A Bit of Trouble
For a moment, no pony spoke. All were silent as both parties stared at each other with a feeling of unease. For the first time in a thousand years, both royal sisters were face to face. There was a slight tension that filled the air, enough to make Celestia’s guards nervous.
Cadence was quick to note a few things as she waited silently. First of all, Luna was dressed to impress, whereas Celestia’s nobles were dressed to show their own importance. It was easy for somepony like Cadence to tell the differences between the two. First off, Luna’s dress was beautiful, but it also had a hint of subtlety. Celestia’s nobles, on the other hoof, looked a bit flashier and their outfits practically screamed ‘I’m a noble and your not’. There was also a difference between the nobles and the ponies that had come with Princess Luna. The nobles were all unicorns but only two of Luna’s were unicorns as well. Not that Cadence had anything against earth and Pegasus ponies; it was just that she was so used to seeing one group of ponies in government. For example, in Saddle Arabia, all the ponies in their government were earth ponies while in Equestria they were unicorns. Yet if what she was seeing was correct, the Lunar Republic seemed to allow all types of ponies to participate in their government.
As Cadence scanned the group, her eyes fell on the stallion with the black eye. He looked rather dashing in her opinion. Even if he did have a shiner. But what struck out most about him were the emotions he was giving off. The alicorn of love could feel the love he had for another that was causing his mind to be elsewhere. It was a very strong and powerful kind of love that Cadence could see as clear as day.
After a bit, the young princess began to wonder why no pony was speaking. Luna, when she first arrived, had a somewhat pleasant expression on her face. However it was quickly turning into one of irritation. That’s when it hit her; Luna was waiting to be welcomed. She turned to look at her aunt only to see her staring at her younger sister while trying to figure out what to say.
“It is nice to have you here Princess Luna and honored guests,” said Cadence. “In the name of Princess Celestia, we welcome you to Canterlot.” Luna’s head snapped in the direction of Cadence’s voice. The Lunar Princess’s eyes widened when she noticed that the one who spoke was an alicorn.
“What is your name?” asked Luna.
“I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza but you can just call me Cadence,” replied the alicorn of love. “I am Princess Celestia’s niece.” Luna gave her a nod before turning her head back to Celestia.
“I am glad to see that she has such good manners,” said Luna as she began to walk forward. “I just hope that this is not how you treat all diplomats.”
“O-Of course not Luna,” said Celestia as she found her voice. “I’m just a bit overwhelmed to see you once again. So much has changed and-”
“Yes I’m sure,” interrupted Luna. “I’m sure that things have changed on both sides. But whether it be for better or worse, only time will tell. Now then, let us begin these discussions. The sooner they are done the sooner we can make a decision.” Celestia looked hurt by these words and, truth be told, Luna resented herself for using them. However, she could show no weakness during these proceedings. If she did then there was a good chance that the Equestrian nobles would cut her to ribbons.
As Luna began to walk towards the entrance a small creature began to buzz around her. It looked like a small blue ball with wings and big green eyes. Luna held out a hoof and the small creature landed on it while making a very cute sound. It looked very familiar, yet Luna couldn’t place where she had seen it before.
“Princess, what is it?” asked Shining Armor as he and the others went to her side. Luna turned and proceeded to show them the strange, but cute creature she had found.
“What an adorable little thing,” said Celestia before turning to look at Iron Wall. “Tell me, do you have any idea what this creature is?” While her back was turned, the senators began to give each other uneasy looks. Celestia had been this lands ruler for a thousand years and didn’t know what this was. Granted they didn’t know since they were new to this land, but still it made them worry about her ruling style.
“I do auntie,” said Cadence in a nervous tone. “It’s a parasprite. I saw one of these things when I was in Roam last summer. These little creatures have an insatiable appetite and as they eat they multiply at an alarming rate. In less than two days this one will have become thousands and have eaten almost all the food here.”
As Cadence continued to speak of her experience in Roam, Luna’s eyes went wide. Now she remembered where she had seen this creature before. She had created them!
-Flashback-
“It’s not fair!” screamed Luna as she slammed the door to her room shut. She was just a little filly, didn’t even have her cutie mark yet, but she slammed the door so hard that it nearly broke. Tears were rolling down her face as she ran to her bed. It was one of the few things in her room that gave her any comfort. She owned very little compared to her older sister.
While on the bed, she began to sob loudly as she reached for her prized possession: a teddy ursa. It was bright blue with a little white star on it. What had it special to her was that she had won at a carnival all by herself. Celestia had also tried to win it, but for the first time in the older sister’s life she had failed at something. This stuffed animal represented to Luna that she could beat her sister at something.
“Oh Teddy, you won’t believe what Celestia did today,” said Luna to her stuffed animal. The toy stared back at her blankly, but Luna continued as if it had asked her to continue. “She ate the last slice of my birthday cake! The one I had been saving with the big fancy L on it! Mommy even told her not to eat it but she did it anyways. And all she had to say for herself was that she forgot.”
