After Discord's defeat, Celestia discovers a young creature near the Lord of Chaos' statue, A baby draconequus. Fearing a second Discord, she takes the juvenile in and raises her as a unicorn. But as the baby grows, will she remain satisfied with just the castle walls?
A blast of rainbow light washed over the kingdom. All around Equestria, things were returning to normal. The grass became green, the sky became blue, and clouds rained only water.
Princess Celestia ran through the hall towards her balcony. The elements of harmony may have reverted everything in Equestria to normal, but once control of the heavens had been wrested from Discord, the sun and moon had set themselves on a perilous collision course. The princess looked over her shoulder to see that her sister Luna had joined her. They nodded in silent agreement as they leaped off the balcony, horns aglow and wings spread.
With a strained grunt, Celestia telekinetically grabbed hold of the sun. She braced her hooves against one of the castle's spires as she wrestled with the enormous orb of magic. Discord's influence had weakened the outer shell and destabilized the core. With a great pulse of magic, she held the sun in place and began to repair the damage.
Luna, meanwhile, had dove down to street level and grabbed onto the moon. The chunk of space rock spun and wobbled violently, which threatened to throw it out of orbit. Great gashes appeared across the lunar surface as she applied magical brakes on the sphere and returned it to its proper rotation speed. With a quick flick of her head, she forced the moon into its proper position, just below the horizon.
“SISTER!” Luna shouted. “THE MOON HATH BEEN SETTLED!”
“Great work, Luna!” Celestia grunted. She felt the roof of the spire buckle from the force of her magic as she pitched the sun into its place in the evening sky. She let out a huff and fluttered her wings before she hopped off the spire to join her sister on the street. She cast her eyes towards Ponyville and smiled proudly. Twilight and her friends had done it. They'd defeated Discord.
A celebration was in order. Celestia set her best advisers to work organizing the event to recognize Twilight and her friends as national heroes once again. Artisans quickly busied themselves on something special for the group, a stained glass window that immortalized the draconequus' defeat.
Then there was the matter of the cleanup. The elements had fixed all of the impossibilities and damage caused by them, but there was still a lot of destruction caused by perfectly normal ponies in a perfectly irrational state of mind. The first order of business was getting Discord out of the center of Ponyville.
Celestia personally oversaw his return to the sculpture garden, and took extreme care to ensure his now horrified expression faced exactly where he'd been looking for the past fifteen hundred years. As before, he was as a monument to what all of Equestria stood against. Satisfied, she turned to return to the castle, but stopped short at the gasp of one of the groundskeepers.
“P-princess Celestia!” the mare called as she hefted something out of a bush. What she held in her mouth was disturbing, to say the least. An infantile creature, about the size of an elementary student with the head of a pony, and a body made up of all sorts of different things. Many of the other groundskeepers panicked and dispersed. The guards ran to point their horns at the mare and the baby draconequus. The former, in Celestia's royal opinion, looked like she was about to wet herself.
“Stand down,” Celestia ordered as she took a closer look at the diminutive creature. Like Discord, it had a single fang, and its yellow and red eyes mismatched in size. In addition, it had a lizard's tail, and one of its arms was remarkably similar to a bird's talon. However, that was where its similarities to the Lord of Chaos ended. Its head only bore one horn, a unicorn's, kinked off to the right. Its right arm was like a monkey's, ending in a hand that reached out and grasped at her aurora mane. One of its legs seemed to be feline in origin, while the other canine, although exactly which of each she couldn't tell. A pair of wings fluttered on its back, one wide and multicolored like a butterfly, the other long and transparent. Most of the creature's body was white, with a few exceptions. It had a long, untidy black mane, as well as black spots on its feline leg, and zebra stripes running down the left side of its torso. The talon was yellow, and the feathers attached were mostly white, with black tips. The fur on the primate arm didn't grow on the fingers or palm of the hand, which was pink and fleshy. The lizard tail, instead of being red and feathered, was sapphire blue and ended in a point, like Spike's. White spines ran its entire length.
Celestia lifted the creature magically and brought it close to her. Once in range, it grabbed onto her horn and started tugging on it.
“Where did you come from, little one?” she asked, completely nonplussed by this assault on her royal being. The creature let out a playful giggle as it continued to pull at the bony appendage. Celestia glanced at Discord, still as stone. Was this something he'd done? No, chaos wasn't capable of creating. Still, it had to have come from somewhere, and the approximation to Discord was distressing. After short consideration, she floated the baby off to one of her guards
“Take her to the royal nursery,” she ordered.
“Yes, your highness,” the guard said. Her guard was apprehensive, perhaps even a little scared. "Why do we not seal this one away as well?" she could practically hear on his face. She smiled reassuringly at him, which seemed to ease his doubts a little.
Celestia had never been a proponent for using punishment as a preventative measure. When she looked into Discord's eyes, she saw sadism, cruel insight, and more than a fair share of violent insanity. The little one lacked any of these, instead her eyes bore the innocent awe at everything that only a newborn could have. A plan began to hatch in her mind.
After the ceremony, Celestia sat comfortably at her writing desk. She'd taken to keeping a diary, many years ago, just after the first time they had defeated Discord. On the shelves lining the back of her desk were rows of slim, white tomes with her cutie mark on the cover. These diaries were probably the best recorded history of nearly two millenniums worth of major events in all of Equestria. A few dozen of the books were missing; Celestia had loaned them to her sister to help her re-adjust to life on the planet. She lifted her quill and took it to the freshest page of her most recent diary.
Dear Diary
Today we celebrated Discord's defeat. Twilight and her friends truly are an amazing group of mares, completing over the course of two days what Luna and I took several months to accomplish (although, they didn't have to travel across the world in search of the Elements of Harmony). I would hope that Discord's newest prison will be a permanent solution, although I already know better. Once my student and her friends pass on, the seal will weaken once more and he shall be free. My original plan was to simply (hah) find new bearers for the Elements every generation, although I believe a better solution has presented itself.
In the gardens, near Discord's statue, one of the groundskeepers discovered a baby draconequus (whom the doctors have confirmed to be female). I have yet to determine where this juvenile came from, or how she is related to him, but if we can teach her the values of friendship, peace, and harmony, then perhaps she will be able to do the impossible and defeat Discord, permanently. The nurses have called her everything from Discordia to Mania to many things too rude for me to repeat even here, but I personally like the name Luna picked out for her, Moonstruck. Despite its connotation, it does sound like a strong, unicorn name.
Speaking of my little sister, she was unable to attend the ceremony today. Her magic finally began to come in a couple of days ago when she stabilized the moon, so it looks at first glance like somepony ripped huge chunks of her mane out. She's mentioned that once she's presentable again, she plans on making an appearance to re-introduce herself to the populace. I would like to help her, and have invited her on several of my own publicity trips, but she is as stubborn as she's always been, and has staunchly refused any assistance on the matter. I can only hope she manages to at least break her habit of SHOUTING ALL THE TIME, LIKE WE USED TO HAVE TO BEFORE THE REFORM.
Celestia paid a visit to the royal nursery the next day. Moonstruck was being nursed by one of the oldest and most experienced, Lullaby. She was a white pegasus mare with a graying mane, and a baby bottle for her cutie mark. The two had been given a wide berth by the other nurses, who tended to the young of the rest of the royal family.
“Has she been any trouble, Lullaby?” Celestia asked.
“Not 'tall,” Lullaby gently flicked her wing away from a grasping talon. “She's a wee bit of a grabber, though. Ah... there's a good girl,” she brought Moonstruck into an embrace as the baby draconequus detached herself and began to rub her back.
"BEEEELCH."
Nick-knacks, toys, and loosely secured furniture rattled as the burp echoed through the nursery.
“She's certainly quite vocal,” Celestia mused
“Excuse me, your highness?” Lullaby had raised her volume several decibels. Celestia smiled and leaned close to the nurse's ear.
“For now, treat her like a unicorn foal. Send for me if she begins to get out of hoof,” she instructed.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Lullaby replied loudly. She turned to the other nurses, who had stopped their tasks to stare. “What're you lot doing? Get back to work!”
Celestia monitored the baby draconequus' progress for the next several days. Gradually, the other nurses grew used to her presence, and allowed her to play together with the other foals, although Lullaby was still the only one brave enough to actually nurse the juvenile. It wasn't until almost a full week later that a guard approached Celestia.
“Your highness! Word from the nursery. You're... going to want to come see this.”
The entire nursing staff stood by the open door of the nursery. Each nurse held foals either on their backs or in strollers, panic etched on each of their faces.
“Would you twittering gnits get back in here?” Lullaby's voice came from within. “She ain't doing a thing any unicorn wouldn't.” The nurses parted as Celestia arrived and allowed her to see inside.
Moonstruck stood in front of a line of small bears, shaped like the stuffed toys given to foals, but very real and alive. Each bore a brass horn of varying sizes, and wore little red marching band uniforms. The draconequus herself also wore a uniform, with a tall red hat and black brim. She carried a conductors baton, and started to dance in a peculiar, bipedal fashion. The bears began to blow on their horns in a horrid cacophony that mocked the very spirit of music.
“Where did the stuffed bears come from?” Celestia asked calmly.
“We only have one stuffed bear like that. She made the rest of them, your highness,” one of the nurses replied.
“And the uniforms as well?” Celestia questioned further.
“Yes, your highness.”
Celestia nodded and entered the nursery. She approached Moonstruck with a sort of bemused smile on her face. She sat down and folded her legs under her body so she was level with her.
“Is this your band?” Celestia asked calmly. Moonstruck let out a little squeal in response. “May I?”
She presented the baton to the princess. Using it as a conductor, she got the bears to play a simple chord. She returned the baton to Moonstruck, who proceeded to replicate her.
“Very good,” Celestia said with a smile. “Now, you've frightened the other nurses. Why don't you return these to where they came from?” Moonstruck blinked her mismatched eyes in response, the big one, then the little one.
Dear Diary,
Today Moonstruck managed to clear out the nursery with her magic. She summoned a small parade of teddy bears and attempted to conduct them in music. While her musical talent could stand to be improved, what I'm more interested in is where her band came from in the first place.
For posterity, since it's the only real reason I'm keeping these journals, magic is separated into two categories. Order magic, which ponykind practices, is the only kind most ponies are aware of. This is the magic of life, creation, friendship, and harmony. Chaos magic, practiced by many other magically capable species, is less well known. Draconequines, back when they were common, were major practitioners. It is the magic of death, destruction, despair, and disorganization.
At first I thought she may have created them via illusion, but the bears were very real. Chaos magic simply cannot create things, so either Moonstruck summoned them to the nursery from somewhere we've yet to determine, or her unicorn horn allows her some degree of control over order magic as well. Perhaps they're from the same place Moonstruck herself came from.
In any event, as soon as Moonstruck has been weaned, I must begin teaching her to fight against her chaotic nature. She seems to be cooperative enough, perhaps she believes I'm her mother?
Luna has returned my diary from the first year of her banishment. She's reading them much more slowly than I would have hoped. I probably shouldn't rush her, though. There are many old scars on those pages, and it simply wouldn't do if she overwhelmed herself.
Moonstruck grew incredibly quickly. Within the month, she had grown so large that if she stood on her hind legs, she was tall enough to stare Lullaby in the face. She was unbelievably smart, and sucked up her general education at a rate that may have even challenged Celestia's prized pupil.
“Auntie!” the juvenile exclaimed happily as Celestia entered the nursery. She fluttered her wings to float up to Celestia's eye level before throwing a big hug around her neck. “Auntie, listen, I have something important to say!” Moonstruck began to whisper conspiratorially. “I don't. Think. I'm. Like. The other ponies.”
Celestia giggled in response. “You're certainly sharp, Moonstruck. I had hoped to put this off for a little while longer, but perhaps you're ready. Lullaby, I'm taking your charge.”
“Good. If I may be so bold, perhaps you should find her a room of her own. Near as I can tell, she's close enough to adulthood to not need a nanny anymore.”
“But...but...but! Nana!” Moonstruck objected as she dropped to the ground. “Who am I going to talk to when I have scary dreams at night? Who's going to look at my pictures and listen to my music?”
“Now, now, child. It's not as if I'm leaving you forever. I'll be here for a long time yet, I suspect, so you can come and visit whenever you need.” Moonstruck pouted, but then relented.
“What was it you wanted to show me, Auntie?” she said cheerily, as if the exchange hadn't occurred.
“Come with me,” Celestia instructed. She led her away from the nursery, up to Canterlot Tower.
“Now, as you've discovered, you're not like the other ponies, because you're not a pony. You are what's known as a draconequus, with the head of a pony and a body made up of many different animals,” Celestia explained.
“So that's why I don't have hooves,” Moonstruck said as she wiggled her fingers and claws. She glanced around at the stained glass windows, and caught a glimpse of Discord.
“Is that a draconequus, too?”
“Yes. That is Discord. He was... not a very nice draconequus,” Celestia explained.
“Did he bite his Nana a lot?” Moonstruck asked. Celestia giggled.
“I'm afraid I wouldn't know. When I knew Discord, he was already older than me. Using his magic, he became a cruel god-king over all types of creatures.”
Moonstruck stared at the windows for a long time.
“Am I going to grow up to be like that?” She asked.
Celestia paused for a moment. “I believe that you will make that choice when the time comes. Come, let me show you what happened to Discord.”
Celestia guided Moonstruck out to the sculpture garden, to where Discord's statue stood.
“This is Discord. When he was defeated, the elements of harmony turned him to stone,” she explained.
“Hello, Discord!” Moonstruck said brightly, waving her hand at the statue. She paused for a moment, as if listening intently. “That's what Auntie tells me!”
“Moonstruck, are you...?” Celestia began.
“Yes, I call her Auntie, because that's who she is,” Moonstruck said as she leaned back on her tail and crossed her arms. After another moment, she lifted her hand and looked at it. “Really?” She pressed her middle finger against her thumb.
SNAP
In an instant, the wildlife around Discord's statue exploded. Flowers the size of dinner plates burst from the ground and vines climbed up the lord of chaos' body.
“Wow,” Moonstruck said as her eyes sparkled.
“I think that's enough for now,” Celestia said as she used her wing to gently turn Moonstruck around and guide her away from the statue.
“But...” Moonstruck began, but was silenced as Celestia merely gave her a stern look.
“You must not speak with Discord,” she said once they were back within the castle walls. “He is a liar and a manipulator. He will say anything to get his way, and it is imperative that he remains imprisoned.”
“...He must have bitten his Nana really hard,” Moonstruck concluded.
Dear Diary
Moonstruck has finally (or perhaps already) finished her days in the royal nursery. I had intended to show her what Discord had done, and what happened to him, in an attempt to discourage her from following his path, although this backfired somewhat upon our visit to the royal gardens. It seems as though, despite being encased in stone, Discord was able to reach out to his kin and communicate with her. Before I was able to intervene, he taught her a little bit of chaos magic. A mere parlor trick compared to his full power, and her full potential, but it may have been enough to spark the younger draconequus' curiosity. I may have to commission a fake sculpture of Discord to put in the garden and move the real one someplace more secure. I liked his old pose better, anyway.
I received a letter from Twilight Sparkle this evening; Apparently my sister's planned publicity trip was a Nightmare Night visit to Ponyville. From the letter, it sounded as though it didn't quite go as she had planned, but turned out alright in the end. Though I wish Luna had allowed me to help her, I'm proud of her for her first successful PR trip. Perhaps I should have her start sending me friendship reports as well?
Celestia chuckled to herself as she turned to retire. Despite her concerns, she had a good feeling about Moonstruck.
Two yellow eyes with red irises erupted open. Mismatched, the large one blinked, followed by the small. Moonstruck yawned and sat up in her bed, then reached over and turned the lamp on.
The room Aunt Celestia had given her was fairly large. It was a turret room about midway up the northwestern spire. The bed sat against the southern portion of the wall, which gave Moonstruck a good view out to the balcony, and her telescope. Directly across from the bed was a desk, which was covered in sketches of things like ponies and areas around the castle, as well as a whole bunch of things that simply didn't make any sense. Next to that was a bookshelf, then the door.
Moonstruck hopped energetically out of bed. Her limbs made a distinct click, slap, patpat as she landed. She turned to a mirror that was between her bed and the door to the balcony, and grabbed a brush. She thought she looked just fine with her mane all scraggly from her pillows, but Auntie had insisted on her brushing it every morning. It wasn't morning yet, but today she wanted to impress her Aunt, so maybe she would get permission to do something she had wanted to do for many months now. She combed out her mane as straight as she could get it, trimmed her fingernails, filed her talons, clipped her claws, shined her wings, preened her feathers, straightened her scales, and brushed her coat, all the while with one eye out the window for signs of the sunrise.
Once done, Moonstruck reared up on her hind legs and spun once, careful not to smash her vanity with her tail. It took a lot of work, but Auntie was always delighted when she cleaned up like this. Falling back on all fours again, she turned and bolted from the room.
In years past, Moonstruck's distinctive steps at any pace above a slow trot heralded doom for all potted plants and small decorations that lined the halls. More recently, however, she only ever frightened new servants when she ran through the castle. Most of the older servants had grown tolerant of her, but only a few were willing to perform their duties for her, and fewer still were anything approaching friendly to her. She didn't mind so much, since she had Aunt Celestia, Aunt Luna, and Nana, and those three were the only ones she needed.
Moonstruck saw the guards at the entrance to the royal balcony, from which the sisters guided the heavens every day. They were still night guards, which meant that Aunt Luna presided for the moment. Moonstruck dropped on her rump, skidded the remaining two hundred feet or so across the polished castle floor, and turned as she got close to the guard. Her tail wrapped around his body as she draped her right arm across his withers.
“Is Aunt Celestia going to be ready to raise the sun soon?” she asked the guard, who despite all of this, hardly even blinked.
“Princess Celestia is due in about fifteen minutes, Miss,” he replied flatly.
“O~kay,” Moonstruck sang. They sat like that for about a minute. “You smell like apples.”
“Get off me.”
Moonstruck disentangled herself from the guard and scooted a few inches away from him. Her horn started to glow as she cast a spell. She summoned to her a violin from her room and began to play it.
“You're improving, Moonstruck.”
“Auntie!” Moonstruck chirped, up on her hind legs with a bounce. She had grown quite a bit in the last few years, and now almost stared the princess directly in the face when she stood fully erect. “Auntie, can I help lift the sun today?”
Celestia smiled as the door to the balcony swung open, and Luna trotted out. She'd gotten taller as well, now just as big as her elder sister.
“Good morning, Sister,” Luna said.
“Good Morning, Luna,” Celestia replied. “How was your evening?”
“'Twas unremarkable. Excuse me,” Luna stifled a yawn, then motioned for her guards to follow her.
“So can I help with the sun?” Moonstruck asked.
“I'm sorry, Moonstruck, but lifting the sun is a one pony job,” Celestia replied, smiling. Moonstruck's ears drooped. “I'll tell you what, though. You can help me practice for the Summer Sun Celebration coming up.”
Moonstruck followed the princess out to the balcony, and lifted her violin to play the piece she had played at every sun celebration, while Celestia took off into the air. The sun rose gloriously behind her and brought light to the city as Moonstruck finished the piece.
“Perfect,” Celestia said as she landed.
“Hey Auntie, have you ever considered maybe using a different song?” Moonstruck suggested, her horn glowing as she teleported her violin back to its home.
