Going insane and dying young. It's the inevitable end of every mare who wields the title of Sandmare in Luna's absence.
When Luna was banished, it left a hole in Equestria's defenses. While Celestia could care for both the sun and the moon, watching over Equestria's dreams was beyond her power.
For a thousand years, the Sandmare has been a regular unicorn, trying her best to ensure that little ponies sleep peacefully. But it's a lonely life, one that often ends in madness or early death. And over twenty years ago, the last Sandmare was brutally murdered by a monster, who is determined to topple Equestria.
Moon Shadow has no idea of any of this. She's the current Sandmare, living in Canterlot and wishing that she could have a normal life, like everypony else. But when stars begin to move on their own and past evils re-emerge, she's got no choice but to live up to her very unwanted destiny.
The mare had been long dead when the battle was done and the royal guard found her small, battered body. Her tail was nothing more than a heap of burnt hair on the ground, and her mane was burned away right to her scalp. Her right foreleg was broken in several places, the bone sticking out awkwardly through the skin, and gleaming unnaturally in the moonlight. The smell of the blistered flesh filled the small copse of trees, heavy and stifling. There wasn’t a whole lot of her left. The patch where the body lay was burned and blackened, and the last few brown stems of grass were soaked with thick black ash and drying blood.
Several guards immediately hurried away to relieve themselves of their dinners.
“In the name of Celestia,” Sharp Edge murmured, trying to cover his muzzle with a foreleg. The brutality of it stunned him. Such cruelty wasn't commonly found in Equestria but this...the poor mare must have suffered so at the hoofs of that monster. “What did this?”
“Something evil,” came a quiet voice from behind him and all the ponies present dropped to the ground out of habit.
“Princess! Are you alright?” Sharp Edge asked, pulling himself up to face their monarch. Her mane, blowing in a non-existent wind, was singed in places from dark magic and it would take a while for the uneven strands to grow back. Her armour was dented and dirty, and there were quite a few cuts and bruises on her gleaming white pelt. There was a rather large gash on her flank, oozing blood down her leg. She limped slightly – something had badly sprained an ankle and she was missing quite a few feathers where something had gripped her right wing fiercely and ripped. She walked up to the corpse without any sign that she was disgusted by the sight or the smell. To the surprise of all present, she bowed her head low next to the mare’s torn muzzle and whispered something softly, that no one else could hear, no matter how they strained their ears.
“Your highness?” The Captain of the guard stepped forward, concerned. He had a large gash over one eye but had refused to let a unicorn medic help him. Sharp Edge didn’t fuss over wounds like some little foal. Not when there was a fight to be won and a city full off ponies to calm.
The princess was silent for a moment before she raised her head.
“Captain. Please start making arrangements for the wounded to be taken back to Canterlot when they are stable enough for transport. And increase the patrols on the border of the city, if you would. I doubt our foe would be so unwise as to attack again – as if he can…” she muttered darkly under her breath and those who heard shivered slightly in their horseshoes at the reminder that their ethereal goddess had just viciously banished a demon back to the darkness.
Sharp Edge nodded and made to summon those still able-bodied to help before the princess spoke again.
“And also, I would like her to be buried in the royal memorial garden.” Sharp Edge started at these words, stunned at her request.
“But your highness! The royal memorial garden is reserved for heroes and distinguished guards of Equestria!” he protested.
“This mare did more for Equestria than you shall ever know!” Celestia snapped, and for a moment, the flame-sheathed goddess was back. But then it was gone and only a battle weary mare was left.
“Please. I’d like her to have a proper funeral,” Celestia said softly. Her eyes drifted back to the body. Her expression was heavy but the set of her mouth was resolute.
Sharp Edge looked at his princess, confused for a moment. He had long suspected that there was a lot about the world Celestia kept to herself and this seemed to be one of those things. He bowed to Celestia briefly, before turning and barking orders. Guards immediately snapped to attention, eagerly awaiting orders to evacuate this dreary little copse, with its dank smell and presence of death. They marched away, under Sharp Edge’s watchful eye, leaving Celestia alone to grieve.
Celestia sighed and turned back to her poor former apprentice.
Kimono hadn’t stood a chance. The demon ram had brutalised her, tortured her and torn her to pieces, screaming all the while. For help. For salvation. And in the end, for death.
Celestia had failed. Again.
A tear dripped slowly down Celestia’s muzzle. Always, always, too late to save anypony.
“Oh, Kimono!” she sobbed. She bowed her head again, imagining Kimono’s pelt was a soft dusky pink again, her bright green eyes dancing with laughter. She didn’t want to remember her like this, some poor battered creature.
Finally, Celestia ceased her tears. Sniffling slightly, she raised her eyes skyward. Between the long, skeletal branches, the moon faintly glimmered.
The night was empty of stars. In her rush to join the battle, she had only just remembered to raise the moon. She wished she hadn’t: it felt like Luna was judging her from its cold surface. As it was, it barely lit the small grassy copse anyway. Its light seemed dim on this dismal night.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen!” she pleaded desperately. “I was only trying to do what was best for Equestria!”
But as always, her absent, moon-bound sister didn’t answer. Luna’s silhouette stared down silently. For a moment, Celestia imagined Luna’s soft voice in her head – once again, trying to drive her to madness, as Luna had always represented Celestia’s greatest failure – but then it was gone, taken away by a cool night breeze.
Celestia grit her teeth. She was princess, buck it! Equestria relied on her. There was hope yet. The Demon Ram was gone for the time being. More importantly, another mare would be born. That was how it worked, even a thousand years after she had first cast the spell. Another would be born to take on the mantle. It had worked well until now. But the Shadow had been too strong this time. Or the warrior too weak.
No, she would not fail again. Not this time. The next one would be stronger and well prepared. When she was recovered, she’d immediately start her search. With Kimono’s death, the next Sandmare would be born shortly, chosen by threads of harmony and dream magic. And Celestia had to find her before the darkness did.
Back in Canterlot, all was quiet now. Even those hidden in their houses had heard the unholy scream and the clash of magic that signalled the banishment of the Demon Ram. Celestia hadn't been able to banish him far, not without the Elements or the bell that had been his defeat so long ago. But her fury had been enough and her country was free of him again.
But now all was quiet and as ponies, one by one, began to creep out from under tables and open their windows and doors to stare up into the night sky, once again and hoped that soon the day would come.
Celestia summoned what was left of her strength to levitate Kimono’s body. She didn’t have the energy to fly so she turned and limped back the way she had come, out of the battlefield, ignoring the sharp thorns that snagged at her as she pushed through the branches, holding Kimono aloft. Her journey back to the city looked a long and painful one but Celestia merely raised her head and stumbled on.
Downside of being Sandmare Number 1: No social life. Zip. Nada. If you’re lucky enough to have friends, then you’re never going to see them.
This first one is the one presently annoying Moon Shadow the most. As she recalls, Sweet Peaches is having a dance party this evening. And yet Moon Shadow is currently in a bedroom not her own, having an argument with a small child.
A small child, that if he so chose, could scream bloody murder and get her arrested. Moon Shadow really, really doesn’t want to be arrested. Again.
“You don’t look like the Sandmare,” the aforementioned small foal is saying suspiciously. Moon Shadow merely grits her teeth. If she gets done quickly, she might be able to stop by at the party before she has to go report to the Princess.
“I am the Sandmare,” she retorts. “Who else could I be?” The colt eyes her up and down, considering.
“You could be a pervert,” he says finally and Shadow promptly chokes from shock. Where do kids learn these words?
“A pervert?” she asks, indignantly, with a furious swish of her indigo tail. “Really? That’s the best you could come up with?”
“I don’t believe you’re really the Sandmare,” he says. “You don’t look like the Sandmare.”
“How would you know?” Shadow asks, through clenched jaws. “When have you ever seen the Sandmare before?” He shrugs.
“Aren’t you supposed to be…prettier?”
Oh, this brat is getting dreams of giant spiders from now until forever.
“What’s wrong with the way I look?” Shadow sputters. He tilts his head and hums. Shadow feels uncomfortable and somewhat annoyed under his critical gaze. She gets this enough from Canterlot nobles. Although, she shouldn’t be too surprised foals learn cutting remarks before they even get their cutie marks.
“Well, you look fine. Fairly pretty. But you’re kind of a weird colour. And if you’re the Sandmare, shouldn’t your mane be made of glowing stars and celestial wind?” he says, with the absolute conviction of small children who believe every story their mother tells them.
“You’ve been listening to too many mare tales,” Shadow retorts. Not for the first time in her life she curses the existence of Mother Bumpkin’s stupid book.
“I just thought your fur would be…more of a mystical colour than that. With wings. Aren’t you supposed to have wings? In the stories my mom tells me the Sandmare has wings, so she can fly all over Equestria.” At the end of this speech, the colt nods decisively as if to say ‘so there!’
“No, I don’t have wings,” Shadow says wearily. “I use magic to travel over Equestria. It’s worked pretty well for me so far. And I’m so sorry my fur is a disappointing colour to you!”
“It’s nice,” the colt consoles. “But it’s not what I pictured.” Shadow sighs. She really needs to knock this kid out and move on. It was probably her fault in the first place, waking him up by climbing through the window. But the spell she’s supposed to use wouldn’t work, again. It’s an old spell, used by Sandmares for generations and it’s supposed to turn her into mist at will, easily slipping in and out of bedrooms without ever being seen.
But even after all these years of being Celestia’s apprentice, she still can’t get the hang of it. So she’s climbing through windows again.
“I know,” Shadow says.
“You’re not unattractive or anything.”
“Good to know.”
“But you look a little like a pumpkin.”
“Thank you for that.”
“Your mane doesn’t really go either.”
“When did you become a styling expert?! You don’t even have a cutie mark yet!”
“You just don’t look like a Sandmare,” he says bluntly, after having thoroughly trashed Shadow’s self-esteem. “You look…normal.”
Normal, huh? Well, he’s the first pony to think so.
Moon Shadow sighs. She’s never going to make the end of the party. She could be a normal pony, with friends and a coltfriend and a job where she sleeps at night, like everypony else.
No, she has to go get a ‘destiny.’
“Ok, kid, time to sleep,” Shadow announces. “I have work to do.” The foal narrows his eyes at her, suspicious again.
“I’m not going to sleep with some strange mare in my bedroom!” he protests.
“Well, it’s good that your parents taught you that but you don’t really have a choice,” Shadow says, sweetly. “Good night.” Her horn lights up with a spell that is familiar to her as breathing and the foal stops mid-complaint and his eyes droop shut. Shadow nudges him into a more comfortable position and tugs the sheets back over him.
Ok, so the name ‘Sandmare’ is a bit of a misnomer. She doesn’t actually bring sleep to everypony. They do that bit by themselves. Sometimes she helps things along a bit: like when newborns are driving their mothers to distraction or a young filly is worrying about a test the next day. Then she gives them a bit of a nudge with her magic, allowing them to drift off and get the rest they need.
But mostly, her job is dreams. Watching them, guarding them and creating them if need be. And it’s rough. The wellbeing of Equestria’s dreamers rest on her shoulders every night. All the way from Roam to the inhabitants of Canterlot Castle.
Shadow eyes the sleeping colt, as he begins to softly snore.
‘Time for work’, she thinks grimly.
Number two: Your internal clock is all screwy (made worse by Celestia’s sudden change in meeting times)
It is nearly dawn when Moon Shadow is finally finished. She longs to go home and crawl into bed but Celestia is no doubt already awake and preparing to raise the sun. As soon as the sun is in the sky and the day begun, Celestia will expect Moon Shadow to be waiting in her private rooms for their chat.
Once upon a time Celestia used to have meetings with Moon Shadow once a month, at dusk before Shadow started work. But not long ago, Celestia requested that they meet once or twice a week, at dawn, with no explanation for the sudden change.
‘Wise and gracious ruler, my flank,’ Shadow thinks grumpily as she makes her way towards on the castle, on aching and slightly unsteady hooves. She’s tired, sore and hasn’t eaten since yesterday evening. To not mention, she got spit up on by some foal in Fillydelphia.
The streets of Canterlot this early are pretty much silent. Normally, Shadow would appreciate a few quiet minutes to admire the beauty of her home city with a leisurely stroll, maybe even a quick stop at Sugar Rose’s bakery for a cupcake. But right now she needs to give a quick report to the Princess so she can go home and get some sleep.
The guards at the castle let her pass without so much as an eye flicker in her direction. She has been in and out of these gates constantly since she was a foal. Shadow nods politely to them as she passes and hurries through to the kitchen entrances. Maybe she can sneak some breakfast.
The kitchen night staff has retired by the time Moon Shadow hobbles into the kitchen, and the day shift is only just started to wander in, as bleary-eyed as Moon Shadow herself. Cupcake – a baker – nods to Moon Shadow as she passes and gestures towards some apples out on the counter. Clearly Cupcake is making apple pie today.