For a moment the room was silent as Luna stared at her toy bear. She nodded several times as she wiped away her tears. She then jumped off the bed and went into her closet.
“You’re right Teddy, we need to teach her a lesson,” said Luna as she exited the closet. She was now wearing a white lab coat and black goggles. On her back was a small box that read ‘My First Monster Maker Kit’. This, once again, was another prize she had won at the carnival. “I’ll show her what it’s like to have your food eaten right in front of you. And who knows, I might get my cutie mark for this!”
With that Luna went to work. For several hours she mixed potion after potion and added various things into the mix. She wanted it to be small thus making it easier to handle so she used some parts of an insect like fly’s as the base. She then added an empty belly potion as well as a cutie potion to make the thing more appealing. When all was said and done, Luna had the first parasprite in a glass beaker.
“Well making this didn’t help me get my cutie mark,” said Luna as she looked at her flank for a moment. But as she turned her head, the parasprite began to squeeze its way out of the beaker and flew out the window. But the time Luna spotted this it was too late. “Wait, come back!” she yelled but it was too late. Her head dropped as she began to pack up her kit. She had used too much of the materials in it to try again. And as for the monster, how much harm could one of them really do.
-End Flashback-
“Oops,” said Luna softly. Luckily for her, no pony could hear her.
“Is this how you run your country?” demanded Gigawatt as he pointed an accusing hoof at Celestia. “Not only do you let a dangerous creature near our princess, but you didn’t even know it was a threat! How can you justify this?”
“Enough,” said Luna as she cast a shield around the parasprite so that it wouldn’t get away. “I do not expect my sister to control everything that moves in her land. And while I am disappointed that she has no knowledge of this creature, it is no cause for anger. Now, let us waste no more time and begin these proceedings.” Her senators bowed to her as Luna prayed she didn’t look as guilty as she felt.
As the group began to walk into the castle, Shining Armor took position right behind his princess and in front of the senators. This way, should something happen, he could cast a shield around them more easily. As they walked, he also heard one of Celestia’s nobles speaking in a hushed tone.
“Did you see that dress,” said the noble. “It’s so droll. Even country bumpkins have more fashion sense than that. If she thinks that’s good fashion then I’d hate to see how she manages a government.” Hearing that, Shining Armor slowed down a bit until he was walking next to the noble.
“I just wanted to say that you have a very large castle,” said Shining Armor as the noble raised an eyebrow. “It’s much larger than the one we have on the moon.”
“Ah, I see,” said the noble as a smug grin appeared on his face. “We are very proud of it as well. No other kingdom in the land has a castle larger or more grand than ours. I’m sure that your castle on the moon is…cozy, but nothing says power like a large castle.”
“Or the need to overcompensate for one’s shortcomings,” said Shining Armor with a grin. The noble looked flustered for a moment as Shining Armor moved back into position.
-x-
“My hoof still hurts,” whined Twilight as she and her coltfriend walked down a long dusty road. Off to the side were rows and rows of apple trees. Shadow barked out a laugh.
“That’s what happens when you punch a stallion in the eye,” he said in good humor. “I never thought I’d live to see the day you’d do something like that.”
“Hey, did you really think I’d let Shining Armor say those things and get away with it?” demanded Twilight. Before the two had left for Ponyville, Shining Armor had pulled Twilight to the side to give his Big Brother Lecture. During this, he insinuated that Shadow might try to take advantage of a young and helpless mare like herself. This resulted in a shouting match that ended with Twilight ramming her hoof in his eye.
Shadow laughed again before looking up at the sky. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. It’s a bit unnerving to look up and not see the stars. Do you think it’s always blue like this?”
“Maybe,” said Twilight as she too looked up. She hated to admit it but she felt a little lost without the stars. But it was nice to know that Shadow felt similar about it all.
As the two continued walking they soon came across a large farm, presumably the one that owned all of these apple trees. Feeling hunger the two decided to see if they could grab a bite to eat real quick. As they entered the farm ground they saw dozens of ponies working in the fields gather apples. Soon they were approached by an orange earth pony mare wearing a Stetson hat.
“Well howdy there,” she said in southern accident. “Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. The name’s Applejack an’ it’s a pleasure ta meet ya. Y’all from Canterlot?”
“Sorry but no,” said Twilight. “Why would you think that?”
Apple Jack shrugged. “Well, Ah never seen neither of ya two before and we’ve been expecting somepony from Canterlot ta show up and check on the food preparations for tomorrow.”
“Well we are definitely not from Canterlot,” said Twilight. “Allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Shadow Blade.” Applejack turned to look at Shadow and her eyes widened a bit when she saw his slit eyes. Applejack's eyes then darted to Shadow’s side and when she saw his bat wings she took a step backwards on instinct.