“That's such a lovely piece, though, from one of the greatest musicians of the time,” Celestia said.
“Oh, I'm not saying that Beethooven's piece is bad, it's just... always the same,” Moonstruck explained.
“Tradition is an important part of any celebration,” Celestia pointed out. “Come, you have studies to attend to.”
Dear Princess Celestia
I've always had fun playing with little kids, and I thought babysitting meant just more playtime, right? Wrong! Being a caregiver is way more responsibility than just being a playmate. And today I learned that sometimes our desire for responsibility can outrun our actual ability to handle it.
Moonstruck kicked her legs as she read the slightly yellowed paper. Aunt Celestia had her read these friendship reports from her student, and her friends. They'd worked through them steadily, but new ones always came to increase the pile.
Moonstruck yawned as she set the report aside. Her assignment was to read a report, and then find some way to apply the lesson in the castle. She was almost certain Auntie had picked this one out today. She grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill.
“Today I learned that I'm not responsible enough yet to pick up the sun,” she dictated to herself. “Done! Let's go for a walk.” She hopped out of her desk and walked out of the room. She wandered the halls for a bit, and ran across a white unicorn stallion.
“Hel~lo, Brother!” Moonstruck sang as she paced next to him.
“For the last time,” Prince Blueblood began, “I am not your brother. We aren't related in any way, you insane monstrosity.”
“Yes we are!” Moonstruck insisted. “We nursed from the same mare, we both live in the castle, and both call the princesses Auntie. Therefore, we're siblings.”
“That is, by far, the most absurd line of reasoning I have ever heard,” Blueblood replied.
“Is that a challenge?” Moonstruck smirked.
“Shouldn't you be studying?” Blueblood asked. “Or having a luncheon? Or pestering anypony else in the castle?”
Moonstruck considered for a little bit. “...Nah.”
“Well, I have an important meeting to attend to,” Blueblood said.
“Is it about the wedding?” Moonstruck asked as her ears drooped.
“...Yes. I need to approve the... color scheme,” Blueblood replied.
“Oh. That sounds boring,” Moonstruck sighed.
“Yes, quite, but as the groom it is part of...” Moonstruck didn't hear all of what Blueblood had said, and he hadn't seemed to notice she'd turned down a different hall completely. She made her way to her bedroom and leaned on her balcony's railing.
“There sure is a lot of Equestria out there,” she said, staring at nothing in particular. She wanted to see what else was outside the castle walls, but every time she brought it up, Aunt Celestia would tell her that as long as she was studying, she needed to stay within the castle. There will be time to explore the world once you're ready for it, she'd said.
Moonstruck retreated back into her room and turned to her drawing desk. There was an almost finished piece in the center. It was a picture of a mountain, or more likely an island. At least she'd always dreamed of it as an island. It looked like a rather silly place, with things like trees that grew upside down and deer that bounced on enormous rabbit's feet. She added a few final details to the picture, then picked it up to examine it. It was a nice picture, but it was missing something. She tapped the base of her fang with her finger a couple of times.
“Color,” she concluded. In her dream, the island had always been so lush and colorful and alive, but like the rest of her compositions, it now sat in simple monotone. She rolled the picture up and took hold of it with her magic. She knew just where to get some color.
Moonstruck pushed the nursery door open and pattered in as silently as possible. As long as she stayed off her talon, she moved far more quietly than any pony ever could. It was nap time, as dictated by the sign near the nursery.
“Psst! Mobile!” Moonstruck hissed to get a pink unicorn's attention.
“Why, hello Moonstruck. Are you here to see Lullaby?” the unicorn replied in a gentle, matronly voice. Moonstruck nodded enthusiastically. “She's in the office. Come on.”
Mobile led Moonstruck through the nursery, past the nurses that were picking up wayward toys and cleaning the floors, past the bathrooms, and into the very back of the nursery.
Lullaby hadn't aged very gracefully in the past seven years. Her mane was now fully gray and looked as though it would snap off at the slightest touch. Her wings drooped quite a bit, and every so often a feather would drop off one of them. The skin around her face and barrel sagged. She snored quietly in her chair, a pile of paperwork on the desk in front of her.
“Oh. I'm sorry, Moon. It looks like it's her nap time as well,” Mobile whispered.
“Gnyeeh... Who's nappin'?” Lullaby grunted. Her eyes opened as she sat up straighter.
“Hi Nana!” Moonstruck chirped.
“Well hey there, li'l dragonfly,” Lullaby said as she reached over and mussed Moonstruck's mane. “My, you're bigger every time I see ya. How ya doin' today?”
“Good! I wanted to show you my new drawing,” Moonstruck said. She unfurled the paper and presented it for approval.
“Looks good, sprout, but... It's missin' somethin',” Lullaby said, straining herself to stand. “Come're. Let's see if we can't dig out some o' the old hoofpaints.”
“Lullaby, we just finished cleaning the art room,” Mobile objected.
“T'ain't no point'n cleanin' a room if ya ain't gonna make it dirty again,” Lullaby replied.
Moonstruck dipped her finger in the sky-blue hoofpaints and rubbed it across the top part of the paper.
“You done some pretty landscapes 'fore, but I ain't ever seen that island,” Lullaby said as she watched her.
“It's not a real place. At least I don't think it is,” Moonstruck replied as she got some purple to work into the sea. “I hope it's a real place. In my dreams, potatoes would pop out of the ground to watch you go by, corn would dance to the music of the trees, and caves would tell me secret things, like how my brother's blood isn't actually blue.”
Lullaby started to laugh. “Ya know, that colt used to love playing in the hoof paints,” she said. “Was a time when his coat was more red 'n blue than white.”
“Really? He gets all bent out of shape if I so much as leave a feather on his coat,” Moonstruck giggled.
“Yeah, well... My, I ain't heard that colt really laugh since those days.” Lullaby looked away a little wistfully. “I 'spose 'tain't a big surprise. He was a fussy eater, and with his folks spoilin' him and all...”
“I bet I could get him to laugh,” Moonstruck said. She got some pink next.
“Why are you making them pink? Trees are green,” Mobile asked.
“Oh, if the filly wants pink trees, let her have them,” Lullaby said.
Moonstruck bounced along the castle halls in high spirits. Her completed painting floated in mid-air next to her, as she passed by Blueblood's room. She stopped, then knocked on the door. Maybe she could give the painting to him? He liked art, and she knew he'd picked up a few pieces far more abstract than her island of pink, inverted trees. There was no answer, so Moonstruck knocked again. This time, the door swung open from her rapping.
“Bro~ther. You in here?” Moonstruck called out as she let herself in. Blueblood's chambers were much larger than her own, perhaps only second the the princesses' chambers. The room was more like a house unto itself, with a personal bathroom, bedroom, and sitting room. Moonstruck placed her painting on the table near the fireplace, then turned to leave. She stopped as she glanced through the door to the bedroom, where a neatly made and decadent velvet bed sat.
“Hmm. If he liked playing in the paints when he was little...” Moonstruck got an idea. She looked around to ensure she was alone in the room, then snapped her fingers.
“Moon, I've told you about this before. You need to elaborate on your answers, because otherwise it looks like you haven't learned anything,” Aunt Celestia said over dinner. Aunt Luna, who had just lifted the moon, pulled the paper from her sister and read it over.
“'Tis self-explanatory, Sister. After all, her schoolwork is the sole thing she's responsible for,” she pointed out.
“I think I get it,” Moonstruck said with a nod. “Since my schoolwork is always sloppy and unfinished, you think that I'd do a poor job with the sun or moon.”
“Exactly,” Celestia said. “Can you think of a way to prove to us that this isn't the case?”
“Byyyy... doing my schoolwork properly?” Moonstruck guessed.
“Very good. Write it down,” Celestia said as she slid the paper to Moonstruck.
She lifted a quill to pen her additions to her work when a shriek echoed throughout the castle.
Mere moments later, the door to the dining hall burst open. Prince Blueblood stood with a mad look in his eye. His entire front legs, and a large portion of his face were coated in purple paint.
“Blueblood? What happened to you?” Celestia asked.
“That happened,” Blueblood spat as he pointed his hoof dramatically at Moonstruck. Paint whipped off his leg and splattered across the floor. She let out a choked chuckle; he looked ridiculous. “Listen to her! She's proud of it!”
“Moonstruck, what did you do?” Celestia asked calmly.
“Well... I went to visit Brother's room...” Moonstruck began as she continued to fight her urge to burst out laughing.
“I am not your brother!”
“...to give him a picture I drew. He wasn't there, and the door was open, so I left it on his table. On my way out, I remembered that Nana told me that he used to love to play with hoofpaints. I know he's been busy with the wedding plans all month, so I thought I'd give him something to help lighten up a little.” She broke at this point and began to laugh heartily. She rolled over onto her back and kicked her legs into the air.
“Lighten up?! You turned my bed into a vat of purple paint! Are you mad?!” Blueblood demanded. “Don't answer that, of course you are. Auntie, you simply must do something with her.”
“I will handle her, Blueblood. Go clean yourself up before you track more paint through the castle,” Celestia said.
“I want...” Blueblood began.
“I said,” Celestia cut him off, “I will handle her.”
The room fell silent. Moonstruck put her hand over her mouth to try and help silence her mirth. Blueblood huffed and walked out of the room, trailing purple paint behind him.
Moonstruck sat back up, still shaking from her laughter.
“Why did you do that?” Celestia asked.
“Because I thought it would be funny,” Moonstruck answered.
“Blueblood didn't seem to think so,” Celestia said.
“That's too bad. I'd hoped to at least get a smile out of him,” Moonstruck sighed.
“Sister, 'twas a harmless prank. The paint will wash easily enough. Surely you're not planning on severely punishing her?” Luna said.
“What spell did you use to turn the bed into paint?” Celestia asked.
“Spell? Um,” Moonstruck fidgeted, “I... didn't use a spell.”
“So you used your chaos magic,” Celestia said.
“...Yes,” Moonstruck said.
“And what did I tell you about using chaos magic?” Celestia continued.
“To never, ever, ever, ever, ever do it?” Moonstruck smiled.
“Yes. I want you to clean up the paint on the castle floor, without magic. You're also grounded for three days,” Celestia said.
“Ooooh.” Moonstruck let her shoulders slump and her ears droop.
Moonstruck groaned as she swished her tail. It slapped on the ground on one side of her bed, then the other. Today was the second day of her grounding, which meant if she wasn't studying or eating, she was in her room.
“I'm so booooooored,” she thought aimlessly as she lifted her legs and kicked them in the air. She'd finished the other part of her punishment the previous day. The paint she'd replaced Blueblood's bed with had been foal's hoofpaint, so it even came out of the carpets easily. All in all, it only took three hours or so to make it as though it'd never happened, although whispers circulated the castle that a strange unicorn mare had been seen leaving the castle with a purple stain on her back.
Not that Moonstruck knew what that meant, or much cared. All she cared about was all her pent up energy. She titled her head to the side so her horn pointed straight up at the ceiling, and a rubber ball appeared on its tip. She grabbed it and tossed it at the space of wall above her desk to start a game of catch with herself.
knock knock knock
Moonstruck looked at her door as the ball impaled itself on her horn and vanished. “Come in,” she called. Lullaby pushed the door open and trotted in.
“Oh, hi Nana!” Moonstruck said as she bounced up. “What are you doing here?”
“I figur'd a sprightly filly like you'd be just 'bout fit to burst all penned up in her room all day.” Lullaby smiled. “Thought I'd come up an visit 'cha 'til yer sprung for dinner.”
“Are you sure that's alright, Nana?” Moonstruck asked as she helped her onto a cushion. “I am supposed to be getting punished.”
“It's fine,” Lullaby insisted as she allowed herself to be set down. “Even prisoners get ta have visitors.” Moonstruck grabbed another cushion from across the room and slid it under her own body. She wrapped her tail around Lullaby and propped her head up on her hand and talon.
“So how have the babies been?” she asked.
“Well enough. Li'l whippersnappers need ta learn gums ain't gonna tear their...” Lullaby smirked, “Oh, ya meant the foals.” Moonstruck smiled.
“I saw a neat new toy the last time I was there," she mentioned.
“There's always some neat new toy somewhere'n that nursery,” Lullaby replied.
“It looked like a miniature train,” Moonstruck elaborated.
“Oh, that darn thing? I swear, Cradle's been getting more fun out of that than the kids. All these new-fangled toys and their 'adult assembly required' horse apples.” Lullaby sighed heavily. “Back'n my day, kids played with dolls, an' paints, an' if they were real lucky, tin whistles.”
“Or stuffed animals and horns?” Moonstruck asked.
“Ezactly.”
Moonstruck giggled. “Come on, Nana, wouldn't you have liked to play with a toy train when you were a filly?”
“Darn thing runs on its track an' dings. 'Tidabin novel for all o' five minutes.”
“Well...” Moonstruck's horn began to glow as a small, spectral blue train appeared around them. It chugged along and spat puffs of smoke into the air. Every couple of feet it would let out a high-pitched ring ring! “Let's see... Here we have the Trustwater Express, conducted by... Clickity Clack, the brave explorer,” she said. “He's taking a load of important medical supplies out to the frontier, past the treacherous Draco Mountains!”
Moonstruck blew at the train. Its smoky composition shifted a little from her breath. “There's a storm brewing, but if Clickity doesn't make it to Fetlock by sundown, his daughter won't make it through the night! He presses the train as hard as he can, but,” she twitched her tail a little so it blocked the track, “there's a tree down! There's no time to stop and move it, so it looks like he's gonna have to jump!”
Lullaby chuckled. She lifted her wing and draped it over Moonstruck's shoulder. “You've got quite an active imagination, Li'l Dragonfly. Don't ever lose that.”
A guard knocked on the door. “Miss Lullaby, Miss Mobile has sent word that nap time will be over soon.”
“Yeah, yeah. Duty calls, sprout.” Moonstruck helped Lullaby to her hooves. “I'll see ya later.”
“Bye Nana. Thanks for visiting me!” Moonstruck waved her off.
Moonstruck managed to entertain herself for another hour with her magically conjured train set. She had a working knowledge of trains, and saw them go in and out of the station way over near the base of the castle town. She understood that trains were used to freight ponies and supplies from place to place, but she'd never gotten the chance to examine one up close.
Prince Blueblood had joined them for dinner that night. He and Celestia conversed quietly about something when Moonstruck arrived. Celestia politely nodded at her. Blueblood only paid her the barest heed to be socially acceptable.
“Oh, come on, Brother. I already cleaned up all the paint and turned your bed back to normal,” Moonstruck said with a pout. He didn't even dignify her with a response, although Moonstruck only interpreted this as him finally accepting her assertions that he was her big brother.
Princess Luna arrived a few moments later. With her schedule, what normal ponies called 'dinner' she referred to as 'lunch', but regardless of what it was called, it was one of the only times she and her sister were awake concurrently.
“Good evening, Sister. Nephew. Moonstruck,” she said as she sat down.
“Good evening, Luna,” Celestia replied. “How is your night court running?”
“Things are going well enough,” Luna replied. “But... I sense an uneasiness in our subjects. Hath thou felt it as well?”
“Mind your diction. I have, but perhaps we should discuss this more privately,” Celestia replied. Luna nodded in agreement.
“Very well.” She turned to Blueblood. “Nephew. I understand you are joining in wedlock this coming month.”
“Actually, My fiance has called the wedding off,” Blueblood said with as much dignity as he could muster.
“My apologies. I had not heard,” Luna said.
“Oh no, what happened?” Moonstruck asked. Blueblood shot daggers from his eyes at her.
“It seems as though because of some nasty rumors flying about, she no longer trusts me,” Blueblood replied.
“Speaking of rumors,” Moonstruck said as she detected a subject change was in order, “did you hear about that unicorn with a big purple spot on her back? That's pretty strange. Do you think she was born that way, or...?”
“Are you making fun of me?!” Blueblood demanded as he pounded one of his hooves on the table.
“What are you talking about?” Moonstruck asked.
“Don't play coy with me, Draconequus.” He spat the word as if it would kill him if he allowed it to linger in his mouth. “You knew, didn't you? You orchestrated this, you insane, manipulative, evil monster! You're no different from that dreadful statue in the yard!”
Moonstruck shrunk back a little.
“Blueblood, that was uncalled for. Apologize to Moonstruck,” Celestia said.
“Oh yeah?” Moonstruck growled and stood up. She leaned on the table to loom over Blueblood and remind the stallion exactly how small he was compared to her. “You're a spoiled, boorish, pompous, self-important, inconsiderate, jerk who wouldn't know good humor if it came up and bit you on your fat, cushioned rump!”
“Moonstruck!” Celestia said.
“Well, you...” Blueblood began.
“ENOUGH.” Thunder crashed in the night sky outside the window as Luna spoke. The lights flickered and winked out for just a moment before returning to life. “THIS DINNER TABLE SHALL NOT BECOME A FORUM FOR PETULANT CHILDREN.”
Moonstruck fell back on her rump. Blueblood's pupils shrank to roughly the size of a quill tip.
“BOTH OF YOU ARE TO RETURN TO YOUR CHAMBERS AT ONCE,” Luna shouted.
“But, Au...” Blueblood began.
Luna shot Blueblood a look that could have slain the young, elderly, and those with heart conditions. His jaw fell slack for a moment before he closed his mouth.
Moonstruck was the first to move after what felt like an eternity. She stood and turned to walk out the door as she had been told.
Once in her room, she flopped in her bed and buried her face in one of the pillows. She could take being called insane. She could take being called a monster. She could even take being called manipulative, but she was nothing like Discord.
Right?
She flipped over and held the pillow over her chest. Her talons dug into it as she squeezed. Discord used his magic to pull cruel jokes and sick pranks to keep the entire pony population off balance, for no reason other than his own amusement. She swiveled back to a couple of days ago. She had been the only one laughing at the table. She sighed, flung the pillow up to the ceiling, and pinned it there with telekinesis. How was she any different from Discord, anyway? She'd grown a little bit out of her innocent supposition of his nanny biting, but he couldn't have started out rending the very laws of physics asunder, right?
Moonstruck released the pillow and let it fall onto her face. She tossed it aside and sat up. Aunt Luna had told her to return to her chambers, and she was technically still grounded until tomorrow evening, but she had something important she needed to do. Something Aunt Celestia had told her to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER do. She moved silently to her balcony, grabbed the banister, and leaped into the night.
She landed on the northwestern side of the castle. Her target was in the eastern gardens. To get there, she needed to go through a part of the castle. If she flew over, she'd be seen for sure, and teleportation was too loud and flashy.
The night guards, however, were thankfully incompetent. She latched her eagle claw onto her right shoulder to keep it from clicking against the marble floor as the rest of her limbs carried her silently through the castle. Once in the gardens, she flitted between statues to evade detection. Aunt Luna had said something recently about some... what had she called them? Little knaves? In any case, she'd been having a vandalism problem in the gardens at night, so she stepped up the security out there. For every statue in the garden, there was a guard to watch it and the surrounding areas. Fortunately, she'd duped the guards before and continued to do so tonight.
She sighed as she finally arrived.
Even as she drew up to her full height, Discord dwarfed her. Maybe it was because of the extra three feet of marble he stood on, maybe it was because of the long, serpentine body he possessed that she lacked, but she just looked and felt insignificant next to the older draconequus. She breathed in heavily.