Moon Shadow quickly takes two and mouths her thanks to Cupcake before sliding out the door. As she trots through the halls she devours the apples, grateful for the sweet juiciness running down her dry throat. Work never used to drain her like this. Stepping into the dream world seems to be more tiring these days. 'Or maybe I’m getting older,' Moon Shadow thinks wearily, as she climbs the stairs to Celestia’s tower.
She crunches the last bite of her apples as she reaches the corridor to Celestia’s rooms. The guards outside the door don’t move an inch until she stands face to face with them. Then Quicksilver ignites his horn and the door swings open with a glow of yellow magic.
“Presenting Lady Moon Shadow,” he intones. Moon Shadow slithers through the gap and the door shuts with a clang behind her.
The room in front of her is Celestia’s private dining chamber. This is where the princess usually eats her morning meal and studies the papers, before her day properly begins. The room is sparse but welcoming, with a clean table and soft cushions for the princess and any guests she may have. As is every room within the castle, the area has many windows, perfect for letting in the warm morning light.
“Good morning, princess,” she says to the figure sitting at the table.
“Good morning, Moon Shadow,” says Celestia, levitating a cup of tea to her lips. “Would you care for some breakfast?”
Moon Shadow eyes the table of breakfast treats greedily.
“I really shouldn’t…” she hedges. The smell of blueberry waffles drifts past her nose. The apples suddenly feel like they’re rattling around in her empty belly.
“Just a waffle?” There’s a glint in Celestia’s eyes. They go through this charade every time they meet.
“I’m sure I could manage one waffle,” Moon Shadow agrees and sits down opposite the ruler of Equestria.
Raspberry Conserve, Celestia’s breakfast server, hurries to pour some tea and levitate some waffles onto a plate for Moon Shadow. Shadow piles her plate with fruit and syrup and hastily digs in.
“Thank you, Raspberry, you are dismissed,” Celestia says quietly. Raspberry bows and retreats. Only when the doors have safely shut behind her does Celestia speak.
“How was your work last night, Moon Shadow?” The Princess tops up her teacup and spoons in sugar while waiting for Shadow to finish her mouthful.
“Quiet, I guess,” Shadow shrugs, stopping to take a sip of her own mug. “I had a small run in with a colt though. He woke up when I climbed through his window.”
“Still no luck on the wisp spell?” Celestia asks, with a small frown. “I know it’s highly unlikely that anypony will believe the stories of foals but you constantly live with the risk of being caught.”
“No,” Shadow sighs. “No luck.” The wisp spell, in all honesty, is not an easy spell. Shadow has been training since she was tiny to master it...but no such luck. As the Sandmare, she should have no trouble casting it. But most of the time all she can manage is to turn the tip of her tail into a small, dark cloud.
Celestia looks carefully at her ward and puts down her teacup.
“Well, I’m sure it will come to you in time,” Celestia says, calmly. “Was there anything else to report?”
“No, just that,” Shadow carefully moves the last bite of waffle around her plate to gather up all the syrup before placing it in her mouth. “I had to tell him I was the Sandmare so he wouldn’t scream. I know that’s against the rules but…”
“You mustn’t tell anypony you know about your secret life,” Celestia says, with a small smile. “But I doubt that anypony is going to believe that young colt about the Sandmare appearing in his room.”
“I put a sleeping spell on him anyway,” Moon Shadow says, looking mournfully at her empty plate. That waffle vanished rather quickly. “He might not even remember it happened.”
“Would you care for another?” Celestia asks, gesturing at the tray. Moon Shadow wavers but declines.
“Thank you, Princess, but I’d rather go to bed now if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” Celestia agrees. “Send my love to your mother, won’t you? Her zap apple-elderberry tea was delightful.”
“I’ll tell her,” Moon Shadow says, getting up from the pillow and stretching her legs. “Thank you for breakfast, Princess.”
“I’ll see you next week,” Celestia says. “Any requests?”
“I’m sure oatmeal and dandelion yogurt wouldn’t be turned down,” Moon Shadow says with a smile. She’s pretty sure that Celestia having her favourite foods waiting for her for their meetings is Celestia’s way of apologising for the extra meeting times.
She’s about to open the door and take her leave when she hesitates.
“Moon Shadow?” Celestia asks gently. “Are you certain nothing happened tonight?”
“No, nothing out of the ordinary,” Shadow says. “It’s just...that colt told me I couldn’t be the sandmare because I look too normal.”
“Well, children will believe with fairy tales,” Celestia says, with a small shrug. “They believe in dream dust falling from her mane and travelling on wisps of cloud and alicorns weaving dreams.”
“Yes but...” Moon Shadow struggles to find her words. She’s not sure they’re ones you can tell to an immortal goddess.
“Sandmares have always been like you, Moon Shadow,” Celestia says softly. “Normal fillies. But no one knows that. They expect the magical, mystical and impossible.”
“And instead they get the mundane,” Shadow sighs. The colt’s comments are all too fresh in her mind. She understands though. Powerful, legendary figures like the Sandmare aren't supposed to have pumpkin-coloured fur, an overgrown mane and a sharp tongue. Celestia chuckles, shaking her head.
“I doubt very much you are ‘mundane,’ Moon Shadow. But it’s alright to want to be normal. Many of your predecessors had the same wish. Speaking of which, how did you get on with the journal? Had you added anything in it yet?”
Shadow shifts guiltily on her hooves. She’s not sure how to tell the princess the pages set aside for her are still as empty as they were when Celestia had given her the book. Celestia had seemed so proud to hand her the large bound book that had been passed down for generations, finally deeming Moon Shadow old enough and wise enough to read her predecessors' stories and then add her own knowledge. For weeks, it has been taunting her, just waiting to be filled with something meaningful and heroine-like, to inspire future generations of Sandmares, as all those before her did. Hundreds of her predecessors wrote down their thoughts and advice. It was meant to advise, instruct and inspire the next in line...and all Shadow had in mind was Downsides of being a Sandmare (as written by Lady Moon Shadow, Sandmare, ward of Princess Celestia, Architect of Dreams and Bringer of Sleep.)
Although, if she wanted to write that, the list of downsides of having a great destiny would fill up a whole book to rival ‘Mother Bumpkin’s Book of Mare Tales and Legends.’
For starters, as the Sandmare you’re actually in ‘Mother Bumpkin’s Book of Mare Tales and Legends.’
She’s still not even sure she wants to write anything in it. Anything she has to say would not comfort or help the mare after her. Generations of Sandmares have already said all there is to say. If Moon Shadow wanted to help her successor, she’d be better off making an index. Feeling lonely, look at the entries of Galaxy, Dancing Butterflies and Blazing Comet. Wanting a normal life, see Wishing Dust, Glory and Star Bright. And for the bonus round, Nova has a brilliant method of getting foal spit out of your mane. It’d make things easier than searching for a piece of advice out of a thousand years of Sandmares.
“Not yet!” Shadow says nervously. “I'm still thinking. I don’t really want anything that’s already been said, you know?”
“Of course,” Celestia says. “I understand. You’ll find your own special words to say in your own time.”
She could just write ‘Don’t be a Sandmare, EVER’ on her page. That sums up what she’s feeling pretty well.
“I expect so,” Moon Shadow lies. “I should get home to bed.”
“Good night, Moon Shadow,” Celestia says, with a twinkle in her eye. Shadow has the unnerving feeling that Celestia knows that Shadow was lying through her teeth. Somehow she always knows.
But Shadow’s not a very good liar. She’s been told. Many times.
Moon Shadow bows to the princess and trots out of the door. The guards don’t even blink as she passes by. As far as they’re aware she’s just a night court representative, updating Celestia on matters of state.
Moon Shadow returns the way she came, down the stairs to the main castle. It looks to be a beautiful day, but Shadow won’t get to enjoy most of it. She usually sleeps until well past noon and wakes several hours before the sun goes down. Just another joy of being the Sandmare.
Moon Shadow chews her bottom lip morosely. She’s read and reread the tome so many times before, searching for answers. But she’s never found any. And if Galaxy ever did, she didn’t write them down. Neither did Stardust or Sky Wishes or Bellaluna. Generations of Sandmares…and not one of them ever knew. Why they were chosen. Why their destinies were so hard. Why they were so alone.
Maybe one day she’ll know what to say, that might help her successor. But that’s not today.
Shadow slumps a little bit as she strolls down the hallway. If she goes out of the west entrance it’ll put her at a five minute walk away from her apartment building. She can be home within ten minutes and can see her mother before she collapses into bed.
She’s just so tired today. Her hooves feel unusually heavy and her bones feel like they’re aching. She’s so focused on moving her feet that she doesn't really hear the voices at the end of the hall. It’s lucky that she looks up and sees them before they see her.
Her feet turn out to be less tired when she needs to fling herself down a side corridor and cower behind a suit of armour.
Because heading her way is the brightest and best, Celestia’s own personal student, Twilight Sparkle.
Rules for being a Sandmare Rule 1 Never, ever talk to Twilight Sparkle
Moon Shadow hurriedly presses herself as closely against the wall as she can. There's no way she can go back the way she came in time so all she can do is do her best to stay out of sight.
If she’s lucky, Twilight will just keep going to her own tower or to the library. If she’s not so lucky, Twilight will come this way. Even if they don’t engage in conversation, Twilight isn’t supposed to know Moon Shadow exists at all. All it would take is for Twilight to get curious about the brightly coloured mare who freely wanders in and out of Celestia’s chambers late at night and probe a little bit.
It would be easy for her to find out that despite being on the list of night court representatives and receiving a paycheck for it, Shadow never actually turns up. With a brother on the royal guard, Twilight could also find out about her criminal history - namely climbing in and out of places she’s not meant to be. And that all charges were waived by Princess Celestia. And every single one was a small child’s bedroom, dark and somewhere away from streets with patrol ponies.
She might even find out about Tea Leaf.
Moon Shadow presses herself even further back, wishing yet again she could do the wisp spell. If she could she could be an intangible cloud of mist and out of the nearest window before Twilight even knows she's here.
The hoof steps are getting closer, followed by what sounds like claws on the polished castle floor. Her assistant must be with her. What was his name?
“Finish ‘A comprehensive guide to weather magic': check!” Twilight’s voice is clearly audible now, as Celestia's student mutters quietly to herself. ‘Finish the essay on ‘Zebrican traditions and lore:’ check. Next on the agenda, catalogue and re-shelve all my books!” The hoof steps stop very closely to Moon Shadow’s hiding place. Twilight must have stopped only a few feet away.
“Do you really need all these books from the library, Twilight?” asks her assistant. He seems to be out of breath.
Shadow risks a peek from around the corner. Yep, he’s carrying at least five books, tiny dragon arms struggling to keep them aloft, and Twilight is levitating another six. The mare herself is also holding a pen and a piece of paper in her magical grip. Thankfully, Twilight looking at the small dragon and doesn’t notice an orange muzzle disappearing behind the corner again.
“Spike, you know I have a lot of studying to do,” Twilight says. “Besides, we have unlimited access to the Canterlot library! We should make the most of it.”
“You’ve read half of these already…” Spike mutters. “We didn’t need to get up so early.”
“It never hurts to refresh the material in your mind,” Twilight says. “Now we just have to get zucchini and broccoli in for lunch. It’ll be a nice light lunch, after all that re-shelving.” She begins walking again, closer and close to Moon Shadow...and just keeps going, trotting straight past the corridor without even lifting her head from her list. Spike follows, a bit slower. Moon Shadow relaxes. He’s never going to see her from behind that pile of books.
When Spike finally disappears out of sight, Moon Shadow lets out a relieved breath. Safe. The Twilight rule isn’t the hardest one to keep (as Shadow used to only visit the castle at night, once a month, when Twilight was safely away in her tower) but it is very important. Celestia had stressed more than enough times that any interaction with Twilight Sparkle was expressly forbidden.
Moon Shadow had only ever asked why once.
'Twilight has her own, very important destiny to fulfil," Celestia said gently to her ward. "And when the time comes, the choices she makes must be genuine and hers alone. I want her to be able to do that because she wants to, not because she believes she has to. Do you understand?"
Moon Shadow bit her lip. It didn't seem fair. She is Celestia's ward; Twilight is Celestia's student. Shadow had hoped that she could become friends with Twilight...and now she's been told that she can't talk to her ever?
"But what if I'm careful?" Shadow asked. "She never has to find out who I am." But Celestia just shook her head.
"I'm sorry, little one," she said. "But I cannot take that chance. Everything has to happen in its own time and its own way. Now, no more talk on the subject. Shall we return to our lesson?"
Celestia had refused to talk about it anymore, even to explain more on why it was so forbidden.
Moon Shadow checks one last time that Twilight and her assistant have gone before stepping out. Why in Equestria were they at the castle this early?
“Lady Moon Shadow!” A sharp voice startles Moon Shadow out of her thoughts. Without meaning to, her hind legs slip out from underneath her and she lands heavily on her rump.
“Good morning, Orchid Belle,” Moon Shadow says, from the floor.
“Lady Moon Shadow,” Orchid Belle says, crisply. “Precisely what are you doing lurking around corners?”
