandering was the goal in mind. "Maybe you could become a princess instead and rule the night with your mother."

Crescent sat up with a hum. "I do have dream powers, you have a little point." She tapped at her chin thoughtfully. "Speaking of that, I need to keep a closer eye on mama, but I am going to be a queen."

"Whatever you like." Twilight carried her little monarch into the library and set her down on one of the comfy chairs, using her magic to levitate a book about history, though she soon noticed Crescent's curious eyes upon the title and she replaced it for a tome about ponies, one suitable for a foal to read and be entertained by.

Before she could get the book to Crescent, the little would-be ruler had snatched the first book in her magic and began reading it with little noises of fascination. Twilight inclined her head slowly. "You are an advanced reader, aren't you?"

"I have all of mama's memories." Crescent willed the next page to flip. "So I can read good. I like adult books and foal books. It depends on what mood I'm in." That she was reading Twilight's book gave a hint as to which mood she was in. "Oh, cool!" She traced her hoof along a passage of text, one that had an illustration to go with it, depicting a line of alicorns marching across the page. "There were more alicorns?"

"Princess Platinum, Celestia and Luna, and Cadance, as you know them." Twilight nodded towards Crescent. "Technically, that first one was just a unicorn, but she was proper royalty." She curled a hoof at herself. "And me, we can't forget that one. Oh, and Flurry Heart. Equestria has seen quite a few new princesses of late. Maybe you will be the next." She winked at her young friend and student. "Who knows what the future holds."

Crescent glowed with pride at the praise. "Thank you, Princess Twilight! It's great to have friends like you." She thought a moment. "Hey, I remember something. How did your dream end? I got called away."

Twilight inclined her head. "It ended when you left. That's why I came to see how you were. Now, that all behind us, you are welcome to enjoy that book."

Crescent willed it shut with her magic, floating it back where it had come from to start. "I want to stay, and play with you, but I should go home, and take care of things." She slid to her hooves. "I can't be a queen some day if I'm not mature about my responsibilities." She frowned at the door that lead outside, her nose wrinkling in disgust at the very idea of having to step beyond it. "I don't wanna go. What if I never see you again?"

"Do you think that is a possibility?" Twilight laid down at her friend's hooves. "I can always come and visit you." Her horn glowed as she retrieved that book for herself. "Or, you can visit me. You are an adept dream walker, are you not? We can talk, play, and spend time any day you want."

"You'd be alright with that?" Crescent leaned in, nose to nose with Twilight, her tail wagging with cautious optimism.

"I'd be very alright with that." Twilight made a soft shooing motion. "Go on." She patted at Crescent's shoulder with her free hoof before returning that attention to the book herself and burying her nose in its pages, finding something to amuse herself with for the time being as Crescent left through the front door, not daring to look back lest she find herself lost in the feelings plaguing her.

She fled from the towering library of a castle and snapped out her little wings. "Home," she called as she lifted into the air and darted up towards Canterlot, only to almost crash into another flier.

"Watch where you're going." Gallus gave her a shove. "Huh? Who are you?"

Crescent blinked at the griffon, searching her mother's memories and finding nothing about Gallus in them. "Hello? Who are you? I'm Crescent Moon." She lowered to the ground, landing.

"Gallus, and you are a weird little pony." He sized her up with a curious glance and flap of his wings as he held his ground. "I don't like strange new ponies."

"That's fair, I don't know how I feel about Griffons yet." She rolled her hoof a bit. "So, hm, hello, Gallus? What were you doing?" She looked him over more carefully, her eyes widening a bit. "Oh, are you a boy?!"

Gallus blushed and looked away. "Yeah, why?"

"You don't have a skirt like me." Crescent pointed, though seemed to realize a moment later. "You're not dressed at all."

Gallus barked a laugh at that. "Nope. Ain't against any laws." He folded his arms over his chest. "You're the one that's all over dressed. What are you getting ready for, all dudded up like that?" He flicked at her dress with a wingtip.

"Dressed up?" Crescent frowned at her own body. "This isn't dressed up. This is me, being normal."

"You look like a doll, or a doll collector's poster foal." Gallus tilted his head curiously at that. "But alright. We all got our styles." He reached forward and flicked Crescent's bow, making her ear twitch. "So, where's your parent? You shouldn't be wandering out so late, so far away from town. It's not safe."

"I don't have a parent, I live with my mama." Crescent turned with a snort and began to stride away from the strange, unfamiliar, and untrustworthy stranger griffon that was following her around, nosing in her business and staring at her with strange eyes that she couldn't read at all.

But he didn't give up on her, following right along. "You just said you have a mama, so you have a parent. Where is she? I can't just leave a foal out here by herself, okay?"

Crescent paused, but not to look at him, she kept striding with determination in each step. "She's inside. We just live far away. I was visiting a friend." She wasn't sure of what to say about any of that, but figured it was sufficient to make him stop bugging her, and leave her alone.

But it wasn't. He was right behind her, looming with every step. "Visiting a friend? Look, it's late, we're not in town. At least tell me which direction we're going."

Crescent whirled on Gallus with a little pout. "Why are you following me?!"

"Because I care?" Gallus shrugged softly. "Look, I may, you know, come off a bit prickly, but I'm not leaving a little filly to fend for herself."

"I'm not a filly!" Crescent stamped her hoof. "I'm just little!"

"You have a bow in your mane."

Crescent nodded at the statement of fact, folding her forelimbs. "I do have a bow, you're right."

"And you're a little pony."

She nodded more, frowning. "That's me. I'm a pony. And?"

Gallus stroked his beak gently. "Alright, sure, let's just go with that. You're a very little mare. So, being a nice griffon, I want to help you get somewhere safe. Where would that be?"

Crescent glanced away with a scowl, not that she could maintain the expression for long, but she had to try. "I could be a changeling, you know?"

"You smell like a pony, and you talk like one." Gallus crossed his wings in front of his body. "You also can't lie well enough to fool me."

"That's fine, I didn't want to anyway." She put a hoof over her chest proudly and declared, "I am Crescent Moon! Daughter of Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon! It's a pleasure to meet you." She extended her hoof for a shake, like she had practiced with Auntie Celestia many times over the past few weeks of her life.

Gallus accepted her hoof with a smile. "Now we're, oh. Oh! Well, that changes things." He rubbed behind his head with his free hand. "Let's get you to the train station. They can get you home."

"I can fly home." Crescent puffed out her chest, then frowned a little, rubbing a hoof on the back of her own neck as her ears lowered a bit and her wings flicked. "Kind of."

Gallus smirked at that. "You were doing that, not safely. That's how we almost crashed. Be more careful, alright?"

Crescent snorted, tossing her head to try to toss her mane back from her eyes, and only half succeeding. "Fine. But I still know how to get home from here. I have never been lost. Mama and Auntie make sure I know where I am, all the time. They like me to be safe." With everything well in hoof, Crescent took into the evening sky, zipping towards home.

Author's Note:

Hi, Gallus! Who should we bump into next? Could be somepony we met before.

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Comments

[Maulet Paya]

I love how you write Crescent

[TheGJ90]

I wonder if little Crescent finds a certain mirror in Twilight's castle and gets curious...

Hide that journal, Twi! I don't think the Human World is ready for her adorableness!

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

I would think that Gallus follows Crescent home (unseen) just to be certain that she arrives there safely.

[tsaukpaetra]

Silly filly, you can mist-ify and then don't need to bump into anyone on accident!
At least she's wary of being accosted outside her own terms.