“I am NOTHING like you!” she shouted defiantly. “Absolutely nothing!”
Moonstruck winced and looked around like a scared prairie dog. She hadn't meant to yell. If she teleported, she might have been able to get back to her room before the guards showed up. She strained her ears to search for incoming hooves, but somehow her outburst hadn't attracted any attention. No wonder the statues were being vandalized.
She glanced at the statue one last time, then turned to leave.
Moonstruck froze. She slowly turned around to face the statue once more. Aunt Celestia had told her not to speak with Discord. She had somewhat expected him to be asleep, or otherwise unwilling to deign himself to speak with her.
“Yes. I'm certain,” Moonstruck stuttered after what felt like several minutes.
“You hardly sound convinced.” There was a certain quality about Discord's voice. It was like she had something wriggling around in her head, but something that wasn't entirely alien or even fully unwelcome. “I heard what you did to that snob Blueblood. Not bad for an amateur.”
Moonstruck caught herself before she allowed a hint of a smile to come to her face. “I didn't come here for your praise. I just wanted to say it. I'm nothing like you.”
“In that case, couldn't you have just said it to your mirror?” Discord posed.
Moonstruck floundered. Why had she decided that she needed to tell it to the other draconequus?
“Or maybe you're here simply because Auntie Celestia doesn't want you to be?” Discord said condescendingly.
“No, that's not it,” Moonstruck insisted as she shook her head. “If I said it to you, then... it would mean more,” she invented.
Discord chuckled. “You can't fool me, Moonstruck. As little as you act like one, you are a draconequus.”
“What I am is not the same as who I am,” Moonstruck paraphrased. This had been the content of the very first friendship report Celestia had given her to go over.
Discord scoffed at her. “Even if you really believe that, Celestia doesn't.”
“What?” Moonstruck asked.
“Oh, don't tell me you haven't noticed. She keeps you in the castle at all times. She doesn't allow you to attend social events. Everypony who works in the palace is under oath to keep the fact that you exist a secret. She grounded you for half a week over a little prank, and she's been stuffing 'friendship' reports down your throat like it'll keep the sun in the sky. It's painfully obvious that she's afraid of you,” Discord said.
Moonstruck pulled back, stunned. It was hard to imagine Auntie being afraid of anything, but everything else Discord had pointed out had been true.
“No,” she said, “there's no way Auntie's scared of me. She's the most powerful magician in Equestria.”
Discord began to laugh. “Oh, that's a good one. If that were the case, she wouldn't need the elements of harmony just to keep me pinned down for the next fifty years or so.”
Moonstruck began to think of the stained glass windows and murals that depicted Discord's defeat, both fifteen hundred years ago, and seven years ago. In both cases the elements of harmony had been used not to eliminate him, not to turn him from his evil ways, but only to encase him in stone. To contain him.
“If Auntie was afraid of me, why would she be raising me? Why not just turn me to stone, too?” Moonstruck asked.
“Celestia never was fond of leaving loose ends. If I had to guess, I'd say she was planning on using you to defeat me once I inevitably reclaim my freedom,” Discord said. Another jab, right in the gut.
“U...using me?” Moonstruck wracked her brain for a point to counter this, but she couldn't. “...You're lying.”
“Lying? Moi? I'm no worse than your princesses,” Discord said, “but you believe what you want.”
“I'm not like you!” Moonstruck insisted again before she turned and ran.
Moonstruck caught onto her balcony railing and tossed herself onto the ground. That hadn't gone how she wanted at all. She had said that she thought Discord was lying, but it was hard to convince herself of that. The more she thought about what he'd said, the more sense it made.
Celestia had taught Moonstruck the basis of the scientific method. If you wanted to test a variable, you made sure it was the only variable by putting it in as controlled an environment as possible. She looked about in her room; Almost anypony probably would have offered anything for a chance to live like she did for even just a while, but now all she wanted to do was get out. She sighed as the effects of being sent to bed with no supper began to set in. She curled up under her covers and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Is something troubling you, Moonstruck?”
She jumped as Aunt Celestia called to her during class the next day.
“Besides me, and Discord, were there other Draconequuses...es...es?” she asked. It was the first thing that came to mind that wouldn't immediately imply she had spoken with Discord.
“Draconequines,” Celestia provided. “There were. They were never as numerous as ponies, but they weren't unheard of.”
“Were there any... nice draconequines?” Moonstruck asked.
Celestia paused for a moment. “I'm sure there were, but history has a tendency to forget kindness among the population.”
Moonstruck deflated a little bit.
“Don't let what Blueblood said get to you. Who you grow to be is your choice, and nopony else's.”
Moonstruck swished her tail and kicked her legs after dinner, although this time in frustration rather than boredom. “She's using you.” Why did that bother her so much? She'd still woken up, taken her lessons, and had time to herself. The only thing that had changed was that she could see the cage now. But what could she do about it? She wanted to see all of Equestria, and everything beyond, but she was trapped.
“I could run away,” she thought. “Just go someplace. Who cares where?” Moonstruck got up and began to pace. She reared up on her hind legs and walked that way, exactly like Aunt Celestia had told her not to. She tapped the base of her fang with her finger.
“But how? She's not going to let me just walk out the front door. There are too many guards watching the skies, and the castle has alarm wards that trip if anypony tries to teleport over them. I could use some chaos magic, but... can you teleport with chaos magic?” Moonstruck could only think of one other creature in the castle who would know that.
Security was lighter in the gardens then the previous night. Only one guard patrolled the main path which looped around the hedge maze. Something terribly important must have happened for Aunt Luna to draw them all from the gardens.
“Discord,” she said to the statue. No response. “Discord. Discord.” She reached up and began poking at his goat thigh. “Discord. Discord. Discor...”
“Do you MIND?! I'm plotting here!” Discord burst out.
“What're you plotting?” Moonstruck asked.
“My escape, of course. What else does a prisoner plot?” he replied.
“I actually wanted to ask you something along those lines,” Moonstruck said. “Can you teleport with chaos magic?”
“Of course. If you've got the will, knowledge, and power, you can do anything with chaos magic. I would know. I've done it twice,” Discord replied.
“Would a chaos teleport set off the castle's alarms?” Moonstruck asked.
“Not unless you wanted it to,” he said.
“Can you teach me to teleport with Chaos magic?” she pleaded.
Discord paused. “I could. But why would I want to?”
“Be~cause that'd be super nice of you?” Moonstruck smiled.
Discord laughed. “I'm afraid you can't get anything in life from being 'super-nice', my dear. If you want me to help you, you're going to have to help me.”
“I'm not breaking you out,” Moonstruck said as she crossed her arms and leaned back on her tail.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Discord said. “I'll teach you a spell that will get you out of the castle undetected, under one condition.”
“I'm listening,” Moonstruck said cautiously.
“I get to pick your first destination,” Discord said. “After you get there, you'll be free to do whatever your little heart desires.”
“That doesn't sound too bad,” Moonstruck nodded. “Where is this place you want me to go?”
“Who knows? It could be anywhere in the world by now,” Discord replied. Moonstruck titled her head to the side. “The place I want you to go is the home of the draconequines. I can never seem to remember where we left it.”
“Then how am I supposed to find it?” Moonstruck asked.
“Simply follow the chaos,” Discord said. Moonstruck blew her mane out of her face.
“Alright,” she said after a pause. “I'll do it.”
“Wonderful! Take my paw in your hand, and the deal will be complete.”
Moonstruck lifted herself off the ground, and hesitantly wrapped her fingers around Discord's lion paw. Lightning struck from overhead as Moonstruck's head began to throb. After the throbbing passed, she didn't feel much different.
“So, how do I...” Moonstruck was cut off as her brain answered the question she was about to pose. She had a strong understanding of order magic. In order to use order magic, she needed to take the magical energy she had, use it to grab energy from the planet's leylines, whip it to the shape of her will, and then force it out into the world, in form of a spell. It was rigid, and if done improperly, could fizzle or backfire. Chaos magic worked differently. The power came solely from the self, and trying to simply wrestle it into submission would be like trying the same with a summer breeze. Instead, to perform chaos magic, she needed to let her magic run wild, and only direct it in the way she desired. It was much harder to cast magic that way, since there really were no 'spells', and anything could happen if she did it wrong. She'd only ever been able to do simple things with it before, like make plants overgrow, or turn things into different things.
But now, there it was. Like she'd always known how to do it. Teleportation through chaos magic. She squealed in excitement.
“Thank you!” she said excitedly as she bounced around the statue. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Yes, yes. Just make sure you keep your end of the deal.” Discord replied. “Bon voyage!” Moonstruck snapped her fingers and vanished in a flash of light.
She returned to her room first. She grabbed a small, pink suitcase and began to stuff things inside it. Her brush, talon file, fingernail clipper, a box of charcoal pencils, a stack of paper, a blanket, a pillow, and her violin. She stifled a yawn as she finished, took a solid hold of its handle and snapped her fingers.
In a flash, she was out of the castle. She looked around as she arrived; She was on a mountain pass. Looming above her was the castle, and spread out below her was a quaint little village. She smiled as she started off away from the castle. She was free.
Moonstruck found a large rock on a patch of grass. This would be perfect for her to bunk down behind until morning. She pulled out her pillow and rested it on her suitcase, then tossed her blanket over herself. She giggled as she settled against the grass.
“I wonder how long it'll take Auntie to figure out I'm gone,” Moonstruck mused as she watched the moon and constellations. Aunt Luna's night sky was so beautiful, and now she could look at it under her own terms. She smiled as began to play connect the dots with the stars.
Moonstruck groaned as she woke up. Grass was not as soft as her bed back home. She painfully creaked and popped as she sat up and stretched. She shivered as a wind blew over her. She was soaked, as were her blanket and pillow. She stared curiously at her wet cover for a few moments.
“Oh, it must have soaked up the dew from the grass,” she concluded aloud. With a spell, she wrung all the water out of her pillow and blanket and tucked them back into her suitcase. She looked up at the sky; She had no idea how long she'd been asleep, but it was still night time. Maybe she should have packed her clock?
Next her stomach rumbled. Maybe she should have packed some food as well? Moonstruck shook her head. Her plan would have been obvious if she had taken too long to prepare. Besides, the village she had seen earlier couldn't have been far down the road. She'd get food there, and then continue on to find the home of the draconequines. She made a mental note to try and not sleep out in the open again, and started to walk.
The path was long, but not very difficult. The sun began to rise not too long after she set out. Her lessons usually began within the hour of sunrise, so it wouldn't be long until her escapade was discovered for certain. Birds began to sing and flick in and out of the bushes and trees that replaced the rocks and boulders. The village was dead ahead, nestled comfortably between a river, a large forest, and some hilly grasslands. Moonstruck tapped her fang as she tried to remember her geography lessons.
“This must be Ponyville,” she thought. “An agricultural earth pony settlement.” She put a little bounce in her step. Agriculture meant food.
The outskirts of the town were abandoned, although brightly painted cottages began to dot the landscape. Moonstruck's hind legs started to cramp, so she dropped on all fours. Ponyville proper was just up ahead. She smiled at the thought of all the ponies going about their daily business, free as birds, laughing, playing... Maybe she'd be able to make some friends. She could see a large group of them around a fountain now.
“Hi!” Moonstruck said to a pink earth pony with a yellow mane.
“Hello,” the pony began as she turned to face Moonstruck. She paused for a moment, then let out an earsplitting shriek. Almost immediately, every other pony in the plaza began to scream in terror as they all made a tremendous effort to escape from the her. They ran into walls, each other, and lamp posts.
“...Was it something I said?” Moonstruck asked the now empty plaza. Her stomach growled. She flopped onto the ground and sighed. Maybe it would have been a bad idea to make friends here anyway. After all, the village was right in Canterlot's shadow. She'd be caught and pulled home for sure if she lingered. Besides, she still needed to find that place for Discord. She glanced up at the clock face that adorned the town hall. Auntie must have figured out she was missing by now.
“Hi there!”
Moonstruck swiveled her head around to spy a little filly; A dark-cream colored unicorn with an orange mane. She smiled and bounced in place on her hooves.
“Hi,” Moonstruck said with a smile. She held out her hand to the little filly. “What's your name?”
Before she could respond, she disappeared in a flash of purple light.
“Spike, get her to safety. Peewee, go get the others.”
Moonstruck turned to face the mare who had spoken. She was a fully-grown purple unicorn, her horn lit violet. Her long, straight, dark indigo mane and tail flapped in a magical breeze. Behind and to her left was a young purple dragon, with green spines. He was probably just under a teenager, and boasted a thin pair of newly-grown wings. The unicorn filly was in his arms. Out of her peripheral vision, she caught a phoenix as it flew away.
“Hello,” Moonstruck said to the unicorn. “My name's Moonstruck. What's yours?”
She leaned back and lifted one of her hooves. “Moonstruck?” she asked. She squinted her eyes as she drew closer.
“I dunno, Twilight,” The dragon cautioned. “Discord took a lot of different forms. This could be a trick.”
“Is that what everypony's so nervous about? I'm not Discord,” Moonstruck said. “He has a beard.” She tugged under her chin to prove her point.
A flash of rainbow light landed with a heavy thud next to the unicorn. A cyan pegasus stood where the rainbow had landed, her mane and tail flicked in the wind, each color of the rainbow represented within it.
Moonstruck's eyes grew big. Really really big.
“I got here as soon as I could, Twi.”
Moonstruck let out a huge, high-pitched, fan-girl squeal.
“Oh my gosh, it's Rainbow Dash!” She dropped her suitcase, kicked it open, pulled out a piece of paper and her charcoal pencil, and was in the pegasus' personal bubble all within a second.
“Can I have your autograph? What was being in the Wonderbolts like? Why did you retire? How fast can you fly? Is the sonic rainboom painful to do?” Moonstruck let out another squeal.
The ponies blinked at each other.
“You're... a 'bolts fan?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Since I was this big,” Moonstruck said. She used her hand to indicate the sized she'd been five years ago, shorter than a fully grown pony but bigger than a foal.
“So, if you aren't Discord, then who are you, and where did you come from?” the unicorn asked.
“I told you. My name's Moonstruck. I came from Canterlot,” Moonstruck said as she finally gave Rainbow Dash some space. “What's your name?”
“I'm Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn said. “This is my assistant, Spike.”
“...Oh, I know you. Aunt Celestia has me read your friendship reports,” Moonstruck said.
“AUNT Celestia?”
Three more ponies arrived on the scene. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane, a white unicorn with royal blue hair, and a blonde, orange earth pony with a brown hat.
“Hello!” Moonstruck said with a wave.
“What in tarnation?”
“Oh, my...”
“*eep*” The pegasus took cover behind the earth pony with a terrified squeak.
“My name's Moonstruck. What are your names?” she continued. She laid down completely and propped her head on her hand.
“Twi, what's goin' on here?” the earth pony asked.
“I'm trying to figure that out myself,” Twilight said. “Moonstruck, these are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.” She indicated to the earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus in order. “Can you be a little bit more specific on where you came from?” Twilight asked.
“Nope. Aunt Celestia found me in the gardens, seven years and eight months ago,” Moonstruck replied. “I was brought up in the royal nursery."
“Wasn't that when you guys stomped Discord?” Spike asked.
Twilight nodded. “She just...found you?” she asked.
“Yup. No idea how I got there,” Moonstruck confirmed.
“So, what're ya doin' here in Ponyville?” Applejack asked.
“Actually, I was just passing through. I was hoping maybe I could get some food?” Moonstruck smiled. She turned her head as she caught movement out of her peripheral vision.
“Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!” a pink earth pony with a crazy, poofy, cotton candy mane had come as if from nowhere. She had a smile that seemed to take up the majority of her face.
“Hi, Pinkie Pie! I'm Moonstruck!” Moonstruck replied, with a broad grin of her own.
“Hey, are you a Draconequus?” Pinkie asked. She bounced in place excitedly. Moonstruck nodded. “Do you think you could...” Pinkie leaned to Moonstruck's ear and whispered something to her.
“I dunno,” Moonstruck replied. “I've never tried something like that before.”
“Pleeeeeease?” Pinkie gave her a big pair of puppy dog eyes.
“Well... Alright. Stand back.” Moonstruck lifted her hand and snapped her finger. The sort of decompression sound a can of whipped cream makes rang out, and a cloud appeared in the air. The whipped cream cloud started snowing ice cream.
“That's...not quite right,” Moonstruck said.
“Are you kidding? That's even BETTER!” Pinkie Pie squealed in delight as she slid under the cloud, her mouth wide open.
The other, more serious ponies huddled together to discuss something. They spoke in hushed, serious tones for a few moments before they pulled away from each other.
“Well... She doesn't seem to be dangerous, at least,” Twilight concluded.
“Can I throw her a party?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly as she sat up, her face coated in vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
“I don't know, dear. She did mention she was only passing through,” Rarity said.
“I've never really been to a party before,” Moonstruck said.
There was a shocked silence. Pinkie Pie gasped.
“You've NEVER been to a party?” she asked. Her hooves clasped over her chest. “Like, not even for your birthday?”
“I dunno. We'd have a special dinner for my birthday, but...” Moonstruck was cut off as the pink pony grabbed her, snatched the unicorn filly from Spike's grasp, and dragged both of them across town, towards a shop that looked like a bakery. She threw Moonstruck into a chair, then ran to the stairs.
“Pound! Get the stuff! It's an emergency!”
A pegasus colt, cream-colored, with a brown mane, descended the steps in a rush. He balanced three boxes on his head and back.
“What's wrong, Auntie Pinkie?” the pegasus asked as he set his boxes down with a heavy thud.
“What's wrong?! She's never been to a party before in her life!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she pointed at Moonstruck. Pinkie grabbed one of the boxes and pulled out a basket filled with envelopes and hooked it on the unicorn's horn.
“Pumpkin, go hand these out to everypony in town!” she said, shoving the unicorn out the door. “You go with her!” she stuffed Moonstruck out of the bakery after the unicorn.
“I like her,” Moonstruck said to the little unicorn as the bakery door slammed behind them.
“I've never seen a pony like you before,” the unicorn said as she levitated the basket off her horn.
“That's because I'm not a pony,” Moonstruck said. “I'm a draconequus.”
“That's a funny word. I'm Pumpkin Cake,” she said with a smile.
“I'm Moonstruck. It's nice to meet you,” she smiled. “Was that pegasus your brother?”
“Yep. Pound Cake. We're twins!” Pumpkin nodded.
The pair wandered through Ponyville. A lot of ponies still fled from them, but the basket of party invitations stayed a few. Nopony younger than nine or ten even batted an eye at them.
“So, have you never really been to a party before?” Pumpkin asked as she floated an envelope up to a gray pegasus.
“Not really,” Moonstruck said. “I...wasn't allowed to get out much.”
“Well, Auntie Pinkie'll take care of that for you,” Pumpkin nodded.
When they returned to the bakery, it had been decorated with streamers, balloons, banners and confetti. Cakes and pastries lined the tables. Pinkie and Pound had just finished putting up the decorations.
Pinkie quickly grabbed Moonstruck and stuffed her back into a chair. She snapped a party hat onto her head and stuck a party horn in her mouth.
Moonstruck blinked a couple of times, then blew the horn. “So... is it a party, now?” she asked.