“I wasn’t lurking!” Shadow protests, climbing to all four hooves again. “I was visiting the Princess!”
“A likely story,” Orchid Belle sniffs. Shadow’s eyes are drawn, as always, to the tower of golden curls on Orchid Belle’s head. No matter how much she shakes her head or the wind blows or, Celestia forbid, somepony slicks up the west corridor with butter and Orchid Belle happens to be walking down it (and ends up, flank first, in a Princess Platinum era tapestry) those curls never, ever move.
Moon Shadow has tried everything.
“Would you like to come with me so we can ask her?” Shadow asks, sweetly.
“I’m not so uncouth as to disturb the princess while she is enjoying her breakfast,” Orchid replies, frostily. “Why did you need to visit her so early?”
“I was delivering the minutes of Night court for the last month,” Moon Shadow says. It’s a lie she’s used before. The old stallions in Night court never question why a young mare is supposed to be on Night court and they also never wonder why she rarely turns up. In fact, the only time she goes is when Celestia wants her to intervene on some matter that nobles won’t bother to fight for.
“Hmm,” Orchid Belle studies her carefully. “And it couldn’t wait until later in the day?”
“I’d like to go to bed, Orchid Belle,” Moon Shadow says pointedly. “I was already here with the minutes and the Princess was keen to see what was petitioned this month.”
“Very well then,” Orchid Belle says. “But see that you don’t make this a regular occurrence. Move along now.” Orchid gestures with a delicate tangerine hoof in the direction that Moon Shadow should go.
Moon Shadow mock curtsies and hurries past her. If she’s quick she can catch her mother, Tea Leaf, before she leaves for work.
Moon Shadow lives in staff housing with her mother. Celestia has offered more than once to arrange for her own set of rooms but Shadow has refused every time. The only way being a Sandmare could be more depressing is if she comes home in the morning to an empty apartment.
Tea Leaf is in charge of beverages at the castle. Tea is her speciality but her talent extends to making everything from smoothies to hot chocolate. She was only Moon Shadow’s age when Celestia called her into the royal chambers to ask if she would take care of a small filly in need of a home.
Tea Leaf had been surprised, confused and a bit apprehensive. After all, she was only a young mare, with no partner, and new to the castle kitchens. But, luckily for Moon Shadow, she’d accepted and the early memories of Shadow’s life are some of the happiest she has.
Moon Shadow trudges in the door to their rooms, aching in every one of her limbs. She wants a warm drink, to shift her cat off her pillow and to crawl into bed until this afternoon.
“Is that you, darling?” Tea Leaf calls from the kitchen.
“Yes, mom,” Moon Shadow replies, forcing her feet to move down the hall.
The kitchen is bright with sunlight and there’s the smell of chocolate in the air. It’s enough to make Moon Shadow perk up a bit.
“Cinnamon hot chocolate!” she exclaims in delight, trotting over to the stove.
Tea Leaf calmly stirs the hot chocolate, without looking at her excited daughter. “It’s nearly ready. Go sit down.”
Shadow reluctantly moves away from the stove and sits at their small table. There’s always only ever been two chairs at that table, with a spare in the closet for a guest.
“How was work, dear?” Tea Leaf asks, dipping a spoon in the saucepan to taste. Shadow sighs and lays her head down on the table.
“Fine, I guess,” she replies. Her mother has always know what she is and the role she has in Equestria. When Moon Shadow was about the right age to learn magic, Celestia had taken Tea Leaf aside and quietly explained everything to her. The princess had thankfully understood that hiding something that large from her mother would be nearly impossible. To this day, Tea Leaf and Celestia are the only two ponies in existence who know the truth.
“How is Princess Celestia?” Tea Leaf says. Tea Leaf and Celestia get on wonderfully. Apparently they met when Tea Leaf was a new apprentice in the kitchens and was tasked with taking Celestia her afternoon tea. It was these interactions that led Celestia to believe the kind young mare was best suited to raising a filly.
“Fine,” Moon Shadow repeats. “She says your zap apple tea was wonderful.”
“Oh, good,” Tea Leaf says, pouring more milk into the saucepan. “That was a bit of an experiment. Cranberry Joy suggested it to me. Her husband’s an Orange, and they have distant cousins in Ponyville who farm zap apples.”
“Uh huh,” Shadow says, head still on the table. Tea Leaf merely shakes her head and turns off the stove.
“Chocolate’s ready!” she sings out and pulls two mugs down from the cabinet. Shadow watches as her mother carefully pours two full mugs of steaming, comforting hot chocolate.
She goes to take it from her mother with magic only to find that Tea Leaf is holding it out of reach.
“Nu uh!” Tea Leaf says, teasingly. “Chocolate is only for happy pumpkins!”
“I’m not a pumpkin, mom,” Shadow says, in bemusement. Her mother’s Manehattan upbringing sometimes clashes with her more playful personality. Shadow suspects that her mother's mischievous streak is what bonds her to the Princess but try as she might she can't get any stories out of either of them.
“When you were a baby you looked like a fat little pumpkin,” Tea Leaf says, finally relinquishing the mug.
“Why ever would I need teenage self-esteem issues when I have you?” Shadow says, pulling the warm mug up to her lips. The hot chocolate is a balm on her throat, the scent of cinnamon perking her up. This is by far her favourite after work drink. She'd come home the morning after her first night in the dreamworld, weary, scared and entirely certain she was the wrong pony for the job. Tea Leaf had been the one to comfort her crying teenager with a warm, sweet drink and a hug and the routine has stayed the same ever since.
“You’re not a teenager, darling,” Tea Leaf reminds her, taking her own seat. “And I could always get a smile out of you with that happy pumpkin joke when you were a filly.”
Shadow stops to take a breath, half of the chocolate gone already. Somehow it’s never too hot, even straight from the stove. It’s always perfect, ready to drink temperature. When she was a foal she'd thought her mom was magic. Growing up, she'd realised that it was just Tea Leaf's natural talent, allowing her to know exactly the right temperature.
“When I was a filly, the only problem I had was that the other girls thought I was weird,” Shadow says.
“They still think you’re weird,” Tea Leaf points out, nursing her own mug.
“Ouch. Brutal, mom,” Shadow says.
It’s true though. All the other foals at Celestia’s school of magic had thought she was mad. She hadn’t cared because she had the Princess and her mother and a destiny.
But when you grow up it turns out a destiny isn’t quite what you expect it to be.
Even now when they see her, they still think she’s a bit off. But she can’t help it. She has seen their dreams and therefore their inner thoughts, worries and desires. Shadow lives in constant fear that she’ll blurt out something that she shouldn’t know when talking to them. The strain of it makes her a little tense whenever she runs into an old classmate.
Shadow sighs and raises her mug again to drain the rest of her chocolate.
“You have friends now,” Tea Leaf points out.
“I’m pretty certain they think I’m weird too,” Moon Shadow says, reluctantly hauling herself out of her chair. She goes over to the sink to wash out her mug.
“They still like you though,” Tea Leaf says, with a smile.
“That’s probably because they’re not the most normal of mares themselves,” Moon Shadow says, dryly. She tips her mug upside down on the draining board to dry.
“Alright, I’m going to bed. Good night,” Shadow says, bending down to kiss Tea Leaf on the cheek.
“Good night, dear. I’ll see you this evening?”
“I expect so,” Shadow says, stifling a yawn. “I’ll be back for dinner before I have to go to work.”
“Sleep well,” Tea Leaf says, going to wash up her own mug. Shadow nods sleepily and trudges out of the kitchen and down the hallway to her bedroom.
She collapses on her bed with a sigh. Most days it isn’t enough to see the ponies she loves in small snippets when she can. Seeing any ponies at all is a struggle. It’s not like she can go to work and chat to co-workers or customers like others can. She can't even speak to ponies on the street! Well, she can, but at that time of morning, they've usually had a bit too much cider.
She rolls over onto her back and finds herself staring up at bright green eyes.
“Well, there you are,” Shadow says grumpily. “I half expected you to be asleep on my pillow again.”
Icarus only flicks his tail at her. He’d been a gift from Celestia when she was ten and he is as prickly and antisocial as he was then. But he’s the only one in the world Moon Shadow can really talk to.
“Normal,” she says aloud. “Ordinary. He thought I was normal.” And then the obvious concluding thought: ‘I’m never going to be normal.’
Icarus bats at her ear and she yelps as his claws connect.
“That hurt!” Moon Shadow hisses, examining the damage. Her ear doesn’t appear to be bleeding but it stings. “What did I ever do to you? I feed you, you know!”
Icarus merely watches her, tail still flicking. Moon Shadow stares back sullenly before climbing into bed.
“’Sandmares and cats have worked together for a common purpose for years.’” She mimics Celestia's words from the day Shadow had been presented with a tiny kitten. “Not harmoniously, clearly!”
But when she snuggles down under the covers, Icarus moves to sit next her, offering her the comfort of the weight and warmth of another living thing. He purrs loudly from between her hooves until she drops off to sleep.
It’s dark.
For a minute Moon Shadow thinks she’s out at work again. It looks like a dark street, empty of ponies, with only a few flickering lamps for light.
It’s not Canterlot. Moon Shadow has lived in Canterlot for as long as she can remember and this street is strange to her. The cobblestones under her feet are newer, the building taller and more modern than the classic architecture that mimics the castle. Even the flickering lamps are wrong. Lamps would never flicker in Canterlot. Ponies work hard to make sure the place their princess lives is always pristine and perfect.
Moon Shadow trots forward because it’s better than not moving. Her hooves take her to the end of the road, which seems to lead out onto a main street. This road is a little better kept, with bigger lamps and hanging flower baskets. It’s still dead quiet.
Moon Shadow is unnerved. Equestria is rarely still at night. At least, not in the larger cities. There are always ponies who are out late, to either work or play. But here there’s no sound. Not a one. No music from a distant club, the sound of hoof steps the next street over or a door shutting in a nearby house. Nothing.
Moon Shadow steps onto the main street and looks around. The buildings are even bigger in the distance. This must be the outskirts of the city, she surmises. It’s the same in Canterlot, although that’s because the capital of Equestria is built into the side of a mountain. No choice but to build up.
Is this a dream?
It can’t be. Shadow doesn’t dream. She never has. Sandmares don't dream. She only ever lays her head down in the morning and then wakes up hours later, with nothing in between. She doesn’t dream.
So why is she dreaming now?
It would be better to move, she decides. Standing still in this empty city would probably be more dangerous than her moving and keeping an eye out. This way, she can search for clues or whatever it is she’s meant to see.
For that must be it. This is no regular dream after all. Shadow has seen tens of thousands of dreams and this one is nothing like the rest.
Typical, Shadow thinks, choosing a path to walk down. She can’t even dream normally.
For a while the only sounds she hears are her own hoof steps on the cobbles and her quiet breathing. The sound of her hooves echo down quiet streets – and they’re all quiet, every one of them. No pony in sight.
No living thing in sight.
Moon Shadow steels herself. She is the Sandmare, the only one, sworn to protect Equestria from dark and troubled dreams. She can surely manage one creepy little dream herself.
But when she turns a corner and sees the fog rolling in, she’s not so sure.
Moon Shadow swallows. She has a horrible feeling she’s meant to go through the fog. Whatever it is that she’s looking for must be down this street.
So she grits her teeth and walks on.
The fog curls around her with cold, wispy tendrils. Shadow half wants to shiver but she has to remind herself this is a dream.
Even so, she feels cold.
It’s getting thicker the more she moves forward. She’s getting close.
A couple of feet more and the aura of magic almost makes her knees buckle. It’s worse than the fog, dark magic clouding her head and smothering her horn. Luckily she doesn’t have much further to go – a few more steps and she stops in front of a house.
It should be just any other house. But the closer she gets to it, the worse the pressure gets.
Shadow hurriedly tries to remember what she’s learnt about dark magic. It’s rarely used in Equestria, hardly ever seen. Celestia had only ever given her a few lessons on where dark magic exists and who uses it. There’s little use for it in a land powered by harmony and friendship.
But something in this house is evil.
Something emerges from the fog and Shadow skitters backwards. She’s been all alone so far. Something appearing now, this close to that house, probably means that it’s no friend of hers.
Moon Shadow gasps as the dark outline becomes visible. It towers above her, over twice her size and bulk. Giant horns are visible, massive curved ones that could easily gut Moon Shadow from neck to flank.
Suddenly, it shifts in her direction and turns its glowing eyes onto her. Shadow’s hooves are glued to the cobblestones under its gaze. Every instinct shouts at her to run but her legs just won't move. Terror grips her so completely that she's frozen still as it gets closer, placing shovel-sized hooves in front of the other as it nears her.
It looms closer, until a snarling jaw becomes visible underneath the bright red eyes. She is almost grateful that she can’t pull her eyes away from its glaring eyes to look at the large, stone-like teeth. With its size, carnivore or not, the beast would certainly have no trouble closing that giant maw around her neck.