“Is something wrong?” asked Shadow. He knew that bat ponies were very rare; one being born to a Pegasus family was about one in a thousand. The scientists in the Republic had studied this occurrence and had decided that it was just a rare genetic mutation for more nocturnal activity. That being said, he had never seen any pony act in fear upon seeing him.
“N-Nothing’s wrong,” stammered Applejack. She then took a deep breath as she looked around as if to check possible escape paths. “Now, what can I do ya both for?”
“Well, we were wondering if we could get a couple apples,” said Twilight. Applejack nodded as she slowly backed up in the direction of an apple barrel that happened to be nearby. She then pulled out two and then walked back to the couple.
“That’ll be four bits,” she said. Twilight reached into her saddle bag and then pulled out the money before handing it to the farmer mare. Applejack took the money but frowned when she looked at it. It didn’t look like any bit she had seen before. First of all it was silver and not bronze. Second of all, on one side of the coin was a crescent moon while on the other was an odd looking palace. “Now what in the hay is this? Some kinda joke?”
“Is there something wrong?” asked Shadow.
“I think it’s our currency,” said Twilight as she face hoofed. She then looked at Applejack. “I promise we’re not trying to cheat you. There is actually a very simple explanation of all of this. We’re not from Equestria and I guess we never got our money changed.”
Applejack blinked for a moment. Twilight sounded like she was telling the truth. It also explained why she was hanging around with a bat pony. Customs must be different in other countries.
“Sorry about that,” said Applejack as she tried to smile. “Simple mistake is all. Do ya have any other way of payin’?”
“Well we have some gold,” said Shadow as he pulled out several gold nuggets from his bag. The gold had been given to them by Princess Luna as a ‘just in case’ measure. Turned out they needed it sooner than they had hoped.
“Well, ah reckon ah don’t have enough bits for change,” admitted Applejack. “Tell ya what, ya can have them apples on the house. An ah know a mare that might be able to help ya out. Ah got a friend named Rarity who might like ta buy that gold.”
“That’s very kind of you,” said Twilight. “But we don’t know where this Rarity pony lives.”
“That’s alright,” said Applejack. “I’ll ask my brother ta show ya the way.”
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what is the exchange rate for lunar bits anyway
It starts raining.
"Aagh! Shadow, help! THE SKY LEAKING!"
Shadow and Twilight run inside the nearest building, madly panicking.
Rainbow Dash shows up.
Yo Bats, yer a bat.
When will twilicorn and friends show up? I want to see them. Even if they're in ghost form. :p
Hm..I was expecting old twilight and friends to comment on actions of new twilight.
A new and innovative type of story. Faved and hoping for regular updates.
2188118
The reason to why they haven't is hinted in the first chapter. Or at least thats how I planned it.
how many chapters will there be??
I love this perspective. Lunar Republic Fo' life yall!
2189394
right now, no idea
This is relevant to my interests.
So... Luna's kingdom is enjoying a few centuries of technological and magical advancement...
And Celestia's is basically still close to canon? People shifted around due to historical exodus?
I also can guess that Trixie is going to either
A- Get upstaged and despise Twilight. ( 2 Royal protege's constantly trying to one up each other.)
B- Realize Twilight is her new BFF. ( Can't imagine she would pass up intellectual conversation while stuck in a farm town.)
We respectfully demand more.
2190948
Well Luna is gone either way so Celestia would have run her government the same. At least that's how I see it. There will be slight changes here and there. Also, I plan on later explaining why Trixie is where she is. As for when she meets Twilight the answer is C: none of the above.
Twilight meeting Big Mac: I really hope you're not going for a love triangle thing here.
Huh... Fantastic racism never was a stranger to Equestria.
2191700
Certainly the Princess would be much the same, even if the weight of her regret had a different shape, but if a bunch of her free thinkers took off to the moon at a point in history none of their children will be around to come up with ideas she might want to adopt.
2187544
I'm guessing that since it's silver vs bronze, it goes like "One Lunar Bit = five Equestrian Bits.." Just a guess though...
Twilight deck Shiny. Oh that's just funny.
2192472 NEVER!!!!!!!!!
Nice! I wasn't expecting twi to deck shiny in 'is looker.
You really are very good at capturing those small details, like the skies being different and the currency having changed over time. Of course now I have to pitch out my Thestral theory as Shadow Blade appears to be the only one, but oh well. I'm enjoying the story, so it's kinda hard to be disappointed.
Get outta here! Luna created the parasprites?
Discord usually gets blamed, but AFAIK it isn't canon.
For the coins, will probably have to sell them based on value of metal content minus a small (or not so small) service charge
Best Parasprite creation story. :) It's now my head cannon. lol
unexpected turn XD