“No, silly filly!” Pinkie scurried across the room and pushed the bakery doors open, which allowed a whole huge group of ponies to file into the bakery. Music began to play, and ponies began to dance, although only the few who had already acquainted themselves with Moonstruck dared draw close to her. “NOW it's a party!”
Moonstruck could do nothing but sit in awe at the spectacle before her. This was nothing like the Grand Galloping Gala, or any of the other myriad socials that were hosted around the palace. It was... wild, and lively, and looked like a lot of fun. She smiled broadly.
“What are you sitting around for? Come on, let's PARTY!” Pinkie exclaimed loudly as she dragged Moonstruck out from where she'd been planted. Moonstruck lost herself amongst the rush of sugar and music and colors, and ran herself ragged with dancing and gales of laughter. It was altogether just about the most fun she'd had, ever. Slowly the other ponies warmed up to her, but she was already just about out of energy. She flopped back into her chair to catch her breath.
“Hi.” Twilight Sparkle sat next to her. “I've got a few more questions I wanted to ask you.”
“Sure thing,” Moonstruck replied. She noted a few younger ponies in the party, in their own little mini-parties. “What time is it? Shouldn't they be in school?”
“It's Saturday,” Twilight pointed out.
Moonstruck blinked. She looked at the clock; It was about eight o'clock. She regularly slept until noon on Saturdays. Aunt Celestia might not even realize she was gone yet.
“You mentioned you were passing through Ponyville. Where're you heading?” Twilight asked.
“I'm looking for someplace,” Moonstruck said. “It's...a personal trip.”
“Is that suitcase all you brought?” Twilight asked.
“Yep,” Moonstruck confirmed.
“Have you got a tent?”
“No.”
“Extra food?”
“Nope.”
“Spare bits?”
“Nuh-uh.”
“What DO you have in there?” Twilight asked as her eyebrows arched.
“A blanket, a pillow, my violin, some paper and a charcoal pencil. Oh, that reminds me, I never got Rainbow Dash's autograph.”
Twilight opened her mouth, but a shriek from outside cut her off. “Now what?” she muttered.
The doors to the bakery burst open, a particularly panicked pony stood in the door. She took in a deep breath and shouted, “DRAGON!” before she passed out.
The party fell silent for a moment, before the guests began to shriek in terror and scatter as they had when Moonstruck first arrived in town.
“They're pretty good at that,” Moonstruck observed once the room had mostly emptied.
“We get a lot of practice.” Twilight sighed. Moonstruck stood up. “Where are you going?”
“I've never seen a real dragon before,” Moonstruck replied.
“Hey!” Spike said.
“And there are hardly any books on them. I want to see it,” Moonstruck completely ignored him. She jaunted out into the abandoned street, and spotted the huge, rampaging, black-scaled dragon immediately.
“Woah, look at that guy!” Moonstruck said as she reared up on her hind legs and shaded her eyes with her hand.
“He's destroying the town!” Twilight shouted as she ran by.
“Hm. That's a little bit of a problem, isn't it?” Moonstruck conceded as she broke into a trot after her. A rainbow streak shot over head, followed by Peewee the phoenix and Spike.
Rainbow Dash flew circles around the dragon's head. She nimbly dodged around as it tried to swat her out of the air. The dragon let out a roar, which sent her off course. Peewee flew high into the air and began to glow almost as brightly as the sun. Spike flew into the blinded dragon's gut, then launched himself away with a green blast of fire, all to no avail. Moonstruck caught up with Twilight, who seemed to be in thought.
“What's your plan?” Moonstruck asked. Her eyes followed Rainbow Dash, who had corrected her flight path and once again attempted to disorient the dragon.
“I'm working on it. He's too big to teleport and I don't know any spells that'll get through his scales,” Twilight answered.
“Could you create a gust of wind to carry him away on his wings?” Moonstruck suggested.
“No, winds that strong would level the town anyway,” Twilight pointed out.
Spike face-planted into the ground after the bigger dragon swatted him. He pushed himself up and spat out a mouthful of dirt.
“Any ideas?” he asked as he turned to the unicorn.
“Okay. If we could get him to follow the three of you out of town, we could lead him up to the jewel mine and let the diamond dogs deal with him,” Twilight said.
“No way,” Spike shook his head. “What if he decides to hoard up there? Rarity still gets her gems from that mine.”
“Besides, if you lead him out of town I won't get a chance to ask him about dragons,” Moonstruck said.
“You want to... are you crazy?” Twilight asked. Moonstruck smirked.
“You sound like my brother,” she said, as she sauntered over to the dragon. She let out a sharp whistle to get his attention.
“Hi!” she lifted her hand up as if to shake. “I'm Moonstruck. What's your name?”
The dragon stared at her, dumbstruck for a moment. He shook his head, then took a deep breath.
“Look out!” Twilight shouted. The dragon released a blast of fire that washed painfully over the draconequus. When the fire died out, Moonstruck had been charred as black as coal. She let out a weak cough, and then proceeded to dissolve to ash. Her eyes, still intact, blinked, then dropped into the pile as well. The large one rolled down the pile and sat at its base while the small one stayed on top.
“Oh, no...” Twilight said, as she began to dance on her hooves. “Spike, we need to get him out of here, now! If he decides to hoard in the mine, then we can at least regroup before we try to get him to move.”
Spike didn't react at first as he gawked at where a draconequus had just stood. “What? Oh, yeah. Right, I'll go tell Rainbow Dash and Peewee the plan.”
“THAT. Was extremely rude.” They froze as an accusatory talon erupted from the ash pile, pointed at the dragon. He took a step back in shock as a white monkey arm popped out of ashes, and grabbed the wayward eyeball. Moonstruck's head and body followed out next, as if she were pulling herself out of a deep hole. She hid her face for a moment and replaced her eyeball.
“That hurt. You're a jerk, Mister Dragon,” Moonstruck said as she leaned back on her tail. The dragon roared and lifted his claw to smash her. She snapped her fingers and vanished as he slammed his fist down. The earth shook and the ground cracked from the force of the blow. She reappeared, calmly seated on the dragon's knuckle.
“You know, I'm trying to be a nice draconequus,” Moonstruck said. She grabbed her wrist with her talon and started to roll the fur up like a sleeve. “Still, if it's a fight you want...” she took off as the dragon shook his claw and landed behind him. She vanished in a flash of light as his pickaxe like tail slammed into the ground where she'd been, and appeared on his snout, her fingers prepared for another snap. She smirked as she clicked her digits together.
The dragon suddenly turned an interesting shade of yellowish-orange. Moonstruck yawned and reclined onto the bridge of his nose.
“You changed his color?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew by. “That's it?”
Moonstruck calmly lifted her fist and slammed it into the side of the dragon's snout. A loud crack echoed throughout Ponyville as chunks of scale fell from the impact.
“No,” Moonstruck said as she pried a piece of scale loose. She popped it in her mouth and stretched. “I turned his scales into peanut brittle.”
The dragon roared and lifted his claw to bat Moonstruck away, but every time he moved more cracks echoed through the town. Soon his scales began to slough off his body in great sheets, revealing very pink, bare skin underneath.
“Hope you girls like peanuts,” Moonstruck said as she teleported back to Twilight's side. The dragon began to flail about in an attempt to keep his scales on his body, which only made things worse. Once every scale had lost it's place and clattered to the ground, the dragon could only wrap his arms around himself. He let out a roar that could be described as a wail, and took off into the sky. Enormous drops of water slammed into the ground as he fled.
“Oh, no, I didn't mean to make him cry!” Moonstruck said as she lifted herself off. Her horn flashed and her suitcase was in her hand. “It was nice to meet you in real life, Twilight Sparkle. Thank Pinkie Pie for the party for me. Bye!” She flitted off before she could hear any objections.
Moonstruck followed the dragon into the forest. She looked around as she flew; There were a lot of cool things in the woods, but she couldn't afford to get distracted right now. She tracked the dragon to a cave, where she could still hear his wails. She landed and stepped inside.
Finding the dragon in the cave wasn't much of a problem. A huge, shivering pile of pink flesh sat right in the middle of the chamber. Moonstruck looked around. The cave was really barren.
“Aren't dragons supposed to have hoards?” Moonstruck thought. “Hey!” she shouted to get the dragon's attention. He looked up, let out a choked roar, and pushed himself up, taking a huge, dragon-step back for every step she took towards him.
“Hey, it's alright...” she cooed as the dragon pinned himself against the cave wall in abject terror. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry. It must have taken a long time for you to grow your scales like that.”
The dragon sniffed before her fell into a blubbering heap, and continued to wail.
“Shhhh...it's okay...” she whispered. The dragon continued to cry, and cowered, and covered his face with his claws. Moonstruck tapped the base of her fang. She dropped her suitcase and pulled out her violin. Soon, a soothing lullaby rang through the cave.
“Hush, now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...” Moonstruck sang. Nana sang this song to her a lot when she was younger, to get her to go to sleep, or stop being fussy, or to just generally stop being a brat. The verses melted together in with the violin, and soon it was the only sound in the cave. The dragon had stopped crying, and presently risked a peek out from under his claws, his puffy eyes mesmerized by her performance.
“We were never properly introduced,” Moonstruck said as she finished. “My name's Moonstruck.”
“My name is Rumble. Rumble Darkscale, the ninth,” he replied.
“ Rumble Rumble Darkscale The Ninth,” Moonstruck said. Rumble blinked at her again. “How about I just call you Rumble? Or Rum-rum!”
“No, It's just one Rumble,” Rumble said. “Please don't call me Rum-rum.”
“If it's only one Rumble, then why'd you say it twice?” Moonstruck asked.
“I paused for dramatic effect,” Rumble growled.
“Anyway. Your scales. Do you want to talk about it?” Moonstruck replaced her instrument and sat on her suitcase.
“Oh, yes. My beautiful scales...” Rumble sighed. Smoke poured from his nostrils and filled the room. “I come from a long line of powerful, terrifying black dragons, stretching all the way back to my Great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Rumble Darkscale the First.”
“Your family was boring. Nine sons and they couldn't come up with an interesting name?” Moonstruck said.
“Excuse me?! I bear the name of 'Rumble' with pride!” he roared. Then he sighed. “At least, I would. You see, when I hatched, I was born... bare!” Rumble rolled over to show off his pink flesh. “Not a single scale adorned my body! I was as pink as a piglet!”
“And...that's not normal?” Moonstruck guessed.
“Not at all! Hatchling scales are soft and sensitive, but almost always there,” Rumble groaned. “My parents hoped that they would come in on their own, but they never did.” Rumble looked like he was about to start crying again. “The other whelps mocked me. I could never go on any raids, play any games, go swimming... and I was a constant source of disappointment and shame for my clan.” Rumble paused for a moment to take a few deep breaths.
“It wasn't until very recently that my scales began to grow in. They came slowly at first, sharp little black specks protruding from my skin, but over the past year I had grown my gleaming black coat of scales as lustrous and refined as any gem. I finally felt like I belonged,” Rumble said. “That town was my first raid.”
“Why did you raid Ponyville, anyway?” Moonstruck asked. “That fire breath of yours is hot, you know. You could hurt somepony.”
“Because that's what dragons do,” Rumble replied.
“But is it what makes you happy?” Moonstruck posed.
“What do you mean?” Rumble asked.
“Well, you've been going on an on about how you made your parents and the other little dragons unhappy, but what is it that makes you happy?”
“I... don't know. I've never thought about it,” Rumble replied.
Moonstruck tapped the base of her fang. “I'm going to try something,” she said. “It... might not work, and I don't know what'll happen if it doesn't. But if it does work, you'll have your scales back.” She said.
“Really? You can do that?” Rumble asked. “You would do that?”
“Yep! Probably. But only if you promise to stop living just for what makes others happy.” Moonstruck said.
“I... can try, I suppose,” Rumble agreed.
Moonstruck lifted her hand and snapped her fingers. Rumble suddenly turned from pink to black, but he was still scaleless.
“Close,” Moonstruck said. She snapped her fingers again, and Rumble grew himself another set of peanut brittle scales, which promptly shattered and fell to the cave floor.
“Third times a charm?” Moonstruck smiled, and snapped her fingers again. A set of bronze measuring scales appeared atop hishead. “Oh, now you're just being silly.”
Rumble sighed as he pulled the scale off his head while Moonstruck continued to ponder.
“I've got it!” she said. She reached back to her tail, and grabbed one of her white spines. With a grunt, she ripped it out, laid it on Rumble's skin, and meshed it in place with a spell.
“I don't think that's going to help,” he said.
Moonstruck smirked, then snapped her fingers. Where there was once one scale, there were two, and then four. The scales multiplied over and over again until they covered the dragon completely in white armor. He didn't look exactly like he had before the peanut brittle, but it was close.
“I can probably turn the scales black, if you want,” Moonstruck offered.
“Oh, yes please,” Rumble said. Moonstruck snapped her fingers, as the white scales began to turn to black, all except the very tip of his tail.
“That's so you don't forget that you promised,” Moonstruck said.
The dragon looked at the foot of so of white scales at the end of his tail. He laid his chin on the ground.
“Thank you,” he said deeply. “Thank you so much.”
Moonstruck bopped his nose.
“No problem!” She smiled and picked up her suitcase. “Hey, have you noticed anything really strange happen in the area? Or even just a little out of place?”
“I don't know. Little things here and there, I suppose,” Rumble said as he lifted his head and scratched his chin. “Why do you ask?”
“I'm looking for someplace,” Moonstruck said. “The only hint I have is to 'follow the chaos'.”
“I see.” Rumble nodded. “There is one thing that sticks out in my mind. Come, let me show you.”
Moonstruck fluttered up and nestled on Rumble's head as he stomped through the woods. From her vantage point, she could see all manner of fantastic things, like chickens with lizard tails that scattered from their nests as the dragon stepped on them, and dogs made from wood that barked and nipped uselessly at his heels.
Rumble grabbed a rather large, lion-like creature with bat wings and a scorpion tail by the scruff of its neck and gently placed it in a tree as it intercepted their path, and eventually they came to a stream. A huge, purple sea serpent basked on its banks, and only heeded them with an amiable wave.
“Friend of yours?” Moonstruck asked as Rumble flew over the stream.
“Not really. Nice enough guy for a serpent, I suppose,” Rumble replied as he returned the mustachioed water-dweller's wave. They came to a clearing near a gorge, the other side of which bore a ruin. Rumble took off, over this ruin, and to the trees beyond.
“Oh. That's cool,” Moonstruck said as she saw the scene before her. The entire grove of trees bent over from Rumble's wing force, then sprang back up. She hopped down to one of them and pushed it flat, then jumped up the trunk and swung back and forth as it sprung back to an upright position. “Wheeee!”
“These trees weren't always like this,” Rumble said as he watched her bounce around in the rubber forest. “They were once solid and proud.”
“But they're so much more fun this way!” Moonstruck laughed. She held the tip of a particularly tall evergreen tree, then let it fling her into the air back onto Rumble's snout. She sighed. “There's something strange around here, though.”
“You don't say,” Rumble replied.
“No, I mean something else. I haven't heard a single animal since we landed,” Moonstruck said. “Even the palace never got this quiet.”
“Perhaps they've hidden from me? I am a dragon,” Rumble suggested.
“Maybe,” Moonstruck replied as she began to tap the base of her fang. She fluttered over to one of the rubber-maple trees and touched a leaf; It had the same kind of texture as a stiff cloth. “Or they've just abandoned this area. These trees are all made from rubber and vinyl. They can't possibly live around here anymore.”
“Would this be the kind of chaos you're looking for?” Rumble asked.
Moonstruck looked up at the trees. They had been a lot of fun, but they were completely worthless for their place in a harmonious ecosystem. They couldn't bear edible fruit or provide a safe home for the less fearsome denizens of the forest, and from what little Moonstruck had learned about draconequines up to this point...
“Yes. I think this is exactly what I was looking for,” she replied, a twinge of sadness in her voice.
“Is there something wrong?” Rumble asked.
“Do you know what a draconequus is?” she asked as she returned to his nose.
“You mean that Discord fellow that caused a stir a while ago?” Rumble asked.
“He ISN'T the only one!” Moonstruck practically screamed with a stomp. Her paw clicked loudly against Rumble's scales.
“Oh... Sorry,” He said. Moonstruck sighed and sat down on the bridge of his nose again. “Do... you want to talk about it?”
“I'm not like Discord.” Moonstruck grumbled as she crossed her arms. She looked over the forest. This was something Discord would have done. And she had, however momentarily, enjoyed it.
“Of course not. You know what Discord did to me, seven years ago?” Rumble asked.
“I'm afraid to ask,” Moonstruck sighed.
“He made me lose control of my fire breath. Every time I breathed out, I would set fire to whatever I happened to breath on. For a scaleless and very not-fireproof dragon, it was horrifying.” Rumble shuddered, which nearly dislodged Moonstruck from her perch.
“Yeah, and I turned your scales into a confection after you spent so long growing them out.” Moonstruck sighed.
“But you did it for a good reason. What did you say? I was being a jerk,” Rumble said with a shrug. “Not only that, but you went out of your way, and sacrificed a part of your own body to make it right. I don't think the monster I met seven years ago would have done that.”
Moonstruck looked up at the sky. It had gotten late. The sun was low in the sky. Her stomach let out a growl.
“I didn't pick up any food from Ponyville,” she said, as she rubbed the offending area.
“Come, now. We're in a forest. There's plenty around to eat,” Rumble said.
“Like what?” Moonstruck asked.
“Well, what kind of food do you like?” Rumble asked.
“Strictly herbivore,” Moonstruck replied.
“Herbivores are delicious,” Rumble laughed.
“What do dragons eat?” Moonstruck asked.
“Well, we're famous for our ability to consume gems and minerals, but other than that pretty much anything we can get our claws on,” he explained, “but if the plants around here are dead, then we're going to have to move on.”
The rubber forest was huge. Even with Rumble's enormous strides, it took them a half an hour to find trees that didn't bend in half and snap back into position when Rumble's tail struck them.
“Look. There are some wild strawberries down there,” Rumble said as he indicated to some bushes. He put his claw to his nose.
“Strawberries are good,” Moonstruck said as she stepped on and allowed him lower her to the ground. There was a line of bushes with succulent-looking strawberries. They danced and waved this way and that in the wind. “I don't think there's enough for both of us, though.”
“That's alright. You stay here. I'm going to go find myself a dragon-sized meal,” Rumble said. He pushed a few trees over and disappeared into the woods.
Moonstruck turned her attention to the strawberry bush as her stomach rumbled. Gently, she grabbed a ripe-looking berry and popped it greedily in her mouth. If the strawberries back at the castle were like a loving nuzzle from a proud nanny, then the strawberries in the forest were like a heavy buck in the jaw. Moonstruck almost spat the berry out in surprise, but her growling stomach demanded sustenance.
“Bleh.” She allowed her tongue to hang loose after she swallowed the berry. “Maybe brother was right about commoner food.” She carefully plucked another berry. And another. And another. She choked down maybe thirty or thirty five berries before she gave up.
“I should have packed some food,” she thought miserably. “Living outside the castle's hard.”
A snapped twig shocked her out of her thoughts. The sun was almost completely down at this point, and the waning moon didn't provide enough light for Moonstruck to see very far into the woods. More snaps and growls echoed around her.