‘This is a dream! Wake up!’ commands a voice in her head. Shadow tries frantically to use her magic but she’s never dreamt before. She doesn’t know how to use it inside her own head.
‘I said,’ says the voice, more urgently than before. ‘WAKE UP!!’
And with the sound of bells still ringing in her ears, Moon Shadow sits bolt upright in her bed.
Her chest is rising and falling like she’s run a marathon. There’s sweat on her brow and her back and all of her fur feels like it’s standing on end. Sunlight is filtering in from behind the curtains and that helps a bit. It is day and nothing can hurt her under Celestia’s sun.
“I’m sorry, Icarus,” she says again, when she’s slowed her breathing. She uses her magic to scoop him off the floor and deposit him on the bed next to her. He gives her a baleful look but pads around and curls up once more.
Moon Shadow lays back, her heart still pounding. What was that? Is this what other ponies feel when they have nightmares? Sandmares don't have dreams because it's safer for them not to. Ponies constantly dream of falling or losing their teeth or being chased by a crazed axe murderer. Dreams are all too real for Sandmares, as real and tangible as the waking world. It would be all too risky for a Sandmare to go to sleep and wake up in the morning, missing her teeth or a limb.
And what…who was that voice? Whoever it was, it had woken Moon Shadow just in time. She didn’t doubt that the figure from her dream could have harmed her – and even more worryingly, would have enjoyed doing so. The malevolent magic she’d felt was no joke.
So the creature in the fog must be able to walk the dreamworld too. Moon Shadow’s magic was the same in dreams: tangible, real, and able to affect the world and the dreamscape. It was different from a lucid dream that regular ponies have. The dark magic had been so strong it had nearly forced her to her knees. She’d never encountered magic like that before.
But Celestia would have.
No, Shadow decides. She wouldn't tell her yet. It was just one dream, hardly something to trouble the princess over, especially since she'd been so aloof and cagey recently. Shadow would try and figure it out on her own first.
Moon Shadow looks towards the window, where behind the curtain the sun is probably already high in the sky. She might as well get up. There’ll be no sleeping after that.
She leaves Icarus behind, curled up in the bed and trots towards the kitchen for a glass of water. The apartment is quiet. Tea Leaf has long since left for work.
Moon Shadow pours herself a glass and sips it slowly. She should go out. The fresh air and warm day will make her feel better. Besides, she has errands to run and friends she can see. Midnight Tale asked her to lunch at the Sugar Berry café and bakery today. She can probably make it now.
She puts her glass in the sink and walks to the bathroom to spruce herself up. It’s no surprise when she looks in the mirror she sees a frazzled, tired mare staring back at her. She hurriedly fixes her hair and tries to do something about her tail, which has tangled itself while she was asleep. She spritzes herself with vanilla perfume and remembers to grab her saddlebags on her way out the door.
Canterlot is busy and bright, with plenty of ponies out enjoying the day. Moon Shadow feels the tension drain out of her as she slowly walks along the road to the café. The sun is warm on her back and the idea of carrot cake makes everything brighter.
Her friends frequently gather for these lunch dates but Moon Shadow is usually asleep at this time, so she can rarely make it. It’ll be nice to be able to go for a change.
She picks up her pace as the café comes into sight. Her mother’s hot chocolate seems like a distant memory and her belly reminds her that the last time she ate was dinner before she went to work. Well, breakfast for her.
The Cotton Candy café looks busy, as usual. It’s run by two sisters and is known as one of the best bakeries in Canterlot. The rose pink chairs are nearly filled outside, as ponies eat and drink under pink and purple umbrellas. The smell of vanilla and fresh pastry wafting from the windows makes Shadow's stomach rumble with anticipation.
Moon Shadow pushes open the door and inhales the scents of coffee and pastry. This is what she wants. A regular life, able to go out for lunch with her friends. No ghosts and ghoulies and a secret other life.
“Shadow!” calls a voice excitedly. “Over here!” Many patrons look up, startled and then turn their eyes to Shadow as she stands just inside the door.
Shadow turns to the pony calling her name. Of course. Only Pumpkin would scream her name in a crowded restaurant.
The table by the window has three out of four seats filled. The first mare is the one who shouted to Moon Shadow: a slight tangerine mare with wild rose pink curls. This is Pumpkin Spice. Her cutie mark is a gold and orange masquerade mask, displaying her talent for disguises.
The second mare at the table has her golden mane piled up in a messy bun. Her coat is almost blood red, suiting her profession. Midnight Tale is a horror writer, with several best sellers already under her belt and a cutie mark of an elegant feathered quill. There's usually a pair of wire frames, a pen or a paperclip stuck somewhere in her unruly curls. Even from here Moon Shadow can see ink stains on her hooves.
The last mare is a pegasus, dark blue with a shimmery green mane and bright blue eyes. Northern Lights is suitably named, both for her job as an astronomer and the elaborate swirl of stars on her flank.
“We hoped you’d make it,” says Midnight Tale, with a smile. Shadow sits down gratefully, placing her saddlebags on the back of her chair.
“Well, I woke up in time. Couldn’t miss this,” she says, lifting a menu with her magic. She's the only unicorn in the group, to much envy of the others at times. Midnight has often begged her to help with the special effects to make her book signings just that more frightening.
“Get enough sleep listening to the old colts in Night Court?” Midnight asks, perusing her own menu.
“Something like that,” Shadow lies and turns her eyes back down to the table.
“Well, glad you made it,” says Northern Lights. The blue Pegasus has piled her mane up with varying clips and bands – she usually grabs anything to hoof to put back her hair when she’s working. "We so rarely get to see enough of you these days."
“Me too,” Shadow agrees. “Am I very late?”
“Not at all,” North says. “We just got here.”
“Would have been here sooner,” Midnight comments. “But somepony decided to play dress up and we couldn’t go to lunch until we figured out who she was.” Midnight and North both turn to stare accusingly at Pumpkin.
“What?” Spiced Pumpkin asks, with wide eyes. “I had new outfits in at the shop! I had to test them out.”
“It wasn’t necessary!” Midnight replies. “I practically tackled that old stallion, thinking it was you in disguise!” Shadow suppresses a snicker at the thought of Midnight leaping on a poor, innocent stallion. The problem is that sometimes Pumpkin's disguises are so good you have absolutely no idea who or what she might be. It more than works as advertising for Pumpkin's costume shop.
“What were you anyway?” Shadow asks, before they can get into a fight. Midnight can and will debate just about anything, usually with so much sarcasm that you can never tell if she's insulting you or not. Shadow's so used to it, she just ignores it and while Pumpkin never seems to notice or care, North can find it a little trying at times.
“A window cleaner,” Pumpkin says, with a shrug.
“You ordered in window cleaner outfits for your shop?” North asks, sceptically. “What purpose could you possibly have for…wait, never mind, I don’t want to know.”
Midnight narrows her eyes. “You have a costume shop. Are you telling me somepony wants to dress up as a window cleaner? What kind of outfit is that?”
“Uh, a good one?” Pumpkin asks. “You never guessed it was me!”
Shadow stifles a giggle as the other mares think about this. This is typical Pumpkin logic.
“I guess not,” Midnight says, grumpily.
A pretty pink mare with lavender hair trots up to the table, pad and pen ready in her hooves. “Alright, what can I get you girls?”
“Hi, Sweet Berry,” Shadow says, with a smile. Sweet Berry owns the café and bakery. She runs the café part while her older sister, Sugar Rose, bakes most of the treats and cakes they sell. Sweet Berry could rival Tea Leaf for her delicious fruit smoothies.
“Hey, Shadow, long time no see,” Sweet Berry says, cheerfully. “What are you having?”
“Um…a chai latte and a slice of cinnamon cake,” Shadow decides. Her stomach rumbles at the thought of moist carrot cake and Rose’s delicious buttercream frosting.
“She will also have a daisy sandwich and hay fries, because she can’t just eat dessert for lunch,” Midnight interrupts. Shadow shoots a look at her oldest friend but the mare just grins at her. Midnight's been her best friend since they were both in daycare together, which means glares and threats have no effect whatsoever.
“And a sandwich too,” Shadow concedes, with a sigh. She really should eat proper food and not gorge on cake but her sleeping schedule means that her meals are all over the place sometimes. It’s hard eating porridge for breakfast when your mother is eating dinner and it’s just getting dark. Sweet Berry writes it down and moves on. When all of her friends have ordered, Berry promises to be back with their drinks soon and walks away.
“So, what’s everypony up to?” Shadow asks eagerly. It's only been two weeks since she could properly sit down with her friends but it feels like a lifetime. Anything could happen in those two weeks. Midnight could have gotten another book deal. North could have discovered a new constellation. She misses so much of their lives. “How’s the book going, Midnight?”
Sweet Berry shortly returns with a tray of drinks as Midnight explains the research for her latest mystery novel. Shadow sips her latte, luxuriating in the warmth and taste. Berry's chai lattes are almost as good as her mother's hot chocolate.
“I don’t know, Canterlot just isn’t really a good market for horror,” Midnight concludes, swirling the straw around in her frappe.
“Well, I guess not,” Shadow says. “Romance is popular when the nobles even read a book. But you’re selling pretty well elsewhere though, aren’t you?”
“Fillydelphia and Los Pegasus both are doing really well,” Midnight says, perking up a bit. “I think that ‘All the Lost Fillies’ is high up on the sales list in both cities.”
“It feels like you just finished that one,” North says. “And now you’re researching for another!”
“Well, it’s not like I can take a break!” Midnight says, with a laugh. “I have to move onto the next one or I don’t get paid! Thankfully by now, I know a lot about murder and old myths. New ideas just come to me.”
North shrugs. “Well, I guess that’s why you’re the writer and not me!”
“You write things,” Pumpkin points out. “You do write papers and they’re part of your job.”
“I write about stars and the sky,” North says. Northern Lights is one of the few selected astronomers who works at the Canterlot observatory, monitoring Celestia's night sky. For hundreds of years the observatory has monitored and recorded whenever a new star appears or a constellation is created. “It’s not the same, just observing and writing down my findings. Like the other day…no, never mind.”
“What?” Pumpkin asks. Sweet Berry arrives at the table with trays of food, dishing out perfectly prepared salads and sandwiches in front of each mare. North stays very quiet until she’s gone.
“Well,” North says, picking at her avocado salad. “It was something I saw the other night from the observatory. But I must have imagined it because it can’t have been real.”
Midnight flicks her tail. "Try me. I bet there's nothing I haven't heard of." North hesitates. Whatever it is, it must have frightened her badly. Out of all of them, she's ironically the most down to Equestria. Midnight is too buried in book plots, Pumpkin has a fantastic imagination and Shadow knows all too well what's out there. North is usually perfectly logical. The fact that she's even considering something absurd means it must be huge.
“No, it was…well, I could have sworn that for a minute I saw the stars…move,” North says. The other three mares stare at her silently for a moment.
“That’s not possible,” says Midnight, bluntly. “Stars don’t move. Not unless Celestia moved them. And she wouldn’t. Couldn’t have.”
“I know!” North says in frustration. “I study the stars; I know that better than anypony! But I was so certain that they were moving. I wanted to tell someone but they stopped before I could show anyone.”
“Maybe you were tired,” Pumpkin suggests gently. “Maybe you just thought you saw it.” It's not unheard of. Sometimes North's schedule is as messed up as Shadow's is.
“Maybe,” North says softly but Shadow can see she doesn’t truly believe it.
“Cake, everypony!” sings out a pure white mare with soft rose curls in a bun. This is Sugar Rose, Berry’s sister, who, despite working in a bakery all hours of the day, is never anything less than pristine and perfectly clean.
Berry, on the other hoof, will go around all day quite happily covered in flour and with a raspberry jam smudge on her nose. It doesn't stop stallions from noticing her though.
“Carrot cake, elderflower and caramel cupcake, red berry tart and a chocolate fudge cake!” Sugar Rose says, placing each plate in front of the mare who ordered it. “Can I get you fresh drinks?”
Moon Shadow orders a smoothie this time and North refreshes her herbal tea. Sugar Rose trots away, back to the counter to place their order.
Shadow dips her last few fries in ketchup and crams them all in her mouth at once. The slab of carrot cake looks even better than she imagined. Sugar Rose is a genius when it comes to desserts.
“I’m doing a book tour next month,” Midnight says. They all notice that she's deliberately changing the topic but nopony says anything.
“That’s great!” North says. “Your very first.” As a young debut author, Midnight has only so far done book signings and promotions in and close to Canterlot. This is her chance to travel to other cities and meet more of her fans.
“It’s not going to be huge,” Midnight says excitedly, nibbling at her cupcake. “Just a few key cities, where ‘All the Lost Fillies’ is doing really well. A few bookstores in each town, some signings, a promotional event. It’s going to be great. Trottington, Whinnyapolis and Manehattan as the last stop for a midnight party.”
“Manehattan!” Shadow shouts suddenly, nearly spitting out her mouthful of cake. Her friends turn to her, looking confused. Shadow coughs awkwardly, a sultana stuck in her throat.