“Who's there?” Moonstruck called tentatively. Her tail lifted of its own accord, and her weight shifted with it into a better position to run. Her wings lifted themselves and began to flap ever so slightly, just enough that the transition from standing to flying would be less than a second.
Moonstruck took a breath as she listened to the woods. “This is stupid,” she told herself. “Forests are noisy. You know that. Just because there's something moving about out there doesn't mean it's coming to get you.” Moonstruck forced her limbs to relax. “Besides, I tanked a blast of dragon fire. I'm sure if something does try to eat me, something equally silly will happen, and I'll be fine.” She whipped around to face the source of another snapped twig. “...Right?” Truth be told, Moonstruck wasn't sure why Rumble hadn't flat-out killed her with his fire breath, but here in the dark woods filled with mysterious and presumably violent creatures, she didn't care to test its reliability.
*BANG!*
Moonstruck shrieked and launched herself into the air as a huge weight slammed into the ground behind her. She twisted around to see the shape of her companion on the ground.
“Did I scare you?” Rumble said as Moonstruck landed on his snout.
“No,” she said as she sat and leaned on the bridge of his nose. “You surprised me.” Rumble began to laugh heartily.
“You are an amusing creature, Moonstruck,” he said. “The forest is dangerous at night. Let us find shelter.”
“Alright,” Moonstruck yawned. “Finding someplace to sleep sounds good.”
Rumble lifted into the air and soared to a nearby cliff side. Moonstruck looked around as Rumble flew, her eyes peeled for further signs of her destination.
“This looks like a good place,” Rumble said as they landed near a cave. With a quick gout of fire, he evicted the cave's resident bat colony and stepped inside.
“It smells in here,” Moonstruck commented.
“That would be the guano,” Rumble said as he indicated to a burning pile of some kind of organic matter in the center of the cave.
“The what?” Moonstruck asked.
“It's bat poop,” Rumble simplified
“EW.” Moonstruck climbed up on top of his head. “You set that on fire? We're going to smell awful by morning!” she complained.
“The fire'll keep you warm, and keep the bats at bay,” Rumble said as he sat down.
“But it's a flaming pile of poop!” Moonstruck objected. Rumble sighed.
“So turn it into cotton or something,” He said as he laid his head down.
Moonstruck snapped her fingers and turned the guano into a wooden pyre. Satisfied that she wouldn't smell like burned bat feces in the morning, she walked down Rumble's back to the space between his wings and nestled herself there for the night.
"You never told me exactly what it was you were looking for." Rumble said as he lifted his head back up..
"I'm looking for the home of the draconequines. I bet that's what's causing these weird changes in the world. They'll probably be more densely packed the closer we get," Moonstruck said.
"Follow the chaos, indeed," Rumble said as he laid his head back down.
Moonstruck groaned as she woke up. Dragon scales weren't as comfortable as her bed, either. She hopped off Rumble and immediately slipped on the ground.
“What the?” she said, as she tapped on the ground. Her claw dug into what she was certain had been rock the previous night. She scooped a little of the new substance up and sniffed it. “Soap?”
There was a shifting, followed by a great crash as Rumble attempted to stand, but also slipped in the soap. “What in Tiamat's name?” he roared. The cave began to rumble as chunks of soap fell as stalactites from the ceiling. After a few moments, actual rocks began to crash through the soap as well.
“Cave in!” Moonstruck shouted. She lifted herself off the ground and flitted for the exit. There was another heavy thud as Rumble tried to stand, but failed again. The cave was too small for him to fly out of it like Moonstruck.
“Go, I'll be fine,” Rumble shouted at her.
“No! It's alright, I can fix this!” Moonstruck said. She snapped her fingers, and turned all the soap into sand. Rumble jumped to his feet and rocketed out of the cave as it fully collapsed, Moonstruck sucked out in his wake.
Rumble fell to the forest floor with a heavy thud. Moonstruck landed by his side.
“...Is this the sort of chaos you're looking for?” Rumble asked.
Moonstruck and Rumble each took a moment to ensure they had made it out of the cave fully unharmed.
“Well, we're going the right way,” Moonstruck said. She lifted herself into the air to fly over the mountain.
“I don't understand. If the home of the draconequines is causing these changes in the world, then why are they just starting now?” Rumble asked.
“I'm pretty sure that it moves,” Moonstruck replied. “Draconequines are naturally talented in chaos magic, so why would our home stay put?”
“Because that's the definition of a home,” Rumble pointed out as he soared to catch up with her. He caught her on his head as he flew over the mountain.
“Exactly. It would make sense for it to be in one place all the time,” Moonstruck explained. “I'm sure it'll explain everything once we get there. Or not.”
Rumble began to huff and puff as he flew higher over the mountains. After a few moments, he landed on an outcropping for a break. Moonstruck found herself running out of breath as well, despite her lack of activity.
“I just need... a little break,” Rumble panted.
Moonstruck huffed and puffed. She remembered Nana told her once that if she flew too high she'd run out of air. They sat for a while, their valiant attempts to catch their breath mostly in vain. Moonstruck looked around. They were near the top of this mountain, it's snowy cap just above them. They were about halfway over the mountain range, and if Rumble could just make it to the top, they could probably glide the rest of the way down to the other side. She froze as a roar echoed from somewhere above them. She looked up, and could have sworn she saw something move, but didn't quite see what it was. More roars echoed throughout the mountain range.
“What is that?” Moonstruck puffed.
“Sounds like yetis,” Rumble huffed.
“What's a yeti?” she asked as she stood to see if she could catch a glimpse of one.
“A yeti is a type of mountain ape,” Rumble explained. “Don't worry. They're not a threat. To me.”
“Well, that's good,” Moonstruck smiled. There was a final roar from a ledge over their outcropping. She looked over and finally saw what had been moving around.
The creature was huge, easily twice as tall as a normal pony. It's face was flat, and black, with huge, open nostrils and beady eyes. The rest of its massive body was covered in white fur, which made it blend in to the snowy background quite nicely. It had stubby little hind legs, and long, brawny arms not unlike Moonstruck's own right arm, which it used like front legs. It opened its mouth and let out another roar, revealing huge canine teeth and sharp incisors.
“Hi!” Moonstruck shouted with a wave. The great snow ape cast his gaze at her. His eyes widened as he looked her over.
“A draconequus.” His voice was rough and scratchy, but he spoke with an almost reverent awe. He leaped from his perch and landed with a heavy thud onto their outcropping. He flattened himself out to bow... No, grovel to her.
Moonstruck hopped off of Rumble's head, fluttered her wings, and gloriously face-planted into the ground. Rumble chuckled as she pried her face off the rock. Once she'd regained herself, she approached the still prone Yeti.
“Hi,” she repeated. “My name's Moonstruck. What's yours?” The yeti made a noise, but Moonstruck couldn't catch a word from it. “Lift your head. I can't hear you,” she said.
“Forgive me, Lady Moonstruck,” he said, lifting his head just enough so his face was no longer in the ground. “My name is Rinzen, Ma'am.”
“Are all yetis this formal?” Moonstruck asked as she sat down. “You don't need to call me ma'am.”
“I dare not disrespect the first lady of luck since the great freeze,” Rinzen replied, his head still only just barely off the stone.
“What are you talking about?” Moonstruck asked.
“You don't know?” Rinzen asked. “I must take you to the chief! He'll want to see you right away.” He stood and climbed up the ridge he'd dropped from. His fingers and toes found easy grips as he quickly scaled the mountainside.
“Are you going to be alright?” Moonstruck asked Rumble.
“Once I've got my strength back, I'll meet you on the other side of the mountain,” Rumble nodded. Moonstruck teleported after Rinzen, but found this left her no less out of breath than simple flight would have. The yeti lead her through the snow, higher up the mountain. It wasn't very steep, and it almost seemed as though there was a path, but the exertion was a strain on Moonstruck's lungs.
Soon they arrived to a cave, lit by torches. While the mouth itself looked like it could have been naturally formed, the inside walls had been smoothed out to a rectangular hallway. The walls were covered in carvings and letters of an origin Moonstruck didn't recognize, but seemed to depict some of the history of the Yeti race. She couldn't glean much from the pictures, which were either too weather-worn to make out in the low light, or just weren't very good in the first place.
The air inside the cave was even harder to breathe than the air outside. Moonstruck had to stop every few paces just to keep herself from passing out.
Soon the tunnel opened into what appeared to be an enormous underground jungle. Fresh air hit Moonstruck like a wave; She sucked in a deep breath, and then another. Her wind restored, she bounced quickly after her guide.
“Where did these trees come from?” Moonstruck asked.
“They were a gift,” Rinzen replied, “in the benevolence of our previous lord of luck.” Moonstruck smiled. Draconequines, benevolent? This was exactly the kind of thing she needed to hear. She wasn't doomed to crazed, chaotic destruction. This forest didn't make any sense. There was no natural sunlight in the cave, and the roots dug into the living rock as if it were soil, but despite that life in the cavern thrived.
Rinzen climbed up one of the largest trees Moonstruck had ever seen, while she fluttered up after him. In the top of the tree, there appeared to be a village, with several yetis that climbed through the branches with ease and grace. Rinzen let out a roar and called their attention to him, and Moonstruck.
Hushed whispers shot through the population. Some groveled, as Rinzen had. Others stood in shock, with their jaws hung open slightly. Moonstruck cracked a huge grin.
“Hello, yetis!” she said with a wave.
After a few moments, an elderly yeti appeared. He was scrawnier than most of the others, and supported himself with a stout stick that was covered in some kind of tribalistic carvings. On its very tip sat a white gem. He bowed; A proper bow, not like the grovel of the other yetis.
“Greetings to you, lady of luck.” His voice was aged and whispy. “I am Yeshe, chieftain of these yetis. It is a great honor to host one of your kind once again.”
“Hi!” Moonstruck said. “My name's Moonstruck. I have a lot of questions for you.”
“Anything you would like to know, Lady Moonstruck.” Yeshe tapped his staff on the ground. In an instant, two yetis appeared. They bore a grand, if somewhat aged palanquin, essentially a large bed on sticks. They lowered it enough that Moonstruck would be able to climb aboard with little effort.
Moonstruck blinked. While she'd seen servants and guards bend over backwards like this to please Auntie, she certainly never expected to receive such treatment. She hesitantly climbed on, and arranged herself so she could see all around her. The two yetis let out great huffs as they lifted the palanquin and began to carry it alongside the elder.
“It has been so long since we've last had a lord or lady. There were many of us who began to doubt your existence,” Yeshe said.
“Can you tell me about previous lords and ladies of luck?” Moonstruck asked.
“We only have recorded their names. Lord Bedlam, Lady Ataxia, and Lord Tumult. Their gifts included these very trees, and our knowledge.”
“They made you self-aware?” Moonstruck asked as she tilted her head to one side.
“If the old stories are correct. With their blessings, we did not simply eek out a living. We thrived,” Yeshe explained. “But...as time went on, we grew complacent, and arrogant. Lady Ataxia grew weary of our ways, and froze the mountaintop. She changed a select few of us to suit the new climate, and then left us. We struggled for a time, but I do believe we have survived wonderfully. Now that you're here, it seems as though our luck may be changing.”
Moonstruck pondered. Whenever the word 'chaos' was brought up, things like 'destruction', and 'evil' came with it. But luck, coincidence, serendipity, were all good things that were outside of anypony's control.
“In any case, I believe a celebration is in order,” Yeshe said as they came to a stop outside a large door.
“A party? I love parties!” Moonstruck said as she snapped out of her reverie. Yeshe tapped his staff on the ground again as yetis poured into the room ahead of them. Furious sounds of preparation came from within while they waited.
“Did any of the others say anything about their home?” Moonstruck asked.
“Our lords and ladies most usually kept to themselves. They would, on occasion, leave us for some time. They never offered an explanation,” Yeshe explained.
“Darn,” Moonstruck said as she propped her head on her hand. “One more question. Have you noticed anything particularly unusual happen in the area?”
“I'm afraid not.” Yeshe replied as the doors were finally thrown open. Spread out for them was a whole banquet of meats and fruits. There was a band assembled. Yeti instruments seemed to consist mostly of drums and horns, and a few basic string instruments. The band began to play as Moonstruck was carried into the hall, a bombastic tune that made Moonstruck want to dance. She cast her eyes around the hall, which was pretty empty.
“Where are all the others?” She asked.
“Others? I thought this ought to be a private affair,” Yeshe said.
“What kind of party is that?” Moonstruck asked. “Go and get as many yetis as you can find! I want ALL of you here!”
“O-of course, my lady!” Yeshe tapped his staff again, and in rapid order, it was done. What must have been every yeti in the mountain filed into the hall. They were silent for a while, and looked around nervously.
“Well? Come everypony, let's party!” Moonstruck shouted as she bounced up and began to dance. The yetis looked amongst themselves, and then followed suit.
Moonstruck once again ran herself ragged during the party. The yeti's music had a much deeper bass then the ponies, and their dances were a lot more rough. She flopped herself down in a chair near the banquet table and looked over her choices. There were so many fruits and vegetables that she'd never seen before, as well as a variety of meats, cheeses, puddings and pastries. She shied away from the meat, and instead picked up what looked like a peppermint-striped banana.
She took a bite. It tasted kind of like raspberries, but with a deeper flavor, and a smoother texture. She let out a happy “Mmmmm” as she devoured it. The next thing she tried was a golden apple with a red filigree on it that tasted like butterscotch. Then there was a bright orange berry that tasted like chocolate, and a terribly normal-looking kind of nut that tasted like buttered popcorn.
“Where did you find all of these?” Moonstruck asked Yeshe as she scooped the entire bowl of nuts. “They're wonderful!”
“These are the fruits of the great trees,” Yeshe replied.
“Is this the kind of food you eat all the time?” she asked as she munched greedily on them.
“Yes. Would you like to try some spit-fried cockatrice? Or some Manticore tail?” Yeshe offered.
“Nnnno thanks,” Moonstruck said as Yeshe indicated to a couple of platters of meat. He took a chunk off of the latter and took a large, crunching bite from it. Moonstruck shivered and put the nuts down. “Were those gifts of the previous draconequines as well?” she asked.
“No. With the exception of goat, all of our meats are foreign.” Yeshe indicated to a large platter which bore what looked sickeningly like a prepared pony. Moonstruck turned a pale shade of green and stepped away from the banquet table.
She elected to instead examine what the band was doing. Yeti music was largely percussion based with all kinds of drums, gongs, and bells. There were horns as well, and simple string instruments like lyres and sitars. The band tensed up a little as she approached, but didn't stop. Moonstruck smiled as she let the thrum sink into her core. She looked around the room.
“Chaos doesn't have to be a bad thing,” she thought. “The yetis all seem happy and healthy, even if they do eat meat.” Moonstruck could feel herself swell with happiness.
The party went on for some time after. Moonstruck stretched as it wound down and yetis headed home.
“I need to get going,” she said with a stifled yawn.
“Can you not stay a while?” Yeshe asked.
“I'd like to, but I can't. I have to meet with Rumble. And I have someplace to be,” Moonstruck said.
“That...is unfortunate,” Yeshe said as he looked up at the ceiling of the cave.
“Maybe I'll come back someday,” Moonstruck said. She smiled and snapped her fingers.
She appeared on Rumble's head. The dragon let out yelp and almost choked on a mouthful of gems.
“Did I scare you?” Moonstruck asked, clicking her talon against his brow. He'd made it to the other side of the mountain range, and sat on a huge hill of multicolored gemstones. They were in the foothills of the mountain range. The air was crisp, and salty. In the distance, Moonstruck could see a small village, and the sea.
“No, you surprised me," Rumble replied. "I was getting hungry,” he explained as he jammed his claw under one of the hills, then produced a clawful of gems. “Lucky thing these gems were here.”
“Lucky thing indeed,” Moonstruck agreed. “Maybe we can get lucky again and find more signs of the home of the draconequines.”
After Rumble finished eating, the pair soared over the foothills in search of their destination. Moonstruck pondered deeply as she scanned the skies for anything strange.
“I've always been pretty lucky, now that I think about it,” she thought. “I got to live in the palace, I've had the best magical instructor in Equestria, and the only thing that's ever raised a claw to harm me is now one of my best friends.” Was that because she was a draconequus? No. Discord had been decidedly unlucky. Or maybe he'd just had bad luck because he'd done bad things? She'd read a word for that somewhere a while ago, but even that meant he had to bend to some kind of grand-scale cosmic law.
“Maybe Auntie was wrong about him?” she thought. “She thought of chaos as a bad thing, too... but it isn't always.” Moonstruck tapped her fang several times. “Maybe... since chaos isn't always bad, order isn't always good?” She nodded. Yes, her life had been in perfect order, but she'd hated it. But maybe that was just because she was a draconequus? She shook her head. Draconequines weren't bad. She couldn't think that way. But if neither chaos nor order were good, then what was?
Rumble suddenly landed, and jostled Moonstruck out of her thoughts.
“There's a village ahead,” he said. “This is as close as I can get without raising an alarm.”
“They're going to panic when the see me anyway,” Moonstruck pointed out as she fluttered to the ground. “Come on, it feels like we're getting close.”
Rumble shook his head. “I want to, but what if I accidentally smash something with my tail? How's that going to make you look? 'Oh, stay away from that draconequus, she brought a huge dragon into town!'”
Moonstruck tapped her fang. “I hadn't thought of it that way.” She pondered for a few moments. “What if I shrink you to the size of a pony? Oh! I could disguise myself, too! We'd be like spies!” she bounced excitedly.
Rumble's mouth curled into a smile. “Alright, but only if you go first.”
Moonstruck snapped her fingers. In a flash, she shapeshifted into something very close to a unicorn. It wasn't a very good disguise. Her head hadn't changed at all, she looked like she was half-zebra, and lacked a cutie mark.
“How do I look?” Moonstruck asked.
“Good!” Rumble said with a nod.
“Alright, I'm going to shrink you now. Hold still.” Moonstruck reared up and clicked her front hooves together. Rumble began to shrink down, down, down, to about the size of a pony. He clicked his claws together, wagged his tail and flapped his wings, as if to check each of them. Besides having been scaled down, he hadn't changed a bit.
“Yes! First try!” Moonstruck said as she happily clapped her new hooves together.
“This is surreal. I haven't been this small in decades,” Rumble said as he looked up and around.
“Come on, let's go! Maybe we'll find somepony in town who knows something!” Moonstruck galloped off into town.
“Welcome to Seaside,” Rumble read aloud as the pair ran past the sign at city limits.
“Seaside. This is a port town,” Moonstruck said. “It's a fairly new settlement, but it's population's already exploded to something like a couple thousand ponies, I think?”
“I never understood how ponies could stand to live so close to each other,” Rumble said.
“Ponies don't grow to be big and scary like dragons,” Moonstruck reminded him. “There's strength in numbers. That's why it's important for everypony to get along.”
Seaside town center bustled with activity. Moonstruck marveled at the architecture of the buildings; Most of the houses that lined the edges of the town square were closer to mansions than the humble abodes in Ponyville. The town hall was a spectacular display of Seaside's wealth, made of gilded marble and what must have been mahogany. There was a fountain in the center of town which had a stylized golden statue of Princess Celestia that stood on a rocky outcropping. All along the base of the outcropping, halfway in and out of the water were mythical sea-ponys, half pony and half fish, that sprayed water in beautiful arcs over the fountain.
“We're getting some strange looks,” Rumble noted as they made their way through the town square.