“Sorry, I just…remembered something,” Shadow says sheepishly.
“About Manehattan?” Midnight says, with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes,” Shadow says, after a pause. “Yes. That I must go visit my grandparents soon.”
“Really?” Spiced Pumpkin asks, scrunching up her face. “But you hate visiting your grandparents. They always feed you alfalfa and ask when you’re going to get a coltfriend!”
“Yes,” says Moon Shadow. “But…it’s Grandmother Bonnet’s birthday soon. So I’ll get points for being a good granddaughter. You know how they complain when we don’t visit enough.”
It’s four months until Lace Bonnet’s birthday but they don’t need to know that. Tea Leaf always marks down the dates for visits on the calendar in bright red pen. Every visit requires a large portion of hayburgers and fries afterwards and heavy retail therapy.
“Right,” Midnight says, slowly. “As I was saying…”
Sweet Berry comes over to the table, carrying Shadow’s smoothie and the mug of tea for Lights. Shadow sips at her straw, hoping to sink into the ground. Her mind, however, is ticking over the new information she has gained.
No wonder that place seemed so familiar. The long, cobblestoned streets, the tall buildings, the distinct skyline. She’s been there before, to visit Tea Leaf’s parents.
But that house…Moon Shadow has wracked her brain but can’t remember seeing that house before. Granted, it was dark and foggy so she doesn’t have a clear picture of it but she’d remember a house like that. The lingering memory of the dark magic makes her shudder still.
“Shadow? Hey, Shadow!” Pumpkin’s voice calling her name jolts her out of her thoughts.
“Oh. Sorry,” Shadow says. “What’s going on?”
“We’re going shopping, can you come?” Lights says. Shadow sucks the remains of her smoothie until she’s reached the bottom of the glass. She has time before she has to go to work and she’s gotten her allowance from the castle for this month. She could go shopping.
“Sure, I’ll come,” she says.
But the minute they turn away to chatter about hats and dresses and new books, Moon Shadow’s mind drifts again.
What is in that house?
And more importantly, why have I never heard of two other dreamwalkers before?
"How much do you really think I need to eat this month?" Moon Shadow muses, as she admires herself in the mirror.
"Knowing you, a lot," Midnight quips. Moon Shadow would shoot a glare at her friend but Midnight is currently hidden behind a curtain, changing into her own glossy black dress.
"I think it's worth it," Pumpkin sighs, nudging her way into the gap beside Moon Shadow. Pumpkin's own dress is a rippling waterfall of sunset hues, with a deep pink ribbon at the waist that went perfectly with her mane.
Moon Shadow sighs. It's so rare to find a dress that goes with her coat - but seriously, why did it have to be one of the most expensive ones in the boutique?
"Well?" Frilly Frocks trots up behind Shadow, a knowing look in her eye. She already knows that she's going to make a sale, despite all the complaining and hesitating Moon Shadow is doing. "How's it going, ladies?"
"Can't you do any better on this, Frills?" asks Shadow. The smoky grey and dusky violet dress flares out enough to hide her rump and somehow make her curves look alluring and sensual at the same time. With her mane up, everypony should be able to see the delicate ribbon and pearls adorning the neckline. There are even beautiful shimmering gloves for her hooves and a matching grey ribbon for her hair. In short, it's the most stunning dress Shadow has ever seen.
Frilly Frocks hums and tilts her head. "I might be able to knock...thirty bits off?"
"Fifty bits and I'll get you a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala," Shadow says, gratified to see Frilly Frock's eyes widen. She knows most of the shop owners in the centre of Canterlot pretty well. It happens when you grow up near the shopping district. She'd once sneaked into the back of the bakery when she was small and accidentally fallen into a giant bag of flour. The baker, Deep Knead, had scolded her for hours over that one.
"Oh, Shadow!" North scolds. She hasn't even bothered to join in the shopping bonanza, instead reading quietly on a nearby couch. She's never been all that interested in fashion, much prefering comfier clothes if she had to wear them. She'd only come in one the condition that they could visit the bookshop after this.
"Sixty bits and you lend me your red shoes," Frilly responds. Shadow suppresses a grin.
"Done," Shadow agrees triumphantly, holding out a hoof for them to shake on it. North rolls her eyes and turns back to her book.
"Will you take a date?" Shadow asks, curiously. Once or twice, she'd used her plus one to take her mother to the Gala. Having Tea Leaf there to make fun of the nobles with was the only thing that made the stuffy event bearable. Frilly Frocks shakes her head.
"I thought I'd take Peaches." Sweet Peaches was Frilly Frocks' apprentice and Pumpkin's younger sister. The chance to wear one of her own creations to the top social event in Canterlot will be a dream come true for Peaches. Unlike Pumpkin, Peaches did love fashion and nobility and often wished that her parents had stayed in high society rather than opening a cafe.
"She'll be pleased," comments Pumpkin, still admiring herself in the mirror. "She's wanted to go for ages."
"I know," Frilly Frocks giggles. "It's all I've heard about for weeks."
"Isn't the gala still several months off?" asks North, briefly looking up from her book.
"Oh darling, nobody leaves it late when it comes to the gala," says Frills. "You need several months for designs, getting the best dressmaker, fittings, mane appointments, hooficures, jewellery..." She trails off, seeing North's expression. "I know it sounds like a lot but trust me, it's necessary," she says defensively.
Midnight pushes back the curtain with a flourish. "Ta da!" she announces, gracefully turning on the spot so they can all see the glittering black sheath she's wearing. It's perfect for her, the black a startling contrast with her golden mane and setting off perfectly the red of her coat.
"Are you going to try and barter me down for that too?" asks Frills dryly. Midnight pulls a mock pout.
"I would have but someone beat me to it!" she says, hitching her skirt out of the way so she can walk down the steps to the large mirrors. "I don't think I'd have anything you'd want anyway."
"I don't have much time to read, I'm afraid," says Frills, regretfully. "Although I do keep meaning to try one of your books. My friends are impressed I know a real life author."
"Clearly they've never seen her writing in a stained sweater at 3am, scoffing hay fries with ketchup," quips Pumpkin. Midnight hip-bumps her so she'll let Midnight have some space in front of the mirror.
"That's how true genius works," Midnight says, loftily. Moon Shadow would disagree but maybe that's why Midnight's books keep ending up on the best sellers list.
"Shall I wrap that up for you, Shadow?" Frilly Frocks asks, as Midnight and Peaches admire each others' dresses.
"Thanks," Shadow says gratefully. She uses her magic to undo the ribbon ties and the zip before carefully pulling it over her head and handing it to Frills.
"I'll send over the ticket when I can get it," Shadow says. It'll be simple enough to get an extra ticket. Even better, she could give Frilly Frocks her's and not have to waste an evening smiling and eating too small appetisers.
"What exactly are you planning on wearing that to, if not the GGG?" North asks and then smirks when she sees Shadow's face. "Oh yes, I know the lingo."
"It's a miracle you take your head out of the clouds and stars for you to notice it at all," Midnight says cheekily. North pulls a face at her. North gets teased about this frequently: actually, that was how Shadow had literally bumped into her a year ago. Shadow had been on her way to work when she'd walked straight into a pony who was staring up at the glittering stars above Canterlot.
"I live in Canterlot, it's not possible to avoid it," North says. She has a point: the capitol city is so full of elite ponies, celebrities and nobles. Unless you're right on the outskirts, talk about the gala is impossible to ignore.
Shadow shrugs her saddlebags on - they'd left them all in a pile around Northern Lights - and reaches for her bit purse.
"Well, I still have to attend," Shadow says. "No way out of it, I'm afraid. Night court is mandatory." She leaves early to go to work but her friends don't have to know that, she thinks privately. None of them have ever shown an interest in attending the gala. It's of no interest to Midnight and North and Pumpkin has actually already attended a few times with her parents. "But I find nice clothes so rarely. It's not like it'll go out of style."
"It will in Canterlot," Frills says, wryly. "You know that in a year the nobles will turn their noses up at anything last season. Why do you think the sale rack is so cheap?" This is very true: the unsold dresses from last year sit on a rail near the back of the store, significantly marked down from their full price. As per the law of the universe, none of these are in Moon Shadow's size or suit her.
Shadow hands over the bits to Frilly Frocks with only slight nausea and then takes the handles of her shiny new couture shopping bag. Fancy shopping bags are so perfectly crisp and shiny, with that expensive smell that lets everyone know you just spent a fortune.
"Where should we go now?" Pumpkin asks, as soon as they're back out in the bright Equestrian sunshine. North makes an impatient noise in the back of her throat.
"Uh uh!" North says. "No way. We spent an hour in there and now we're going to the bookshop."
"Well, that's not a problem," says Midnight, looking surprised. "Bookshops are hardly a trial. They keep me in business!" But Pumpkin is shaking her head before Midnight has even finished.
"She doesn't mean the one run by Crisp Pages or WH Fillies,” Pumpkin says warily. "She means the one in Bridle Street."
There's a moment of horrified silence.
"Well, that's not fair," Midnight says. "We took you into a dress shop. You're taking us into Hell."
"It's not that bad!" protests Pumpkin weakly, while North rolls her eyes.
"I want some out of print books on astronomy and Sacred Page is the best place to find them," North says defensively. "And you promised."
There's a pause until Midnight rolls her eyes and huffs. "Fine. But if she tells me off for breathing on the books again, I'll hoof her in the face!"
Shadow hides a smirk. She suspects that if Midnight did smack her, the owner of Sacred Page would smack her right back.
Sacred Page was a second-hoof bookstore, tucked away in the suburbs of Canterlot. It specialised in hard to find or out of print books, without being overly expensive, so it was quite popular.
There was just one problem.
The bell jingles as the four mares step through the door. Shadow immediately breathes in deep, relishing in the delicious musty smell of old books.
The store is like a cave of treasure; books stacked as high and as far as the eye could see, in varying colours, covers and condition. The shelves were as mismatched as the books they held, often covered with posters and paintings. The lights were atmospheric but bright enough for you to read without straining your eyes. It was almost perfect.
"Oh. You again," drawls the mare at the counter. Shadow can feel Midnight bristling without even having to look over her shoulder.
Ocean Soul is a mare with a dark blue coat and a long, wild mane and tail that rivalled Shadow's own. Unlike Shadow's though, it was a beautiful black-blue that rippled like waves in the light. Her cutie mark is a glittering jewel, the colour of the sea, surrounded by smaller gems that look like drops of water. Shadow has never asked what Ocean’s special talent is but she’s guessing it’s not customer service.
"Hello, Ocean," North says. "Is it alright if I look at the astronomy section?"
"It's a shop, do you have to ask?" Midnight mutters. Ocean Soul clearly pretends not to hear, deep green eyes not even flicking in Midnight's direction.
"Of course. You know where they are," she says, with a smile. But the minute Northern Lights has disappeared behind a stack of old Explore Equestria! almanacs, her head snaps back towards the other three.
"Please tell me you're not going to loiter in the doorway the entire time," she says, disdainfully. Ocean has three great loves in the world - books, quiet and pizza. Shadow has yet to work out if she likes anything or anypony else.
"Well, if we wander around apparently we're not allowed to breathe, so what's the point?" Midnight asks, flicking her golden tail in irritation.
"You were breathing on the books, there's a difference!" Ocean says. Midnight splutters.
"I have to breathe!" she protests. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?"
"Do you have any idea how old these books are and how much spittle comes out of your mouth when you exhale?" Ocean Soul retorts.
Pumpkin nudges Shadow and gestures towards the piles of books. "We should go browse," she suggests. "They'll be doing this for a while." Moon Shadow nods. She suspects that the two mares actually enjoy bickering. Ocean because she hates everypony and Midnight because...well, she's Midnight. Being argumentative is just what she does.
Shadow and Pumpkin wander the store - despite being not very wide, it is quite long and it feels like you're getting pulled further and deeper inside a cave. The eclectic and slightly claustrophobic style of decorating doesn't really help. If you're not careful, it's all too easy to hit your head on low hanging fairy lights.
If you went far back enough you couldn't even heard Midnight and Ocean bickering anymore, Shadow discovers. With North happily browsing books about stars and Pumpkin veering off to investigate an old book on ancient costumes, Shadow was free to settle down in the fiction section and look at classics. Her mother used to read a little bit of the 'Lord of the Wings' to her every night when she was young.
Eventually, after a great deal of indecision North buys two extremely old tomes, both as yellowing and fragile as the other - but North seems delighted to have found them. Pumpkin decides not to purchase anything but seems enthused about the new costuming ideas the book gave her. Midnight just glowers in the corner. Shadow suspects that Ocean is one pony that Midnight can't argue, out-logic or use sarcasm against.
Moon Shadow is turning to follow Midnight out of the shop when somepony calls her name. But when she looks back, it's Ocean.
"Yes?" Shadow asks hesitantly. She's certain she hasn't damaged anything during her time here but you can never be sure with Ocean. But the mare is reaching behind the counter and pulling out a battered volume, heavy with dust. Moon Shadow takes a few steps forward until she can read the title clearly...and then recoils in horror.