“I'm sure it's just because they've never seen a dragon up close before,” Moonstruck assured him. A mare in a particularly elaborate hat caught her eye. “Excuse me, Miss?”
“Mmyes?” she asked. She spoke in an accent that sounded like it tried for Canterlot or Manehatten, but missed both marks. “Oh my...!” she took almost a full step back when she turned.
“Don't worry, he's harmless,” Moonstruck promised as she indicated to Rumble. “We're looking for something. Have you noticed anything really strange happening in or around town?”
“I'm... afraid not, Dear,” the mare replied with a nervous shuffle. “Perhaps you could try the markets? They get out of town far more often than anypony in Seaside Center does.” She indicated down a nearby street.
“Okay. Thank you, Miss.” Moonstruck smiled and nodded. “Come on, Rumble.”
The Seaside Market was not nearly as fancy as Seaside Center. Homes were much more subdued, built from simple wood and roofed with hay or clay shingles. Business seemed to mostly thrive in stalls, simple affairs made from wooden poles and canvas. There were a handful of storefronts and restaurants as well, which were the only things that would have given any indication that the town was very wealthy at all had somepony just been dropped in the streets.
“Excuse me,” Moonstruck got the attention of a passing stallion.
“Yeah, whatdayawaaaaa...nt?” the stallion had an incredulous look on his face as he turned to face her.
“Hi. I was wondering if you've noticed anything odd in or around town in the past couple of days?” Moonstruck asked.
“Ah...nope, sorry.” The stallion quickly vanished into the crowd.
“Uh...no.”
“Nope.”
“Sorry.”
Moonstruck pawed the ground in frustration after the most recent failure.
“Maybe we should split up?” Rumble suggested.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Moonstruck agreed. Everypony was clearly scared of Rumble. She was certain that they'd be more cooperative if she was on her own.
“N...n...no. I haven't seen anything.”
Moonstruck huffed in frustration as the pegasus took off over a building. She didn't get it. As far as she knew, Rumble was on the other side of town. What could have possibly gotten the other ponies so frightened? She sighed as she passed a stand that sold mirrors. She caught a glimpse into one, jumped, and looked around for the creepy half zebra pony that she'd spotted. She blinked a couple of times, then clopped her face into her hoof. She was probably the absolutely least convincing pony she'd ever seen, a mere mockery of the real thing.
“What happened? Rumble said I looked fine,” she thought as she glanced furtively around. Once positive nopony was looking, she began to correct her disguise. She pushed her horn into the center of her head, and stretched her smaller eye out so it matched the larger. Yellow sclera faded to white, and her irises expanded to more normal size for a pony. She stuffed her fang up into her mouth and smiled with a row of flat pony teeth. She made stripes symmetrical to the natural ones on the opposite side of her body, and gave herself a cutie mark; An eight-pointed starburst of arrows that pointed in all directions.
“There,” Moonstruck thought as she checked herself over. “NOW I look like a pony.”
“Moonstruck!” she looked up as she heard Rumble call her name. She let out a sharp whistle to get his attention. He landed next to her with a small thud.
“There you are. Why'd you change your disguise?” he asked.
“Because it was terrible! Why didn't you tell me I looked like a monster?” she asked as she nudged his shoulder.
“I didn't think you did,” Rumble shrugged. “Four legs, long head, a horn. You looked like a unicorn to me.”
Moonstruck let out a long sigh.
“Anyway, I found a guy who says he know something. C'mon,” Rumble indicated for her to follow him.
Rumble lead Moonstruck down the street into the Seaside dock district. Most of the buildings along the docks were ramshackle affairs held up by rotten and moldy planks. The majority of the population were big, muscular earth-pony stallions with scars, or eye patches.
“This place looks really gross,” Moonstruck said. Everypony immediately stopped and glared at her.
“A little louder, Moon. I don't think the princesses heard you,” Rumble whispered. “You guys got a problem?!” he growled as he flared his wings. The ponies sneered, but continued about their ways. “This way,” he said as he pulled Moonstruck along.
Moonstruck smiled as they got close to the water. She'd never seen the ocean before; It was so amazingly vast. Boats floated in and out of the docks. Most of them bore a bust of Princess Luna or Nightmare Moon on the front, but other than that their designs varied wildly from tiny fishing boats to enormous passenger vessels. Mostly earth ponies, but a handful of unicorns as well, scurried in and out of the docked boats to load them with huge boxes of supplies.
“In here,” Rumble said as he nudged her towards one of the nicer buildings, a three-story building with a sign that read "The Stopover". The entire first floor of the building looked like a dining room. There were a handful of sailor ponies scattered amongst the tables. They silently looked up from their food or card games at the new arrivals. There was a lone seafoam stallion at the bar, with a shaved head and a short, blue tail. A black leather strap went around the back of his head.
“Oh. It's much mmph mphmph mmph mm,” Moonstruck was cut off as Rumble wrapped his claw around her jaw.
“That's the guy,” Rumble said as he pointed to the seafoam pony. “Hey, old timer,” he called.
The pony turned to face them. Over his left eye was an eyepatch. His right eye was cloudy and didn't seem to be any particular color.
“There ye be, ye scamp,” he said as he focused on a spot just to the right of Rumble's face.
“This is my friend...” Rumble indicated to Moonstruck.
“Moonstruck,” she supplied.
“Arr, ye didn' tell me yer friend was a mare, ye scurvy dog,” the old pony chuckled. “Name's Cap'n Salt Waters, lass.”
“What happened to your eye?” Moonstruck asked, as she focused on the misty right eye.
“What's wrong with me eye?” Cap'n Waters asked.
“Er,” Moonstruck backpedaled, “why're you wearing an eye patch?” she rephrased.
“Ar. It's ta protect me good eye,” he pulled the eye patch up and revealed a completely normal, bright green eye. He only showed it briefly before he allowed the patch to snap back into position.
“Ah. Makes sense,” Moonstruck nodded. Rumble blinked several times. “Anyway, Rumble said you might know where there have been strange things around town.”
“I'm suddenly having second thoughts about this,” Rumble whispered.
“Yar, out in the waters!” the Cap'n started, loud enough to make the dragon jump and get the attention of everypony in the bar. “Me and me crew din't know what ta makea it at first. 'Twas an isle, not on any our maps. The sea aroun' it churned an' frothed madly. Dark clouds stirred the air an' spat hail the size an' shape a pegasus at us! Fish that flew like birds started flyin' from the sea like arrows!” the Cap'n took a breath. “Most a me crew went overboard. The rest staggered off the docks an' I ain't see the yellow-bellies since.”
“Yar, I ain't seen any o' you goin' out to see it yerselves!” Cap'n shouted back.
“Where was the island?” Moonstruck asked.
“What? Ar, about a day's northwest 'o town. Ye'd be needin' a boat to get out that far,” he pointed out.
“Can you take us?” Moonstruck asked.
Cap'n began to laugh. After a few moments he paused. “Ar, yer serious, ain't ya lass? Alright, tell ye what. I'll sail yer sorry plot out there IF ye can get me a crew to sail with.”
“How many?” she asked.
“Three others fer a skeleton crew, an' at least a dozen more iffen ye want food an' sleep.”
“That might be rough,” Rumble said.
“Give us an hour,” Moonstruck said with a nod. “We'll meet you back here.”
“Alright, Lass.”
“Moon, where're we gonna get fifteen other ponies to sail with us?” Rumble asked as they walked out of the inn.
“We're not going to find them. Come on, I've got something I want to try,” she replied as she led the dragon out of town. Once clear of the city limits, she clipped her hooves together. Mud rose from the ground and formed into three clay ponies. With pieces of her own coat and mane, Moonstruck constructed three semi-realistic pony dummies. They weren't shaped quite right, and they lacked faces or cutie marks.
“So what's your plan?” Rumble asked as she finished.
“I saw this in one of the stained glass windows back home,” Moonstruck explained as she clipped her hooves together, then pulled them apart to reveal a manipulator's control rod. “Ever played with marionettes?”
“That's not the kind of toy a dragon would have,” Rumble admitted.
“The window showed Discord using a thing like this to control ponies,” Moonstruck said as a set of magical strings stretched from one of the clay ponies to the control rod. Once completed, she lifted the rod high above it with her telekinesis and began to manipulate it. The clay pony sprung to life and began to trot around, mostly like a normal pony.
“That's creepy,” Rumble said as he watched the pony golem walk about. “He'll never fall for it.”
“As long as he keeps his good eye covered, he will.” Moonstruck set up the other three with control rods and started to practice moving them about, and tried to perform a series of complex tasks. It was almost more like they moved in reaction to Moonstruck's will then how she manipulated the control rods. “They need names,” she concluded. From nowhere, she produced a palette and a paintbrush. “This one will be Anchors Aweigh,” she painted a blue anchor where it's cutie mark should have been, “Ms. Compass Rose,” she painted the symbol on the next one, “annnnd Mainsail.” Moonstruck painted a simple boat on the last one. Finally, she painted some crude expressions on their faces.
“Now they look really creepy,” Rumble said.
“It's fine,” Moonstruck insisted.
After some careful maneuvers, Moonstruck guided her marionettes back to The Stopover. “Cap'n Waters, we've got our crew!” she shouted.
The Cap'n looked up from his drink. His uncovered eye widened. “Yar, ain't this a surprise!”
“This is Mainsail, Anchors Aweigh, and Ms. Compass Rose.” Moonstruck made each golem nod as she referred to them. The other patrons of the bar gave the puppets strange looks, but said nothing. The Cap'n's eye narrowed as he leaned in close to inspect Compass Rose.
“Ar, ye be quite the beauty, Miss Rose.”
Moonstruck indicated for the puppet to nod again. “Thank you, sir,” she replied out of the corner of her mouth in a slightly different voice from her own.
“Alright, Lads and Lasses. I be on me honor now. To the docks.”
The group continued to receive strange looks as Cap'n, Rumble, Moonstruck and her puppets trooped down to the docks.
“Here she is, me pride and joy,” Cap'n said as they arrived to a medium-sized boat. It's bow bore a particularly frightening depiction of Nightmare Moon that seemed to dive out of the wood, wings spread, hooves curved, and sharp teeth barred to devour whatever stood before her. Along the side of the boat was a plaque, engraved with silver that read “R.S.S. Night Shine”. Beyond this, the vessel was unremarkable, although it seemed to have seen better days.
“What does R.S.S stand for?” Rumble asked quietly.
“Ar, ye be swimmin' next ye insult 'er,” he growled.
“Uh...Sorry. Rumble and I have never been on a boat before. What kind of jobs are there?” Moonstruck asked.
“Ye landlubbers... Firs' an' mos' important job is cap'n. I be responsible fer a fair number o' tings ye needn't worry yer head over, an' I be in charge. Since we be runnin' a skeleton crew, second up is navigator. Ye be a talented map-maker, Miss Rose?” Moonstruck made the puppet nod.
“Of course.”
“She be responsible for maintainin' our headin' an' keepin' track o' where we be. Then there's the helmspony. He works wit' the navigator ta steer the ship. Mr. Mainsail looks like he'd be best at that.”
“Aye, sir,” Moonstruck took on a much more masculine voice as she made the relevant puppet stand at attention.
“Then we be needin' a pair o' deckhooves, what do heavy labor like hoistin' the sails an' raisin' anchor. Mr. Aweigh and Mr. Rumble seem ta be best suited for that.”
“Great,” Rumble muttered. Moonstruck made Anchors Aweigh nod.
“Finally, there be look out. Ye'll be takin' that one lass. Yer job's ta sit in the crows nest an' keep an eye out.”
“For what?” Moonstruck asked.
“Anythin' that ain't clear skies an' peaceful waters.”
“Yes, sir,” Moonstruck nodded. This was good. From on top of the mast, she'd be able to manipulate all her puppets with relative ease.
The group filed on board. Cap'n guided everypony to their positions for casting off; Mainsail at the wheel, Moonstruck up in the crows nest, and all other hooves on deck to manage the anchor and the rigging.
“Anchor's aweigh!” Moonstruck had the puppet of the same name shout out. She saw Rumble do a double take between it and her. The Night Shine began to drift away from the dock.
“Hoist the main sail!” Cap'n called out as they cleared the docks. “Miss Rose, the jib!”
Moonstruck wiggled her control rods as she tried to get the puppets to do all of their jobs while also doing her own, which was to make sure the Shine wasn't about to crash into anything. She smirked; It was a little like a game.
“Ar, excellent work gentlecolts,” Cap'n said as they totally cleared Seaside port. “Mr. Mainsail, our headin's northwest. I be in me quarters.”
Moonstruck leaned over the side of the crows nest as Cap'n disappeared into the Shine's interior. “Rumble! Bring me a compass and a map!” she hissed. Rumble quickly flew the supplies up to her.
“You sure this is a good plan? I mean, you're basically responsible for everything on the boat here,” Rumble pointed out.
“Yeah, it's fine. This is actually kinda fun,” Moonstruck said as she had Mainsail align the boat to the northwest. She looked over the map, which showed the coast for a few hundred miles. She found Seaside in the southeast corner of the map, and checked the direction they'd be heading.
The trip was largely uneventful. Moonstruck had completely missed the archipelago in their path, and almost sailed into it. Mainsail and Compass Rose got chewed out by Cap'n Waters, but Moonstruck took every word he said on herself. As the sun began to set, the sea suddenly became rough, and the wind started to blow wildly. Clouds formed as if from nowhere in the sky, and began to spit various things that weren't water at the boat. Moonstruck could see what looked like a mountain jut up from the horizon. She double checked the map, which showed what should have been open water.
“Cap'n Waters! We've reached the island!” Moonstruck shouted. He burst out of the cabin and shoved Mainsail aside to take the wheel. An ice sculpture of a cloud slammed into the deck and cracked the wood.
“Lower the sails!” Cap'n shouted as Moonstruck guided her puppets to help Rumble. “Git down from thar, lass! Yer a sittin' duck!”
“Incoming waves!” Moonstruck shouted. Waves shot from the island, but not in a circular pattern. The waves were more like missiles of water. With the sail fully down, Cap'n began to ride across them at such an angle that they continued towards the island rather than get pushed away.
“Yar har har har!” Cap'n laughed as more ice sculptures fell from the sky around them. The boat suddenly tilted to the side and very nearly capsized. Moonstruck yanked on her strings to keep the puppets from being flung overboard while she wrapped her legs around the mast. Rumble flew into the air.
“Argh!” he shouted as a barrage of silver whipped out of the waters and slammed into him; More than a gross of silver fish began to batter him out of the air.
“Rumble!” Moonstruck dropped one of her control rods and caught him with her magic. There was a splash as a now totally limp Compass Rose flew into the ocean.
“Yar! Mare overboard!” Cap'n shouted. “Hold her steady lads!” a particularly large wave tossed the Shine into the air. A rapid thud echoed through the air as more fish assaulted the keel. There was a huge splash as they landed. The clouds still blotted out the sky, but everything else had stopped.
“Is it over?” Rumble shouted.
“Not yet, lad!” Cap'n shouted as he ran to the bow. The island had released one final wave, in a huge circle around it. There was no way to avoid it. Cap'n Waters smirked. “Drop anchor!” he shouted.
Moonstruck had Anchors Aweigh buck the anchor into the water. “Hold tight, fillies!” Cap'n roared as he braced himself.
The wave slammed into the Shine and tilted her over backwards. Moonstruck lost her grip on the other two marionettes as the mast slammed into the water. There was a great crack as it broke off the ship. Moonstruck's eyes widened as she saw herself get sucked away from the Shine.
She let out a loud GLUG, and slammed her hooves together.
The waters sat calmly for a few moments. Suddenly, Nightmare Moon burst forth from the surface, followed by the ship. A bubble of strawberry pink magic was around it.
Moonstruck, still in her pony form, floated where the mast would have been.
“Yar, what in Nightmare's...” Cap'n sputtered.
“Sorry, Cap'n. I'm afraid I haven't quite been honest with you.” Moonstruck said. She nabbed her right hoof in her mouth and yanked it free to reveal her hand, which she flexed. She rolled her left foreleg down to reveal her claw, then proceeded to peel her hind legs off like a pair of pants. She pulled on her horn like a slot machine arm, which sent her eyes spinning until they stopped in their natural state and her fang erupted from her lip. Finally, she peeled off the symmetrical black stripes like a sticker as her wings erupted from where it had been. She stood up and smiled as she looked ahead at the island.
From the clouds, a hurricane formed and touched down as they continued to drift towards the island. Moonstruck snapped her fingers as the Shine got lifted into the air like a loose scrap of paper and sucked into the vortex. With another snap, the jib sail went up and they were launched like a cannonball from the storm. The ship flew through the air and landed with a great splash, perfectly docked at a pier on the beach. Ropes that moved on their own flew out and fastened the Shine in place.
Cap'n's jaw hit the deck. He shifted his eye patch so he could see out of his good eye. Moonstruck laid down and propped herself up on her elbows.
“I'm a draconequus,” she answered before he could ask as she poked the very tip of his nose. “This island is where my kind used to live.”
“Alright, now what, Moon?” Rumble asked.
“Well, I was told I only needed to visit, but we went through an awful lot of trouble just to get here. Might as well check it out, right?” Moonstruck reasoned.
“Yar, hold on,” Cap'n Waters said, “what of Miss Rose, and the rest of the crew?”
“Oh, those were just puppets,” Moonstruck said. “Clay ponies I was controlling from the crow's nest.”
Cap'n fell on his haunches, as his ears drooped down flat against his head. He began to mutter incomprehensibly.
“I should stay here with him,” Rumble said.
“Good idea.” Moonstruck agreed. “I don't know how long I'm gonna be. See you in a bit.” She fluttered off the bow and landed on the island's beach.
Moonstruck's heart fluttered as she landed on the sand. It didn't quite feel like sand, but she couldn't place what it was. She smiled. While anypony else would have seen a dark, foreboding jungle stretched before them, she got an overwhelming sense of welcome, like something deep within was calling her home. Without hesitation, she plunged into the vegetation.
The dense jungle quickly gave way. On the other side of what must have only been a few feet of flora, was a vast field that looked as though it shouldn't have even fit within the confines of the island. While the ground supported her, it seemed to ebb and flow like water, and constantly shifted between pastel colors, similarly to Aunt Celestia's mane. In the sky danced a pair of great orbs, like the sun and moon, one of gold and the other silver.
“Woooooow,” Moonstruck gasped lightly as she took a few tentative steps forward. She wobbled as her mind told her she shouldn't be able to walk on the ground the way it was, but despite whatever machinations the floor may have had, it couldn't throw her down. Not even when it formed into a tunnel and she walked fully upside down.
As she looked around, Moonstruck failed to see any more permanent features of the field. Little forests would pop up, then rot away to dust in moments as if their entire lifespan were played in fast motion. A wayward cloud would occasionally appear in the air and spit almost anything except water at the ground, which would vanish in a puff as it struck the surface.
Moonstruck gasped and fluttered backwards as she almost walked off a cliff. The first solid landmark she'd run into, a huge, unchanging hole in the ground. It seemed to have a yard of solid turquoise grass around it that sat flat. To gaze upon it was nearly as disorientating as her initial attempt to walk. Cautiously, she peered over the edge into the hole. There was something aglow at the bottom. She took a deep breath and plunged herself in.