"Is that 'Mother Bumpkin's book of mare tales and legends?'" North asks, sounding confused.
It clearly is. Rumour has it, that old Mother Bumpkin was a bit out there and didn't quite manage to get the whole 'books for children' thing quite right. The cover has a little too much black on it and the script on the front is more swirly and gothic than is really suited for a foals' fairy tale book. The content is a bit hit and miss too - it varies from the Easter bushwooley and the legendary warrior, 'The Megan' to Tirek, a mad demon centaur who transformed ponies into hideous mutants to pull his carriage. Even worse, this book is the main culprit for that whole 'mystical sandmare, travelling on beams of light and stardust' crap that every foal from here to Saddle Arabia believes.
"Moon Shadow needs to take this," Ocean says, firmly. Moon Shadow is too frozen to protest as Ocean offers her the book. She doesn't keep a copy of this in the house on principal. But she will seriously offend Ocean if she doesn't take it.
Shadow is frozen by indecision until North hip-bumps her. Hesitantly, she reaches out with her magic and lifts the book from Ocean's hooves. "Thank you?" she says uncertainly. She wonders if it would be really inappropriate to chuck it the minute she gets home.
Ocean stares at her, like she knows all too well what Shadow is thinking. "You're going to need this," she insists. "I don't know why but this is going to help you somehow."
"It's a foals' book!" Midnight says, eyebrows raised with disbelief.
"A foals' book that's been hauled up in front of the council three times for being inappropriate for foals," Pumpkin comments. And quite rightly too - the description of the Megan blowing up Tirek is a bit too graphic, even for some full grown ponies. Somehow though it keeps getting approved. Moon Shadow secretly suspects that it's a joke of Celestia's.
"Thank you, Ocean," North says, the only one of them who has remembered her manners. "I'm sure Shadow will have great use of it. Come along, ladies." With that she ushers them all out of the door into the street.
Shadow blinks a bit in the bright sunshine, her Sandmare's eyes sensitive to the light. The mare tales book still hovers above her in her magical grip.
"Well, that was a new level of weird for her," Midnight comments. "I've never seen her do that before."
"I have," says North. "Did you never wonder what her special talent was?"
"Being prickly?" Midnight says, sarcastically. "Utterly impossible? Able to detect spittle on a book from the other side of the store?"
"No," North says, looking as she always does when she finds Midnight's sarcasm insufferable. She reaches up for the book aloft in Shadow's aura. Shadow releases it so North can take it from her with a navy wing.
"She always knows when a book will help somepony," North says. "If it will offer comfort or advice, she knows that she must give that book to that pony. It's like it calls to her."
"Well, why on Equestria would Shadow need this book?" Midnight snorts, gesturing with a hoof. "It's not like she's going to fight the Mare in the Moon or something! What exactly could she need that book for? Tracking down the Easter bushwooley?"
Shadow stares down at her hooves. Now is not a good time to mention that she's in the book.
"Well, whatever the reason, Ocean was quite insistent that she take it. You mustn't get rid of it, Moon Shadow," North says. "Ocean is never wrong. If she says you need it, you will."
Midnight snorts, “Maybe you could use it to save yourself from a particularly offensive spider.”
Shadow takes the book back silently and puts it in her saddlebags. There's an ominous feeling in her gut. Ordinary mares would put it down to coincidence but she gets handed a mare tales book so soon after she starts dreaming? No, this is something else. She can't shake the awful sense that something is going on.
"Well, I fancy a milkshake," Pumpkin announces. "Shall we go to the Jolly Orange?"
As the others agree and easily follow Pumpkin away from Bridle Street, Shadow stares back at the small bookshop, feeling that today she cannot get away from the image of piercing, dark eyes.
Work is almost a relief.
Moon Shadow feels more relaxed as she steps into the dreamworld. She's confident here; she has control over this world. Today was just a glitch. Yeah, a glitch. Tomorrow she'll wake up and laugh about how she got so freaked out.
For most of the night, she passes from dream to dream as needed, whenever she is called. She soothes a filly’s fear of manticores, gives a colt a good night’s sleep for tomorrow’s math test and observes the citizens of Equestria at their most open and true. In their dreams they're honest about their motivations and fears. Little foals dream of everything, from towering confectionary and shiny new toys to grand adventures on the high seas, battling dragons and returning home as heroes of Equestria. Moon Shadow wanders these dreams and appreciates the hope and love of her fellow citizens.
But sometime before dawn, Moon Shadow stops watching a mare being rescued by a prince when she gets the sense that she’s needed. There’s always this funny tingling feeling in the back of her neck when she needs to move on, signalling that somepony somewhere needs her help.
Trotting away from the tower where the damsel was being held prisoner, Shadow searches for a door to make into a portal. Well, any kind of opening will do but a door is best. In a desperate pinch before, she’s cast the portal spell on a tornado.
Let’s just say it was a very desperate pinch and not something Shadow wishes to repeat.
She finds an old wooden door in another part of the castle and casts the spell that will take her to whomever needs her. She doesn’t know how the spell knows where to take her and Celestia got very vague when Moon Shadow asked her. But it works and that’s all that matters.
Clattering through the door, Shadow barely registers it closing behind her. It vanishes just as it occurs to her that she has just walked into a room full of clowns.
No, really. Clowns.
Almost as one they turn their heads and stare straight at her. Swallowing her fears and telling herself she is a grown up and not a little filly scared of ponies in face paint, she pushes forward. They part for her, a rainbow sea of silly wigs and large trousers, until she can reach her charge.
The filly is cowering underneath a table, hooves over her eyes and shaking so much she doesn't notice Shadow's approach. She jumps and screams when Shadow reaches out to touch her.
"Woah, hey!" Shadow says. "I'm not a clown. See?" The filly looks at Moon Shadow sceptically before agreeing that Moon Shadow isn't a clown.
"If you're not a clown then what are you doing here?" the filly asks suspiciously. "There's only clowns here."
"Came to help," Moon Shadow says. "Having a nightmare?" The filly's bottom lip trembles. She's a cute little yellow buttercup filly, a little round with foal fat still. Her flank is bare - not unusual as she's not quite at that age yet.
"I was at the fun fair," the filly explains. "I was eating candy floss but then I turned around and everyone else turned into clowns!"
"There, there," Moon Shadow soothes. Or as best she can anyways. This face to face bit with foals always stumps her: she’s not naturally maternal. Comfort is more Pumpkin’s thing.
"They're just all looking at me!" The filly wails.
"I know. Have you tried approaching them? They all moved away from me." But the filly looks positively terrified.
"I can't!" she says, on the verge of hysteria. "They might eat me!" Shadow stops short. Cannibalistic clowns. That's new.
"I'm sure they won't," she says. "Look, why don't I go out with you? They might not come close if I'm with you."
The reply Shadow gets is what can only be described as a 'bitch face.'
It takes some coaxing but she finally gets the filly out from under the table. She finally stands next to Moon Shadow, her little knees trembling.
"Now, what's your name?" Shadow asks gently. She figures it's best to give the filly time to adjust before they even take a step.
"Happy Daffodil," the filly replies. "But my friends call me Daffy."
"Alright, Daffy," Shadow says, trying to sound as upbeat as she can. "I'm Shadow. We're going to walk forward slowly. You can stop any time you like or even hide behind me if you like but we're going to move forward." Daffy narrows her eyes.
"That doesn't make sense," she points out.
"Well, take a break," Shadow amends. "But then we keep moving again. Alright?" Daffy bites her lip but then nods. Shadow hides a smile. She's made of stern stuff, this one.
"Okay, here we go," Shadow announces and puts a hoof forward. After a beat, Daffy follows her.
They move slowly at first with Daffy being unable to take more than baby steps, flinching every time the clowns turn their heads to follow their progress. But after a while, Daffy relaxes and understands that the clowns do little more than wait and watch. They never advance or approach the pair and so Shadow and Daffy are finally able to reach the door.
"Well, here we go," Shadow says. "You ready to open it?" Daffy eyes it with some apprehension.
"What's on the other side?" she asks, turning back to look at the hordes of clowns all watching her.
"Well, that's up to you. It's your dream. If you want, that door will open to the funfair again. Your fear kept you trapped in this room - but now you've seen there's nothing to be afraid of, you can just make the dream what you want it to be. You've got to remember this is all in your head - if you think you can do it, you can," Shadow says, with the experience of someone who has spent many years counselling young fillies and colts through their fears. Mothering isn't really her thing but mentoring is.
Daffy stares at the door - Shadow can see the thoughts going through her head, as she knows from doing this before. Daffy will open the door, she's sure of it. Having made it this far, it's very rare for the foal in question to not overcome their fears and change their dream entirely without Shadow's help. It’s always in their heads. And if it's in your own mind, you can always conquer it.
"Alright," Daffy says. "I'm going to open it and go back to the funfair and go on the spinning cups!" Shadow smiles. This is always such a triumph for her; the satisfaction that a scared little pony has made a big leap forward in overcoming their fears and doubts and that she's helped just a little bit. Maybe the next time Daffy is at a birthday party and sees a clown she won't cower in fright, but be able to ignore her fear and continue enjoying the party. No matter what problems Shadow has with being the Sandmare, sometimes this makes it all worthwhile.
"Good for you," Shadow enthuses. "Whenever you're ready, just grab the handle and let's go get you on that teacup!"
But as Daffy reaches out a hoof to the door, Shadow feels a shift in the dreamworld. Daffy didn't notice it, of course she wouldn't, but Shadow knows when the balance in a dream is off. She also feels when two dozen pairs of eyes focus their intent in a deadlier manner. Shadow turns her head, dreading what she'll see. But nothing has changed. The clowns are all standing exactly as they were, red noses practically quivering with curiosity...or anticipation.
When they meet her eyes, they grin with glee, suddenly revealing rows of razor sharp teeth.
Shadow sucks in a slow, horrid breath. This dream is no longer Daffy's. Shadow's not even sure she has control any more. Very, very slowly she reaches out with her magic. An indigo haze wraps around the door handle and the other gently settles on Daffy's middle, while Shadow herself shifts her footing. She knows that she's going to have to run.
Shadow hates running.
She hates being eaten by carnivorous clowns even more.
"Shadow?" Daffy asks, no longer sounding sure of herself. She starts to twist her head.
"No!" Shadow whispers desperately. "Don't turn around!" Daffy stares at Shadow with wide eyes and a look of apprehension. But she can't help herself. Slowly the filly moves her head until she gets a good look at what's behind her. Shadow winces as waves of a horrified scream wash over her. But Daffy is still screaming as she yanks hard at both points with her magic. The door is flung open and Shadow is out of it in a second, dragging Daffy along behind in a purple haze. She only just gets enough of her bearings to pull on it so that Daffy is deposited safely on her back.
"They're following us!" Daffy shrieks. Shadow doesn't waste time looking behind her to check, only pushing her hooves faster. If Daffy hadn't screamed they might have had more of a head start but there's no time to think about that now. It's time to run and pray.
The landscape whips by in a blur but Moon Shadow is confused by what she sees. It's a funfair, like Daffy wanted, but a twisted facsimile of one. Everything is empty and broken and rotting. The cotton candy stand is stained and decrepit. The tea cups are tarnished and tipped off their carousel. A grimy pink boat floats on a river of sludge in the tunnel of love. Shadow grits her teeth as she pushes on, the burn starting in her lungs. Daffy managed to change the dream as she should but something's corrupted it.
Moon Shadow would try and see if she has any influence to change it...but maybe when she's not running for her life.
"Not helping!" Shadow yells back. She takes a hard right - much to the displeasure of Daffy, who is almost unseated from Shadow's back - and then another swift turn as quickly as she can. She's not going to be able to outrun them for much longer - tactics and retreat are what she needs. The funfair is built up enough that she might be able to lose them among the rides and stands.
Shadow sees a stall that's still fairly solid with a high counter. By the looks of it, it was once a game where you could win stuffed toys as prizes. Shadow pushes her hooves just a little bit more, ignoring the pain that's searing through her body.
"Are they behind us?" she calls to Daffy.
"Not yet but we don't have long!" Daffy replies, eyes straining to see the furious crowd of clowns. They can't be that far behind - Shadow probably only gained them a minute by her sudden deviations.
"Then hold on!" Shadow warns and the hard, wooden stall rushes ever closer. Daffy gasps as it looks like they'll crash head first into the splintered wood - then Shadow pushes hard on her hind legs and sails over the counter. She doesn't brake quite so well, skidding to a stop on the slick ground, legs sliding out from underneath her. Daffy is thrown off with a grunt but Shadow doesn't give her any time. She hauls the filly close under the counter, crouching low.
"We'll just hide here for a bit," Shadow says, through pants. "I need a break and we need a plan."
"They'll eat us if they catch us!" Daffy says, slightly hysterically now that their frantic chase is over. Shadow wraps her aura around Daffy's mouth, stifling any more wailing before it's begun.
"Sssh," Shadow says. "Keep quiet. Hopefully they'll pass us by and...what is it?" Daffy has been struggling against Shadow's magic urgently so Shadow lets go.
"Hoofprints!" Daffy says and with a jolt, Shadow realises that there are indeed dusty hoofprints leading right up to their hiding place. With a quick sweep of her magic, she sends a breeze across the fairground floor, clearing any sign that the pair are hiding close by. She's just in time, as the thundering of dozens of hooves start to shake the ground as the clowns finally catch them up. Shadow pulls Daffy close and motions for the filly to keep quiet. If Shadow has to run again, she's not so sure she'll be able to keep ahead of them this time.
The crowd brings themselves to a halt, mere feet from where Shadow and Daffy are crouched in the mud. Shadow finds an old knothole and peers out as best she can. The clowns are just milling around, trying to get a lead on where their victims have gone. Shadow hopes dearly that they haven't developed a carnivorous sense of smell as well.
Daffy's tiny body is shaking next to Shadow's as the clowns try to hunt them out. Shadow tries to wrap herself around Daffy as best she can, to offer the frightened child some warmth and comfort.
It's a very tense few minutes before the clowns pick a direction and gallop off. Shadow exhales softly.
"Ok, we're going to stay here and be quiet," she whispers. "We don't want to do anything that will bring them all back." Shadow peeks through the knothole and doesn't see anything but that doesn't mean they're all gone.
"Right," Shadow says briskly, turning back to Daffy. "We need a plan!"
"I don't have one!" Daffy says, in a panic.
"No, I know you don't," Shadow says patiently. "But I do. Now, can't you change the dream at all? It's still your dream. You should have ultimate control."
Daffy scrunches up her little face and tries but their surroundings don't change. Shadow frowns. That's not right at all. The dreamer has absolute control over the landscape. Even if their subconscious changes it to a nightmare, it's always within the dreamer's ability to change it back if they have the will.
Shadow doesn't want to show it to Daffy but she's way out of her depth.
Shadow takes a deep, slow breath and then another. She sees Daffy watching her and smiles. She takes in another deep breath, pulling her hoof up to her chest and then away as she lets the breath go. She does this again until Daffy copies her, slowly breathing in and out until both girls are calm.
"Ok, so these are our options," Shadow says, trying to sound more confident than she is. "We take the fight to the clowns."
"Pass," Daffy says bluntly.
"Yeah, I'm not too fond of that one either," Shadow says. The clowns massively outnumber them and Shadow does not have enough raw magical ability to fight them all. "Ok, plan B. We run for it again until we find a door."
"And plan C?" Daffy asks hopefully.
"There is no plan C."
"Oh."
"We're going to have to run for it," Shadow explains. "If you can't control the dream, it's very unlikely I can either. So we have to escape it. It's not the best solution but it's the only one I have to keep you safe." Daffy nods.
"Alright," she says. "Just give me a minute." Shadow agrees (although she thinks that she's the one who really needs a minute - Daffy won't be the one running now, will she?)
Shadow lets her eyes drift over and winces as she catches sight of the macabre display across from them. Teddies and stuffed dragons hang by their necks, leaking stuffing and eyes hanging on by threads. The colour of their fur seems to have run, leaving them pale and discoloured, all except for one brightly coloured item in the middle. Shadow squints - is it a bear? a butterfly? - and then has the sickening realisation that it's a wig.
A clown wig.
Attached to a clown, if you hadn't guessed.
It stretches its mouth into that obscene grin again. Shadow is reminded of dragons and how they always look as if they have too many teeth for their mouths.
"Dinner?" it asks, voice thick. Daffy has opened her eyes wide, almost disbelieving at this thing that has found their hiding place. But to her credit, she doesn't scream.
"Pony...dinner?" it asks again.
"You are a pony, you sick freak!" Shadow retorts and shoots it with a bolt of magic. This time Daffy does shriek as the clown bursts into clouds of...confetti?
Shadow doesn't linger on cannibalistic pony entertainers exploding into party supplies. She snatches up Daffy by the scruff with her teeth and vaults back over the counter. Unfortunately there's another two waiting for them. This clearly was planned to scare them into the open. But this time Shadow knows what to do.
Shadow leaves the dust of confetti in her wake as she dashes off, looking for a door, any door. Daffy is still dangling from her teeth until she has enough wits about her to fling the filly onto her back. Daffy only has enough time to suck in a breath mid-air before she finds herself gripping onto Shadow's mane again.
"Look for a door!" Shadow shouts. "I'll look for the clowns!"
"What door?" Daffy asks. Behind them the swarm of clowns is increasing as more and more ponies join the chase.
"Any door!" Shadow says. "If it's a door, I can make it a portal!" From Daffy's quiet whimper, she doesn't sound too sure of this plan but she straightens up as best she can on Shadow's back and keeps her eyes peeled. But no doors are in sight as all they see are more stalls and rollercoasters.
"There!" Daffy shouts finally, a note of relief evident in her voice. "The funhouse! It has a door!" Shadow changes direction without slowing down. Her lungs are starting to burn again but she dares not let up when they're so close. Shadow's horn ignites, ready to make a portal that will take them out of this awful nightmare. She's not sure how to explain to Daffy why they're in somepony else's dream but she'll have to manage somehow. They can't stay here.
'But what if there's more like this?' Shadow thinks. Ponies all over Equestria could be in the middle of their worst fears, worse than they've ever imagined. Daffy's clowns had just stood and watched, terrifying enough for a little filly without the addition of teeth and a hunger for pony flesh. How many hundreds of ponies are suffering from this same crippling fear right now?
Suddenly a projectile comes out of nowhere and knocks Shadow off her feet. She lands painfully on her side, roughly skidding across the ground until she stops. Daffy is thrown behind her, closer to the door, but it's useless without Shadow's magic - she never got to complete the spell.
Shadow picks herself up groggily. Her legs are bruised from where she's hit the tarmac, with a lovely scrape along her side. Daffy, thankfully, seems to only be slightly stunned.
Shadow looks between Daffy and the oncoming clowns. If she can hold them off, Daffy can get out. She's not supposed to wander other dreams, especially not without the guide of a Sandmare, but Shadow's not sure what other options she has.
Shadow lights her horn again, trying to complete the spell that will get Daffy out of here. But there's another hit to the side of her head, once again knocking her off balance. When she looks up she sees it's a bright, inflatable clown ball. She struggles to get up again but the clowns just seem to be readying more projectiles.
"Well, that's just cheating," Shadow mutters, before she is alerted by a scream.
"Shadow! Shadow, help me!" Daffy is crying out frantically - two clowns have managed to get behind Shadow, closer to the filly. Somehow, even with the silly outfits, they're just as terrifying. If anything, their appearance seems to be changing even more. Their fur is thickening and growing, their irises are taking on a manic red glow...
Shadow shoots both of them before she can think. They shatter into confetti, covering a still screaming Daffy with glitter and coloured paper. Shadow pulls herself to her hooves, muscles screaming in protest, and races the few feet over to Daffy. One of the clowns manages to nail her with a ball again but this time, Shadow is prepared and takes the hit without even stopping. She makes it to Daffy before more clowns do, shooting the closest ones down without a second thought.
Daffy trembles between Shadow's hooves, while the ranks close in.
"What do we do, Shadow?" Daffy asks. With a sudden grim realisation, Shadow knows they only have one option left. Something she's not supposed to do. Not unless it's a dire emergency and there's no other way out.
Grimly, Shadow realises that both of those conditions have been met.
"Sorry, Daffy, you're not going to like this!" Shadow says, the magic already starting to shine around her horn. She's feeling drained, Shadow realises. Shooting bolts of magic like that take a lot of energy and magical reserves. It's difficult as it doesn't lie in relation to Shadow's talent. She can cast sleep and dream spells all night long - but raw magic like that is something that Shadow does not have.
"What do you mean, I won't like it?" Daffy squeaks, trying to burrow as far as she can under Moon Shadow's barrel. Shadow tries not to squirm at Daffy's fluffy mane tickling her stomach.
"It won't be pleasant," Shadow warns her. "But it's better than meeting the business end of those teeth!" Daffy eyes the advancing clowns, who look significantly hungrier than they had previously and nods frantically.
"Ok, do it," Daffy says, closing her eyes tight. Shadow doesn't blame her - the clowns, knowing that their prey can no longer escape, are steadily marching forwards. The slow advance is almost worse than the stampeding chase earlier.
Shadow closes her eyes and concentrates. The magic flickers more brightly, the aura a continuous ripple around her horn. There's caution, surprise and then anger in the clowns' faces as they realise what she's doing - but it's too late. The indigo corona shines brighter and brighter until it's a flash of white light...
....and when the clowns blink flashing lights out of their eyes and stare at the patch of fairground the two had been standing, there's nothing there other than a few stray pieces of confetti.
*** Shadow lands awkwardly back in the corporeal world and struggles to adjust to her land legs. Because she takes her body into the dream with her, while everypony else just exists via their subconscious selves, it doesn't mean her body feels real while she's there. Something always feels a little bit off, like she's floating in water or something. Celestia says it's just a side effect of being corporeal in a world that is inherently not.
In her pink twin bed, Daffy gasps and sits upright. Her eyes search the room wildly, until she spots Shadow, hovering uncertainly in the corner. "You're...you're real?" Daffy asks, voice dry and croaky from sleep. All that screaming probably didn't do her any good either. Voice is one thing that does carry over to the dreamworld.
"No," Shadow says, immediately. The lie tastes bitter but what else can she do? If she reveals she's the Sandmare, Daffy might start to put together that what just happened was real. "You're still dreaming. I just had to use a different, trickier method to get us out of there. You'll probably feel a bit strange for a bit."
"But I'm in my room," Daffy says. "This is my room..."
"Perfectly normal," Shadow says briskly. "As it's your dream, your mind picked where to go, so obviously it chose your bedroom."
Daffy doesn't look convinced. She's looking around the room, touching the soft blanket underneath her hooves. She looks like her mind is ticking over everything. Is this all real or does it just feel real to her because it's a dream? Shadow would feel a flicker of pride at how smart and brave this kid's been but she knows all too well that 'smart' and 'brave' means 'figuring stuff out.' She can't afford that right now. So she lights her horn again, just a glimmer of magic that vanishes into the air the minute it's released. With a soft sigh, Daffy slumps back into her bed, fast asleep. With any luck, she won't remember this. But just in case she does....
Shadow works carefully for a few minutes crafting a new dream. By now Shadow can create new dreams without much thought, so used to weaving the different strands of magic together that she can create a new landscape easily - after all what are dreams but a little imagination? But this is copying an actual existing place - she has to be exact. Maybe it's a little bit much, considering Daffy is only seven but Shadow has learnt you can never be too careful. After all, kids are always the ones that see the most.
Shadow watches Daffy sleep peacefully and hope that this time she will stay that way. For just a moment, she feels a flicker of envy but dismisses it. She has no time for that now, not when Equestria is potentially in danger. No matter how many times she has to go back to face the nightmares, it’s something she will always do.
If Daffy has been awake she would have seen the mare from her dreams lift her head high and close her eyes, while strands of white light stream out of her horn. When they reach their peak, there's a gust of wind and the sound of something that solidly exists and couldn’t possibly disappear vanishing into thin air.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” asks Celestia, as she raises an eyebrow at Moon Shadow. The mare in question groans reaching for a cup of tea.
“I’m fine,” insists Moon Shadow, through gritted teeth. “I’ve almost got it.” The cup is just irritatingly inches out of reach and the muscles in Shadow’s leg ache every time she extends the limb. Celestia waits, on the verge of using magic to just nudge it closer to Shadow’s trembling hoof. But with a final grunt and a desperate push forward, Shadow manages to grab hold of the cup.
She immediately wishes she hadn’t.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Shadow yelps, as every muscle in her shoulder protests at being pushed beyond their limits. This time Celestia does intervene, taking the cup from Moon Shadow and settling a golden glow around Shadow’s sore limbs.
“Here, let me help.” Celestia says kindly, as warmth washes over Shadow’s tense muscles. The magic pushes at Shadow’s sore spots, making her wince and then hiss as the gentle warmth eases some of the pain. Most of Moon Shadow’s muscles have seized up, causing her to limp all the way back to the castle. If she’d known she’d have to battle demented clowns, she’d have stretched first.
“What have you done to yourself?” Celestia asks, concerned as Moon Shadow finally relaxes. They’re sitting at Celestia’s breakfast table, facing each other and all Celestia has done since Shadow arrived is stare at her with worry.
“It’s not what I’ve done,” Moon Shadow grumbles. “It’s what was done to me.” Celestia seems puzzled, so Moon Shadow explains further. “I was attacked.”
Celestia freezes and the heating spell suddenly becomes more intense rather than comfortable.
“Ow! Princess, that’s hot!” Shadow exclaims, trying to wriggle away from her strong magical grip. Celestia finally eases up and the spell returns to a gentler warmth.
“What was that about?” Moon Shadow asks, grumpily. 'I’ve had enough abuse, thank you very much. I was nearly eaten last night.'