The pit was deep. Far deeper than she had initially thought, and save for the glow near the bottom, completely dark. Moonstruck lit her horn, just in time to catch a pool of water that rapidly rushed to greet her. She flared out her wings and quickly stopped herself, then gently lowered one of her feet to the surface. The water did not yield to her weight, and instead acted like a trampoline. A wave of blue light shot out from where she'd touched the water and illuminated the vast cave structure. The water turned a solid, glowing blue while the roof of the cavern was cast in it's eerie glow.
Moonstruck took a few steps, as if to test the water. As she walked, the water began to ripple, and the color swirled around her, and a large, clear circle appeared in the blue light before her. She slowly laid down and gazed into the pool. It seemed as though it was waiting for input.
Moonstruck blinked, first her large eye, then her small one. “What is this?” she whispered. The pool suddenly waved and gently shimmered, then became still, and showed an image of Moonstruck, being observed from elsewhere in the cavern. The image moved to replicate her as she sat up to see who was watching her, although it was on a second or two delay.
“Oh, cool!” Moonstruck said, as she leaned on her hand. She flicked her tail about like an impatient filly. “Can you show me other things? Like, like...What's Auntie doing right now?” Moonstruck silently chided herself as the image of Celestia appeared and did exactly what one would expect her to do at around sundown. “Alright, can you show me what she was doing... three hours ago?”
The pool swirled again.
“...and be certain to be careful upon approach. The last thing we wish to do is frighten her,” Celestia dictated to one of her many assistants. The unicorn eagerly wrapped the scroll up and floated it near Philomena, who turned it to ash with a flick of her wing. Almost as the letter vanished, another appeared in a puff of green smoke. Celestia caught the letter with her magic and read. “Twilight is requesting support in Ponyville. She knows a spell that can revert the changes, but they're happening too quickly for her to keep up. Sunflower, gather a detachment of our strongest wizards and send them to her aid.”
“Okay, so you can see in the past.” Moonstruck said. “Where did I come from?”
The pool paused for a moment, before a blue ring rippled from the center. The scene changed with it to the royal gardens, but they were different. The ground was a baby-blue and white checkerboard pattern, the walls melted like chocolate in the sun, when it it was out, and plants and statues ran about in a heaving panic of their sudden mobilization. Two statues that weren't looking where they were going slammed into each other, which proceeded to grow into a pile-up of increasingly ridiculous proportions that included, near the end, an anvil, a grand piano, a tree that came out of nowhere, and a building. As a cruise ship that made the Night Shine look like a dingy flew from nowhere to join the chaos, a bright light glowed from the center.
A rather loud bang... no, a cry, rang from the pile. The light grew into a bright flash. When it subsided, baby Moonstruck slowly descended into her bush and fell asleep. Any sign of the chaos that had caused her to happen had been completely evaporated, as a large circle of grass appeared against the checkers. This didn't last long, but as the chaos crept to reclaim its territory, a rainbow-colored flash of light blotted out the view.
Moonstruck tapped her fang as she mulled this over. So she had been born from chaos. While this was Discord's fault, she wondered idly if he'd orchestrated any of that. Another disturbing thought crept into her mind; If the timing of events had been just a little bit off, she might not of been born at all. Also funny was how her appearance had completely calmed the chaos in her immediate area. If she had been all of that chaos given form, and it stripped the land back to it's natural state, did that mean that order was the way this world was, with any chaos being a simple blemish on it's perfect white canvas?
“No,” Moonstruck thought, “that makes chaos sound like a bad thing.” She sighed as she thought of another question for the pool. “What happened to the draconequines?”
The scene changed to a laboratory. A dozen or more unicorns worked on what looked like a brass cube in the center of the lab. Moonstruck instinctively pulled away from the image of the cube; Something about it seemed wrong. It was too perfectly shaped.
“Sir, art thou certain this shall help us defeat Discord?” one of the lab assistants said to a pony with a small beard growing on his chin.
“Absolutely. If my theory is correct, it should at least make it so our magic works normally on him.” The bearded pony replied.
“What of the sister's quest?” The lab assistant asked.
“Chasing pony tails. If we see them again, they shall be empty hooved. Mark my words.”
“Sir!” The cube began to hum violently and glow.
“Excellent...wait. Something's wrong. What is it set to track?”
“It isn't set for anything. It's acting on it's own!”
“Impossib...!” every other sound in the scene was drowned out by the deafening roar of the cube as it vacated the lab.
The scene changed to somewhere out in the field above. A draconequus with a monkey tail, a pony leg, an elephant leg, and a bat wing and a bird wing for arms hung by his tail from a tree. Another draconequus, with a rainbow snake of some kind as a lower body, one arm like a frog and the other like a turtle's foreleg, reclined on the tree beneath.
“So what do you think of what Discord's up to?” the hanging one said idly.
“He's abusing his power. Not like any of us can stop him though. Did you hear what he did to Mania? Poor orderly never stood a chance.”
“Speaking of orderlies, did you hear what happened to Giggle?”
“No, what?”
Moonstruck didn't get the chance to hear what happened to Giggle. The cube from before suddenly slammed into the inverted draconequus. He vanished in a gray puff, and left nothing behind. The cube hovered for a moment, then violently attacked the other one, to the exact same result. It flew around the island, seemingly vaporizing any draconequus it met. After a while, it flew to one draconequus, who was unmistakably Discord.
“Well, you've done me a favor, little pony parlor trick. I was wondering how I was going to deal with my people.” The cube flew at Discord, and bounced off his forehead to what seemed like no effect. Discord cracked his neck. “How adorable,” he commented as he lifted his eagle claw. Purple fire erupted from it and surrounded the cube, which suddenly and violently shot through the ground. It left a perfectly round hole.
Moonstruck gulped. “What happened to the cube?” she asked.
The circle of the pool suddenly expanded so she was inside it. It began to lower like an elevator. As they descended, the temperature began to rise, and the glow Moonstruck had seen before became brighter. Suddenly, the water she stood on became like water again, and she sank through.
The chamber Moonstruck fell into seemed to be naturally formed, and also extremely bright and extremely hot. She began to perspire ridiculously. The drops of sweat that escaped her body evaporated in a puff of steam before they even touched the ground. There was a organic-looking growth on her right, which seemed to be the source of the glow. It was large, bigger than she was, and was shaped almost like an obelisk. She cautiously looked around for the cube.
There was a disgusting squelching noise as the growth suddenly burst open. The cube, although much larger than it had seemed in the pool, floated menacingly in the center of the room. It hesitated for a moment, then flew towards her.
Moonstruck dodged aside as the cube rocketed towards her and slammed heavily into the wall. She shot a bolt out of her horn at it, only to realize how lame that was seconds after it left her. The bolt, of course, did nothing useful. If anything, it looked like the cube absorbed it somehow. It launched itself out of the wall, and this time it grazed her left shoulder as it flew by.
In an instant, Moonstruck's vision had turned grayscale, as if she were looking at a shaded picture of the cavern rather than actually being there. Her body became unresponsive for a moment, and it felt all of her parts were pulling apart from themselves. Color slowly returned to her eyes. She was met by the scent of singed fur and feathers as her sweat resumed, washing white streaks down her body that had suddenly been charred black.
“That thing dissipates chaos,” she thought. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she took a hit full on. She teleported well out of the cube's path as it charged her again.
Moonstruck blinked as she arrived on the other side of the room. The cube seemed just as interested in hammering the cavern into a square room as it was in ending her existence, as it left a dent in the wall exactly next to the first one. It flew across the room at her again. She dropped on her stomach as it zoomed over her head. She snapped her fingers, and the cube vanished, then reappeared to slam into the wall where it had before, only slightly higher and little bit to the left, so the pattern in the wall was no longer a perfect rectangle.
The cube buzzed slightly, then proceeded to slam itself into the wall until the indent once again became a perfect square. This gave Moonstruck precious time to think.
“Alright, so. Magic affects draconequines differently because of our chaotic nature. This was made to make it so magic could work on Discord, but weaker draconequines vaporized on contact with it.” Moonstruck smiled despite the situation. It was nice to know she was strong for her species, at least. “Discord just jammed this thing down here... Did he know I would find it here? Was his plan to have it kill me?” Moonstruck snapped her fingers. The cube shivered as she tried to make a flower grow out of its top, but nothing happened. “There's no way he would have had that kind of foresight more than a thousand years in advance. Maybe he just couldn't destroy it? Then how am I supposed to?” She quickly looked around for a means of escape.
She ran out of time. She dove aside as the cube nearly took her head off. She quickly tried to replicate what she had seen Discord do... it had probably been simple telekinesis... through chaos magic.
“I don't know how to do that!” Moonstruck groaned as she dodged another rush. She took a breath. “Okay. I can manipulate its position, but I can't change the cube itself. It doesn't seem to like irregularities.” Something squished under her feet. “...Ew.”
The cube shivered violently. Moonstruck looked down; She'd stepped on the remains of the growth the cube had come out from. She blasted away the bit that had gotten stuck on her foot, and the cube began to shake more violently. It rushed her once again as she rolled aside.
She noticed that the imprint it left on the wall was slightly smaller than previous imprints, So slight that she wouldn't have noticed if the cube hadn't slammed a spot touching a previous imprint, and immediately hammered the edges out to match. Moonstruck looked at the organic bit in the room, and began to shred it with blasts of magic. The cube visibly shrunk as it flew through the air to stop her. This time Moonstruck could dodge its attack with a simple tilt of her head. It had shrunk to about an inch on all sides; Pretty much the same size it had been in the pool. Moonstruck smirked and snapped her fingers.
One of the cube's corners sprouted a flower. It promptly vaporized in a puff of rainbow magic.
Moonstruck let out a sigh of relief, and fluttered out through the hole she'd come in from. She was quite content to head someplace else now.
Moonstruck made her way back out to the boat. “Well, my obligations are set,” she said as she smiled at Rumble. He let out a few hacking coughs.
“*cough cough...* Bleh... Where're you gonna head now?” he asked.
“Anywhere I want, I suppose,” Moonstruck said as she leaned back on her tail. “We could go... Anywhere.” She indicated idly to the ocean.
“Yar, we ain't be goin' nowhere without a main sail, or crew,” Cap'n Waters said as he emerged from below deck. “Or a rudder. Or food.”
Moonstruck tapped her fang. “Cap'n, would the Shine still float if there was an adult dragon on deck?”
Rumble, now back to his original size (no matter how much he swore he felt a little shorter), stood on the deck of the Night Shine with his wings spread. His claws dug into the rails on the side of the boat as he essentially paddled with his wings through the air. Every so often, he'd let out a fitful cough, but the plan had worked perfectly. The Shine was faster with Rumble's wing power than with the sail, but obviously they couldn't go as long. They dropped anchor at around midnight to rest.
“I'm really sorry your boat got so beaten up,” Moonstruck pledged as she helped Cap'n lug what little provisions survived the last wave, a couple of barrels of apple cider and some canned vegetables.
“Ar, she's seen worse lass,” Cap'n said. “'Slong as the keels intact, she can be repaired. It'll be costin' me a shiny bit, though.”
“That's what I'm saying,” Moonstruck replied as she placed the barrel of cider on deck. “It wouldn't have broken if I hadn't tricked you into taking us out here.” She tapped her fang. “I'll figure something out once we get back to port. Do you need something to eat, Rumble?”
“Nah, you two go ahead,” Rumble coughed. “I think I'll turn in for tonight, and get some gems from that mountain in the morning.” He put his head down and closed his eyes.
“I hope Rumble's alright. I wonder what a dragon coughing means?” she thought as Cap'n tore open a can of asparagus and slid it over to her. They ate, had some cider, then went to sleep.
Moonstruck yawned as she woke up the next day. She blinked. The sun was just coming up. Rumble shook the boat with another cough.
The cap'n was already up. He stood at the bow and pawed uncomfortably. “Ya know what happened tha las' time tha sun was late, lass?” he said.
“The sun's late?” Moonstruck asked. In her entire life, she'd never even heard of the sun coming up late. Aunt Celestia was far too dedicated to her duty for that.
“Ar. Las time was more'n seven years ago,” he reached up and tapped the bow just behind the bust of Nightmare Moon, “when the mare'n the moon returned. It never be good iffen the princess doesn't get the sun up on time.”
The boat shook again as Rumble sat up, wobbled, then laid back down before he threw himself overboard. “*cough cough* Ready to sail whenever you two are,” he reported.
Seaside was bustling with activity as they drew close. It looked like ponies may have been panicking because of the approaching dragon, but Moonstruck noticed that only those very close to the docks even paid Rumble any heed. There were a lot of royal guards around, but even they failed to keep the peace. She ducked down to keep herself out of sight. It was unlikely the guards would really be able to apprehend her and force her to return home. Then again, if Auntie failed the raise the sun on time, then that meant something was very wrong. If she was going to head back to Canterlot anyway, might as well get somepony a promotion while she was at it.
“Hey Rumble, how do you feel about visiting Canterlot?” she asked.
“No way. I heard any dragon that comes within a hundred yards of Canterlot gets blasted out of the air,” Rumble coughed. “Shame with all those gems in that mountain, really.”
As they docked and disembarked, Moonstruck turned and snapped her fingers. A tall, straight tree grew from where the mast had been on the Night Shine. After a few more snaps, excess wood was carved away to reveal a mast, complete with crows nest and rigging. “Thanks, Cap'n Waters.” She said as she patted his head. “Sorry, Rumble. I really need to get back to Canterlot. Maybe I'll be able to come and visit you in the Everfree sometime, though.”
Rumble coughed. “You know, I'd like that,” he replied. “I'd better get out of here before I break anything. We'll see each other again, Moonstruck.”
“Don't forget to do what makes you happy!” Moonstruck called after him. In two strokes of his wings, he was gone.
Moonstruck felt strangely at ease as she walked through the streets, in sharp contrast with the ponies scattered wildly about, and the guards that tried to keep them in check. She craned her neck around to find what had gotten them so worked up that even the guards who were no doubt on orders to find her completely disregarded her presence. She decided she'd go to the top. Whoever was in charge of this squad was no doubt in the town hall.
“Helllllllloooooo!” she called as she pushed the doors open. A group of ponies were gathered around a table with a map. Most of them were royal guards, but there were a few rather porcine stallions that probably made up Seaside's local government. Moonstruck recognized one of the guard ponies right away.
“Moonstruck! There you are,” Shining Armor said, as if he had been expecting her. Captain Armor had always been very professional when speaking or referring to her. “Princess Celestia has been worried about you.”
“And now I'm worried about Aunt Celestia. The sun didn't come up on time today?” Moonstruck asked as she walked around to look at the map. She titled her head and leaned it on top of the lieutenant's helmet (Captain Armor didn't like being touched). The map showed Seaside and the immediate area around it. Large portions out in the field were covered in a red, circled X symbol. “Is she alright?”
“We haven't been able to get in touch with Canterlot since early last night,” Captain Armor admitted.
“Why not?” Moonstruck pressed.
“Didn't you feel it?” he replied. “Just after sundown, there was a breakdown in the planet's leylines. I can barely manage a solid shield big enough to protect this room, and some of my best fliers can't even get off the ground in armor.”
Moonstruck thought back to her most recent feat of magic, growing a tree out of a boat and turning it into a mast. It hadn't felt any harder than it should have been. “I really didn't notice a difference,” she said.
“Sir, the princesses may be in danger,” a unicorn guard pointed out. “We must return to Canterlot at once.”
“Canterlot is days off on hoof,” the lieutenant Moonstruck was using as a pillow pointed out. “We can't simply leave Seaside in this state, we have no idea if we'd be of any help in Canterlot, and we still have a mission to accomplish.”
“I could probably get you back to Canterlot quickly,” Moonstruck volunteered.
“Alright,” Captain Armor started, “we're going to split the squad. Wind Force, you take a dozen stallions and try to restore peace in Seaside. The other dozen are pulling back with me.”
“Yes, Sir!” Moonstruck dodged back as the saluting lieutenant nearly got her in the face with his hoof.
The guards moved quickly to fulfill their orders.
“So, Moonstruck. How'd you get by my guards and spell wards to run away in the first place?” Shining Armor asked.
“The same way I'm getting us back. Is this everypony?”
They arrived with a flash in the throne room. Moonstruck blinked, every horn in the room pointed squarely at her, including both Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna's. Celestia lifted her head.
“Stand down,” she ordered.
“Did everypony make it?” Shining Armor shouted at his squad. Not a hair or feather was out of place.
“Auntie! I heard you didn't get the sun up on time today, and everypony's magic has been weakened. What happened?” Moonstruck asked as she took a few steps forward.
“We're not certain,” Luna spoke up. She didn't look any less regal than usual, but she kind of sounded dead on her hooves. “You are aware of the network of leylines that criss-cross the planet, correct?”
“Of course.” Moonstruck nodded. “The leylines form a sort of super-highway of the planet's magical energies. A creature using order magic, with its personal energy, siphons a little bit of that energy off to power its spells.”
“Precisely,” Luna continued. “Early last night, one of the leyline nodes... a location where many of them intersect... seemed to have been heavily damaged, snapping the leylines and cutting us off from the source of most of our power.”
“Oh, no! Can we fix it?” Moonstruck asked.
“No. The lines will reform on their own with time, but we have much more pressing matters for the moment,” Luna replied.
“Mwahahahahahahaha...!”
Moonstruck's ears perked up. “Did anypony else hear that?” she asked. As she received a series of concerned looks, she darted off. There was only one voice in the castle the she and nopony else could hear. As she ran, she started to work things out in her head.
Discord, all those years ago, had most likely figured out that the cube could absorb magic and launched it into the depths of the planet, where the leylines connected, as the Draconequine home island happened to be over a node. The cube, suddenly presented with a large amount of energy, and likely embedded in the node itself, contented itself to suck up the magic, which was why it was so huge when she faced it. She doubted Discord himself could have destroyed it without first severing the leylines. It must have been his plan to have her destroy the leyline node, but why?
She leap-frogged over a guard, then skidded to a stop in front of Discord, who continued to laugh. His laughter redoubled as she glared up at him.
“You tricked me,” she accused. He'd made her dance like a puppet to the music he played. He had only said she had to visit the island. She could have made landfall, turned around and come home and still have been completely within the bounds of their deal, but he knew that her own inquisitive nature would have demanded that she explore, and if she explored she was bound to find the only thing on the island that wasn't in constant flux.
“Oh, you should SEE your face!” Discord choked through gales of laughter.
“You knew exactly what I was going to find on that island, didn't you? That's why you sent me there,” Moonstruck continued.
“Yes, but even I never imagined it could have turned out so spectacularly!” Discord explained. “MY intention was for the monolith to eliminate you so I would go unchallenged when this prison broke. But rupturing a leyline node to disrupt all of the order magic in Equestria, including the spell that presently holds me? Bravo, filia. Bravo!”
A slow clapping sound filled the air.
“I didn't do it on purpose...” Moonstruck objected quietly.
“Oh, face it kid. You're a draconequus. Making chaos is in your very being!”
“Chaos isn't always a bad thing,” Moonstruck said shakily.
“That's the spirit. Now, with the bars weakened, and with the panic you've caused...” Discord began to laugh, and the statue vibrated. Moonstruck took a step back in shock. He was going to break out.
And it was her fault.
She turned to run as the statue vibrated again. She ran straight into Celestia as she rounded the corner.
“Moonstruck, what's wrong?” Celestia asked.
“It's D-discord,” Moonstruck stammered and gestured wildly behind her, “He's breaking out!” Celestia looked down at Moonstruck, giving her a stare that demanded the full story. “It... I... When I ran away, Discord taught me some chaos magic that would get me out of the palace.” She felt her cheeks begin to flush, and her words started to catch in her throat. “I... ! agreed to go someplace for him if he taught me. It seemed harmless enough! When I got there, I accidentally broke the leyline node and...and...I didn't mean to! I just wanted to see Equestria!”
Princess Celestia flashed a small frown, then turned around as Moonstruck began to whimper and cry. Without thinking, she snapped her fingers to teleport away, her destination anywhere but there.
Moonstruck wasn't sure where she'd landed. She barely took stock of her surroundings; It was a single-room cottage, plainly decorated with only a few pleasantries. The only window in the room was pointed away from the rising sun, so the entire cottage was dimly lit. Moonstruck sniffled. The place had a familiar, safe kind of scent.
She crawled onto the bed and curled up as tightly as she could. Tears began to flow down her cheeks. She cursed her curiosity. She cursed her persistence. She cursed every aspect of her personality which allowed her to be manipulated as such. The worst part about it all was that Auntie had told her Discord was not to be trusted. How could she have been so stupid?
“All I wanted was to see Equestria,” Moonstruck whispered to herself.
“Well, hey there li'l dragonfly.”
Moonstruck gasped and nearly flung herself into the ceiling, then immediately threw herself on the mare that spoke.
“Nana!” she cried, squeezing Lullaby tightly. A new pang of guilt washed over her. “I'm sorry I ran away, Nana. I didn't even think of how it would make you feel...”
“'T'ain't a thing, sprout. Yain't the first to fly the coop, and ya won't be the last.” The old pegasus stroked Moonstruck's mane with her hoof as she continued to cry, although much softer this time.
“Shhh... Shhh,” Lullaby cooed. “What's got my little filly so worked up?”
“I messed up bad, Nana,” Moonstruck choked out. Through hiccups, she described what had happened. How Prince Blueblood had made her question whether or not she was like Discord. How she confronted Discord, and how she made a deal with him.
“...and I can't believe how stupid I was. How easy it was for Discord to get me to do what he wanted.”
“Yer forgettin' somethin', Li'l Dragonfly,” Lullaby assured her. “Yer seven. Discord's been manipulating ponies older an' wiser than you since 'fore the princesses were princesses. Ya ain't got nothin' to feel bad about on that front.”
“But... but,” Moonstruck started.
“Shhh. Ya made a mistake. Tain't nothin' wrong with that,” Lullaby cut her off.
“I bet most ponies don't make mistakes that could destroy Equestria,” Moonstruck pouted.
“Well, ya always were unique. How'd you happen into my quarters, anyway?” Lullaby asked.
“I dunno. I gave my teleport spell a pretty vague destination. Guess I just got... lucky.” Moonstruck considered. She could have landed anywhere in the world. She could have ended up on the moon with an input like "anywhere but here". Yet, here she was, in the home of the one pony who could help her. Something clicked in her mind.
“Nana, do you still have that old fiddle?” Moonstruck asked.
“Hmm? Oh, I'm sure I have it somewhere...” Lullaby poked around in her home, and eventually produced a fiddle from under her bed.
“Do you think you could play that lullaby you always used to play for me? You don't have to sing it.” Moonstruck watched carefully as Lullaby dragged the bow across the fiddle's strings, each one vibrating violently as she rubbed them. They moved erratically, randomly. Chaoticly. Yet, confined to the fiddle itself, they stayed in place, and produced a beautiful...
“Harmony.” Moonstruck's eyes brightened as she watched her caretaker play. “Nana, I think I know how I'm going to fix this.” She threw her arms around Lullaby's neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Lullaby returned the hug with a single hoof. “Yer bigger every time I see ya. Glad this old mare could help, Moonstruck.”
Moonstruck broke away from the hug and snapped her fingers, and in a flash, was gone. Lullaby simply allowed a proud grin to adorn her face.
Moonstruck blinked as every horn in the room was pointed at her for the second time that day.
“Stand down,” Celestia ordered once again. This time they were in the Canterlot Tower, a small squadron of unicorn guards present, as well as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.
“Aunt Celestia! I know how we can stop Discord!” Moonstruck exclaimed proudly.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “I'm open to suggestions.”
“We're going to use the elements of harmony!” Moonstruck said.
You could almost hear the wind blow through the tower.
“That's not going to work this time,” Twilight said. “Since the leylines are down, we can't even open the door to get at the elements, let alone draw enough power to use them.”
“Hear me out,” Moonstruck said. She snapped her fingers, and in an instant the jewel-encrusted box that contained the elements was in her hands. She opened the box for Twilight to sort the necklaces to their respective owners. “When I say 'harmony', what do all of you think?”
“Consistency?” Rarity suggested.
“Organization?” Applejack guessed.
“Order. Lawfulness. Good,” Twilight said with a nod.
“You're wrong. Well, you're not. But you're not completely right either,” Moonstruck explained. “I'm a draconequus. Chaos is a part of my very being. Chaos is from which I was born. I went on my little journey, for a large part, to convince myself that this didn't make me inherently evil.” Moonstruck began to pace as she explained. She paused every so often and looked up at the stained glass windows. “I needed to see chaos for what it really was. 'Chaos' is only something that's out of your control.”
“What does any of this have to do with Harmony?” Twilight asked.
“Getting to that part. Order, meanwhile, is the opposite of chaos. 'Order' means things that are within control.” Moonstruck explained. “I spent a long time pondering over which of these was 'good' and which was 'bad'. I knew chaos wasn't bad. I'd seen it's effects benefit an entire culture, but at the time I didn't see how order could be 'bad' either, until last night when it was nearly forced upon me.”
Moonstruck smiled as she reached her conclusion. “Things cannot live in true chaos. Without a set of rules to go by, everything falls apart. Even draconequines follow certain rules. Things cannot, however, live in true order either. There would be no imagination. No art. No music,” she smiled, “no laughter. No magic. No kindness, or generosity.”
Moonstruck paused for a beat. “The Elements of Harmony aren't tools of order. They're exactly what they sound like; Tools of harmony. The balance between order and chaos in which all things lives. Chaos within order, order within chaos. That is the meaning of harmony.”
“This has been a great philosophy lesson,” Rainbow Dash suddenly piped up, “but how does it help?”
“I thought that would be the easy part,” Moonstruck said. “Since you can't activate the elements using order magic...”
“You want to try and activate them with chaos magic,” Twilight finished. “But how? We can't use chaos magic. Not without years of study and practice, anyway.”
“You know, I hadn't actually thought that far ahead,” Moonstruck admitted. At that moment, a guard burst into the hallway.
“Your highness! Discord's statue has gone missing!” he shouted.
“The seven of you had better find a way to make it work,” Celestia said gravely, “because we just ran out of time.”
Horns lowered and pointed at the door as they were slammed closed and magically sealed. This was primarily to buy time for the bearers to form a plan. Through the stained glass, changes started to become visible, most obviously the sky turning a lovely shade of emerald green.
“Alright, so we need to activate the elements of harmony with chaos magic. Problem is, Moonstruck is the only one here who can use chaos magic,” Twilight described.
“Maybe I could try using the Element of Magic?” Moonstruck suggested.
“The elements don't work that way.” Twilight shook her head. “You can't just swap one bearer out for somepony else.”
“The elements started to work without Rainbow Dash. Maybe we could have Moonstruck charge 'em up, then toss the tiara back to Twilight to use it?” Pinkie Pie suggested.
“I don't think it's a good idea trying to go around their rules like that,” Moonstruck said. “They may backfire.”
“Even if that doesn't turn Moonstruck into a statue, or turn all of us back into fillies, we'd have to do it perfectly, with no practice, on the first try. Discord's not going to give us another shot after last time,” Twilight agreed.
Rarity, meanwhile, had been looking over Moonstruck with a critical eye. “That is a unicorn's horn on your head, correct?” she asked.
“Yep,” Moonstruck nodded.
“Twilight, darling, do you remember last week when I had worked myself into a magical exhaustion on a dress order?”
“I remember that!” Pinkie Pie piped up. “You were acting all kinds of silly!”
“Pinkie, magic exhaustion is a very serious condition,” Twilight admonished. “I remember, what about it?”
“Do you remember how you helped?” Rarity lead further.
“Of course, I gave you a little bit of my energy until you could recover naturally,” Twilight replied.
“So, wouldn't it be possible for Moonstruck here to give you a portion of her energy to power the elements?” Rarity asked.
“That could be risky,” Twilight said.
“What's gonna be risky is Discord bustin' in here before we're ready,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“Rainbow's right, Twahlight,” Applejack said. “Ah dunno much 'bout magic, but this 'ere sounds like the bes' plan we got so far.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “You're right. Moonstruck, can you loan us some of your power?”
“Of course,” Moonstruck said with a nod. “It's my fault he's free, so I'll do anything I can to put him away again.”
At that moment, the vault door burst open to reveal a triumphant-looking Discord. With the exception of Princess Celestia and Moonstruck, everypony let out a shocked gasp or shriek of some kind and whipped around to face him. Moonstruck had been facing that direction anyway, and Celestia very calmly turned around to face her age-old foe.
“Hello, my little ponies!” he exclaimed gleefully. He tutted as he looked over the fortifications on the entrance. “Come now, you didn't honestly expect me to come in the front door, did you?” He let out a hearty laugh. “How did I know you would come cowering for your elements of harmony? You won't be able to use them since my dear girl Moonstruck destroyed the leyline node.”
“That was you?” Twilight hissed.
“It was an accident!” Moonstruck defended herself. “Come on, we don't have much time.”
Moonstruck wrapped her arm around Twilight's shoulders and began to pour energy into her. The elements began to glow and resonate with one another. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack were slowly lifted into the air as a white aura of magic surrounded them. Twilight and Moonstruck, both enveloped by the same aura, were still on the ground.
Discord's brow furrowed. “Hmm. That won't do.” He snapped his fingers. A golden bubble appeared around the seven of them, then shattered as tiling in a perfect circle around where the bubble had been vanished.
“You've forgotten somepony, Discord,” Celestia said with a deadly serious look in her eyes. Discord put his finger to his chin for a moment.
“Of course. How is young Luna doing? I missed her last time around.” Discord's head vanished as a golden beam of magic blasted past, then poked out of his shoulders as if he were a turtle. “My my, Celestia. If you wanted to dance, you could have simply asked.”
Being inside the activation of the Elements of Harmony was a unique experience for Moonstruck. She was aware of what was going on around her, but everything had a sense of rightness to it. She felt like she was one with the six mares around her.
“What's the hold-up, Twi? The Elements should have gone off by now,” Rainbow Dash's voice cut through her mind.
“I don't know!” Twilight replied. “The power's here, Moonstruck's given me more than enough, but it's...not cooperating.”
“Stop fighting with it,” Moonstruck thought as she picked up on what Twilight was doing wrong. “It's not order magic. You can't force it to do what you want.”
“What do you mean? Am I supposed to just let it run rampant?”
"Well, no, but..."
Discord, meanwhile, had shattered through a dozen magical barriers Celestia had erected between them, and with a final snap of his fingers, turned her into a lithe, white house cat. She pounced at him, but he simply dodged aside and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.
“Now then, as for you seven...” Discord lifted his lion's paw and snapped his fingers. At the same time, Moonstruck snapped her eagle's talon. What looked like a tuna fish with a top hat and a monocle appeared halfway between them. It stood up on it's fins, tipped its hat, and shuffled away.
“Oh, like THAT,” Twilight's voice filled Moonstruck's mind. The power of the elements began to swell. Rather than lifting the unicorn and draconequus into the air, the magic of the elements began to force a crater into the floor as the six white auras merged into one. A double-helix of rainbow light shot into air; The two points met at the ceiling and became one, then fired straight down at Discord.
Celestia swiped Discord's claw and jumped away just as the beam hit. Everything in the hall that wasn't nailed down or being suspended in the air by magic was violently forced away from the epicenter. The stained glass windows blew out as Discord's screams filled the hall. Just as suddenly as it had begun, it ended.
Moonstruck fell into the crater with a heavy thud. She felt exhausted all of a sudden, and her body was heavy and unresponsive. She glanced up at where Discord had stood. It worked! Where the lord of chaos had stood, there was a statue, frozen with a lion's paw covering its face and an eagle's talon, opened from a surprise strike.
“Is everypony okay?!” Twilight shouted from somewhere behind her. There was a collection of groans from the door.
“Oh my... The elements have never been this destructive before...” she barely heard Fluttershy whisper.
“We ain't never used 'em wit' chaos magic 'fore, neither,” Applejack answered.
“Or in a space this enclosed,” Rarity added.
Moonstruck stopped listening so much at this point. She couldn't feel her feet, or the tip of her tail.
“Well, I hope you're pleased with yourself,” Discord hissed at her.
“You know what? I am,” Moonstruck thought.
“Look at yourself! I'm not the only one in this room getting stoned, my dear,” he said. Moonstruck rolled her eyes down towards her lower body. Sure enough, grey rock had replaced her legs up to the knees and most of her tail already.
“...Oh. Horseapples,” she thought dully.
“Indeed,” he replied spitefully. “I cannot think of better proof for you. Chaos is who you are. When it comes down to that, the two of us aren't different at all.”
“Hey, is Moonstruck alright?” Twilight's voice cut through the fog that was beginning to cloud Moonstruck's mind.
“Oh my...her legs!” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Hang on. Maybe I can break her out,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Slow down there, sugahcube. Ya migh' wind up breakin' her,” Applejack said, muffled by a mouthful of what was probably tail hairs.
“Look at how fast it's climbing!” Pinkie said.
“Oh dear. Did the elements do this?” Rarity chimed. Moonstruck's view was obscured by a procession of hooves along the rim of the crater. She looked up into Twilight's eyes, and smiled.
“That may be true,” she thought as she raised her hand towards Twilight, “but do you know what the real difference between the two of us is, Discord?” Twilight lifted her hoof, hesitated for a moment, and then rested it in Moonstruck's hand.
Celestia's golden-shod hooves clicked against the marble floor as she walked. It was late evening, two days after Discord had been recaptured, and she and her sister had spent, between the two of them, the entirety of the past 48 hours cleaning up the mess. Fortunately, Discord hadn't had the chance to do too much damage this time around. According to reports from guards stationed in Cloudsdale, the majority of his changes hadn't even made it that far. Canterlot itself, however, had been in shambles, and likely would continue to be until the leylines re-established themselves. On the bright side, the chaotic changes caused by the proximity of the Draconequine homeland to Equestrian borders had also reverted when the elements went off, and no new ones had been reported. The island must have moved elsewhere for the time being.
Luna paced next to her with a somewhat bleary look in her eyes. Both sisters had needed to work together to raise the sun and moon, and Luna hadn't had the thousand years of practice in being awake for both events.
“I cannot believe I slumbered throughout the entire ordeal, once more,” Luna grumbled.
“It's alright, Luna. I would rather have you ready to take my place than lose you in battle,” Celestia said.
A wry smile crossed Luna's face. “I understand thou made a charming kitten.”
The royal sisters shared dainty chuckles. They rounded a corner, and met Twilight in the next hall.
“Hello, Princesses,” she said with a quick bow.
“Hello Twilight. How are the leylines mending?” Celestia said.
“Much faster then we expected. At this rate, everypony should be back up to full power, or maybe even better, before Monday,” Twilight reported happily.
“That's excellent news.” Celestia smiled. She glanced out the window.
“Oh, I was wondering if I could get some research materials from the archives to bring home for a little while. I have a theory related to the elements that I'd like to work on.”
“Of course, my student. Put through the official requests and I'll see about expediting them. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's somepony I need to see before it's time to cycle the heavens,” Celestia nodded.
“Thank you.” Twilight gave another quick bow before she headed for the library.
“Thou should have had this talk long ago,” Luna pointed out as they drew closer to their target, in the castle infirmary. Only a few of the guards that had been caught in the Element's blast were still bedridden, with a dislocated shoulder as the worst injury amongst them. Even still, they set themselves at attention as the Princesses enter the room.
“I am aware, Luna, but hindsight is always 20/20. You may go ahead if you wish.” Luna nodded and turned for the royal balcony. “How is she?” Celestia asked one of the attending nurses.
“Improving,” the nurse nodded. “She can take visitors, if you would like.”
Celestia allowed the nurse to guide her into a more private area, cut off from the rest of the infirmary by a curtain. A bundle of covers on the bed stirred. A white horn poked out from under them, followed by a tangled black mane and an exhausted looking draconequus.
Moonstruck smiled. “Hello, Auntie!” she said as she freed her arm and waved.
“Hello, Moonstruck.” Celestia smiled. She slid a cushion from across the room and took a seat at her bedside. “How are you feeling?”
“The tip of my tail and toes are all tingly. Nurse Triage says that that's normal for recovering from petrification, though,” Moonstruck said. “I still don't understand what happened. I thought that was it for sure.”
“Twilight suspects that a small amount of the chaos magic you loaned her had remained in her system after triggering the elements. When you took her hoof, it must have broken the spell from their backlash. Of course, we never can be certain when it comes to the elements of harmony,” Celestia explained.
“I'm really sorry about freeing Discord,” Moonstruck said.
“No, Moonstruck. I should be the one apologizing,” Celestia admitted. “When I first found you, I thought I had discovered a weapon for use against Discord when he inevitably broke free again. I was, however, also afraid. I was afraid that if I let you explore your nature as a draconequus, you would turn against us.” Celestia turned to look out the window at the setting sun. “I went so far as to keep you secret from Equestria as a whole, not because you weren't ready for the world, but because I believed the world was not yet ready for you, not while the wounds from Discord's escape were still so fresh. I had tried to teach you the importance of friendship and harmony, but it would seem that in three days you learned more than I had taught you in six years.”
Moonstruck seemed to be lost in thought as she also stared out the window.
“I must help Luna with the sun and moon,” Celestia said. “Perhaps we can talk more later.” Moonstruck nodded in response.
“'Bye, Auntie.”
The sisters guided the sun and moon through the sky as usual. Celestia covered the night court for an hour or so while Luna took a quick nap, then returned to the infirmary.
Moonstruck was no longer in her bed. In her place was a scroll of parchment tied with a red ribbon. The window was open, and there was no sign of the draconequus anywhere.
“Dear Aunt Celestia,
I have learned a lot in the past few days. I've learned about chaos, order, friendship and harmony, but most importantly I've learned about myself. Honestly, I don't know if I can say that things would have turned out the way they did without you, or Aunt Luna, or Nana, or any of my new friends, or even my dear brother. I'm happy you raised me the way you did, because if chaos was all I'd ever known, then you well may have had another Discord loose in Equestria.
Speaking of loose in Equestria, I imagine I'll be more than halfway to the Everfree Forest by the time this letter finds you. After all, I only got to see the smallest portion of the kingdom before I needed to come home, and I have a friend I promised to meet.
Be sure to thank Nana and Aunt Luna for everything for me.
Your loving niece,
Moonstruck”
Celestia peered over the letter and out the window. Silhouetted against the moon, she could see a dragon take off over the forest, away from the palace. She smiled and pulled the window closed.