“Nothing, nothing,” Celestia responds, but her eyes seem unfocused. “What attacked you? Are you well?”
“Just about. I’m sore but alright,” Shadow explains, pointedly looking at her shoulder still wrapped up in a golden glow. “I was called to a little filly’s dream. She was having a nightmare about all of these clowns…but suddenly the dream changed and all the clowns wanted to eat us instead.”
“The dream changed?” Celestia asks, shifting the magical field down onto Shadow’s back. She almost groans as it digs into her sore muscles. “You couldn’t change it back?”
“There, there is good,” Shadow tells her, as the healing spell moves over a particularly sore spot. She goes back to her explanation. “No. I tried; she tried…it was no good. It was like the dream became corrupted. For some reason, neither of us could change it back.”
“How did you escape?”
“Well, I was going to find a door and make a portal,” Shadow says, arching her back. “But they got to us before I could. After running and fighting them, I couldn’t really do much more. Besides, I had a filly with me.” Celestia nods approvingly.
“You couldn’t risk her safety,” she agrees gently. “I completely understand.”
“So I used the only option left,” Shadow hesitantly tells her. “I woke her up.” But Celestia only nods again.
“I know it’s a last resort. Still I believe, in this situation, you had no other choice. It would have been fruitless for you to try and keep fighting. You would have only hurt yourself and possibly the child.” Shadow relaxes, hearing this. Waking somepony up from a deep sleep is sometimes more harmful than helpful. Luckily, it hadn’t seemed to affect Daffy. Besides, a sharp awakening must certainly be better than dreaming of being devoured. Right?
“And that’s the reason you’re so sore?” probes Celestia. Shadow rolls her eyes.
“Ok, no,” Shadow admits, begrudgingly. “I also fell off the drainpipe climbing out of a window.”
“Well, that explains that, then.” concludes Celestia crisply. She finally releases the spell, much to Moon Shadow’s disappointment. But now Shadow can at least reach for her mug without yelping in pain.
“So, do you know what could have caused it?” asks Shadow, finally returning to her breakfast. Her oatmeal is lukewarm, but the yogurt is still good. “I’ve never had a dream where even the dreamer can’t change it.”
“As much as we like to think that you have control over the dreamworld, it’s not always true.” Celestia admits, reminding Moon Shadow of a few lessons they’d had back when Shadow was still in training. “That world is still magic at its core and mostly wild.”
“Like the Everfree forest.” Shadow observes, scraping round the bottom of the bowl. Celestia considers that.
“Of a sort,” she agrees. “You can affect ponies’ dreams – change a nightmare and use magic in a dream - because they are structured. But there are other parts of the dream world that are more like the Everfree forest. It has its own magic, so there is very little we can do to affect certain parts of it.”
“I’m guessing that ‘its inherent magic’ isn’t exactly lightness and bunnies,” murmurs Moon Shadow, sardonically.
“Correct, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Just wild.” Celestia pauses to look Moon Shadow straight in the eye. “We can’t control all of the magic in this world, Moon Shadow.”
“Just monitor it.” adds Moon Shadow thoughtfully, as she refreshes her cup of tea. “Thus, my whole purpose in life.” Celestia chuckles.
“Yes, if you want to put it like that,” she agrees. “Although, sometimes there are places – like the Everfree forest and Tambelon – where magic is too dangerous and we can’t even oversee the magic that exists there. And sometimes that’s best. Despite the fauna and flora that live in the Everfree forest, it functions perfectly well without our help.”
“What’s Tambelon?” Shadow asks, barely even hearing the rest of Celestia’s sentence. “I don’t think I’ve heard of it before.” Celestia pauses before raising her pink teacup to her lips.
“Just a very old city,” Celestia finally answers. “Abandoned now, of course.”
“But it’s not even on any maps that I’ve seen…” Shadow starts.
“What would be the point? It’s abandoned,” Celestia reminds her, lifting the teapot. She seems eager to change the subject. “Care for another cup?”
“Oh,” Shadow replies. “No, thank you, princess. I think I should go to bed.” Celestia raises the pot over her own cup to fill it with a fragrant stream of tea.
“Very wise,” Celestia agrees. “You’ve had an eventful night. I will see you next week but please immediately report to me if any more of these worrying events should occur.”
“Of course,” Shadow says, slowly getting to her feet. The spell Celestia used seems to have eased her pain considerably. “Hopefully, I’ll see you next week and not any sooner.”
Raspberry Conserve and Celestia’s maid are both waiting outside the door to Celestia’s chambers. Raspberry catches the door as it swings closed behind Moon Shadow’s back and slips inside to attend to the princess. No pony is allowed inside during Shadow’s meetings with the princess – although they, of course, presume it’s to do with matters of the state.
It’s not until Shadow reaches the main gates that she realises Celestia hadn’t asked what she wanted for breakfast next week.
A few nights later, Moon Shadow sneaks into a foal’s bedroom yet again.
She needs a sleeping pony in order to get into their dreams. Of course, she has her mother and her friends so she could easily cross into the dreamworld without breaking and entering…but she attempts to offer as much courtesy as possible to the ponies she loves. Unless she knows they’re having a nightmare, she doesn’t interfere. It makes her uncomfortable having that much information on ponies she went to magic kindergarten with. Knowing the dreams and secrets of her best friends would be a thousand times worse than...
“Please, please stay asleep,” Moon Shadow whispers, trying to get her rump over the window sill.
Maybe she should lose some weight. ‘This is what happens when you eat cake all hours of the day, Moon Shadow,’ she thinks disagreeably to herself.
Shadow finally manages to tip herself in, landing a little clumsily on the floor. Thankfully, the little filly does not stir at the sound of Shadow’s hooves hitting the hardwood floor.
Moon Shadow creeps closer to the bed, until she’s standing over the filly. She’s been busted like this before. A colt she thought was asleep, had opened his eyes and screamed bucking murder.
That, sadly, was arrest number two.
Moon Shadow closes her eyes and takes a few breaths, readying herself. This bit she can do. This is something she’s good at.
With barely a thought, white tendrils of magic extend from her horn and wind down to the little filly. The magic attaches itself to her forehead, connecting her to Moon Shadow by bright, intangible energy. The child doesn’t stir, no matter how strong the magic grows or how dazzling the light gets. Even when it reaches its peak and Moon Shadow vanishes, she sleeps on, unaware that an orange unicorn is now wandering her dreams.
It’s been several nights since Daffy’s dream and so far, Moon Shadow hasn’t encountered anything unusual. There have been more nightmares than normal but all of them change when forced – either by the dreamer’s whim or by Shadow’s magic.
It’s nearing dawn when Moon Shadow is busy watching a young mare’s dream about her latest coltfriend. She’s been summoned to this dream for some reason but the only reason she can see is to fix the atrocious dialogue. Where is the mare getting this stuff from, the latest Vampony romance novel? It’s awkward and flowery enough to make Moon Shadow cringe.
“I’ve seen soap operas with better acting,” Moon Shadow grumbles to herself. She half considers moving on when something catches her eye.
‘What was that?’ Shadow thinks, slipping past the stallion proclaiming his love loudly at the swooning mare on the balcony. Something moves in the corner of the garden and Shadow doesn’t think it’s a challenger for the young mare’s heart.
She moves quietly, sticking to the shadows. Something twists in her gut, letting her know that this is not just another part of the dream. And after the events of the last few days, she’s certain that they’re related. She really, really hopes that the mare didn’t plan on having her suitor fight a dragon in the name of true love. If Daffy’s clowns turned ravenous and bloodthirsty, she’d hate to see what might happen to a fire-breathing dragon.
Moon Shadow stops cautiously a few feet away from the thick lines of hedges. As she recalls, the hero had to climb over the large walls surrounding the mansion to get to the young lady waiting in her tower.
Walls. Not hedges.
Shadow immediately adopts a defensive stance. Much like Daffy’s nightmare, something has changed the dream. Very, very subtly but even so it shows that something else is here. And this time she can stop it before the dreamer is in danger again.
She steps closer, dark eyes never wavering from the pool of dark leaves.
“Come out!” she commands, even though her heart is pounding in her chest. “Right now!”
There’s a beat. Two beats. And then a black cloud streaks past Moon Shadow so fast that she barely has time to aim for it. It forcefully pushes her over onto her rump. The beam of magic she had ready shears the head off a nearby ornamental fountain statue.
“What? Hey, wait!” Shadow calls, trying to get up, but the cloud is already gone, vanishing from the dream. Shadow lies on the ground for a moment, trying to stifle both her frustration and pain from her sore flank. She still hasn’t quite recovered from the Clown incident a few nights ago and her body does not appreciate taking another hit. The severed stone head stares down at her in judgement, as behind her the hedges fade back to the tall marble walls the dreamer had originally imagined.
“Ow!” she quietly hisses and then tries to stand on her shaking hooves. Her rear protests as she pulls herself up but she’s finally standing on all four hooves again.
She looks up to find the young stallion in a collar and the mare in full Princess Luminaire era dress staring at her.
“Um. Hi. Sorry. Please continue. It was a lovely speech. Very dramatic and…purple.” Moon Shadow enters awkwardly, before bolting towards the nearest available portal as fast as her sore hooves and bruised back can take her.
Her whole body is aching with every step. Again. And landing painfully on her flank has given her at least three new sore spots.
First, the beast and the dreams she’s been having. Then, that strange book from Oceansoul. Third, a nightmare that wouldn’t respond to magic. Now, the shadow? What the Tartarus is going on? Moon Shadow wonders, as she comes within sight of the castle. She is going to have a nice soak before she goes to bed. Maybe that’ll take some of the soreness out of her.
She stumbles in the front door, expecting to hear her mother puttering in the kitchen. What she actually finds is a note stuck to the fridge.
Hello, pumpkin!
I’m going away for a few days to Ponyville. I’m picking up some more zap apples for Celestia’s tea. Cranberry Joy put in a good word for me, so her relatives in Ponyville will sell me some that they kept some aside from their last harvest. I’ll be home soon. Keep the house tidy, look after Icarus and most importantly, EAT SOMETHING OTHER THAN CAKE.
Your loving mother,
Tea Leaf
Shadow sighs to herself and turns towards the bathroom. Sore rump, dirty mane and no mother. Who wouldn’t want to eat cake at a time like this?
But she nonetheless feels better the minute she sinks into the hot, rose-scented tub. Her muscles start to relax and she dunks her head under the water so she can start to shampoo her mane.
When she’s done washing, she lies back and enjoys the warm water for a brief minute before her mind starts to wander.
She’ll have to tell Celestia. She has no other choice. The princess wanted to know the minute that something else happened. Something like this can’t wait. She’ll have to go today.
Moon Shadow turns on the tap to top the hot water and considers her options. She could go right now. She could get up out of her bath, dry off and head to the castle quickly.
Unpleasant. Horrid. Cold. Next.
Second option: she could go in an hour or so, when she’s done with her bath and has eaten an apple for breakfast.
This is better, but by that time Celestia would have already begun her paperwork and headed for Day Court. She’d be impossible to reach unless Shadow wants to stand in a queue for nearly two hours to speak to her. Next.
Final solution: Go this evening. Celestia has a free period just after she’s raised the moon and Moon Shadow can certainly barter her way in. She will tell Celestia her worries, the princess will fix it and all will be well by the time Tea Leaf returns home from Ponyville.
Moon Shadow swivels the tap off now that the bath is deliciously warm. Happy that everything will soon be resolved, she lays back in the bath and rests her head on the edge of the tub. And she quite unintentionally falls asleep.
When she wakes up, it’s dark.
“What?” Moon Shadow asks, startled. The sky is nearly black. There are no stars anywhere. Even the moon is a pale sliver and the mare in the moon is not even visible.
Moon Shadow turns and behind her she can see the outline of Canterlot and the mountain it’s built into. But the city is nearly dark, too. Only the castle gleams in the faintest of moonlight. But even without the usual bright lights of a busy capital city, Canterlot looks…different somehow. Moon Shadow stares as best she can in this dim light, but she can’t put her hoof on it.
“What is this?” she asks, but her voice sounds very quiet in the darkness.
“We’re on the outskirts of Canterlot,” says a distant voice. Moon Shadow jumps, startled by the presence of another pony. She looks around, wildly, but once again, there’s nopony there.
“It’s you, again,” she says. “You saved me from the beast!”
“I did,” admits the voice, hesitantly. “I fear he will come for you again, if he gets the chance.”
“Who is he?” Moon Shadow asks, urgently. She isn’t quite sure where to look. It feels strange to be addressing somepony who’s not really there. “Is he a threat to Equestria?”
“Very much so,” says the voice sadly. “You have no idea.” A pause. “But that’s not why we’re here.”
“Why are we here?” Shadow finally demands. “I was taking a bath and…oh.” She trails off as she remembers that she was in her own home and isn’t really standing outside the city walls. “I’m asleep.”
“You are,” agrees the voice. She can hear it clearer this time and it sounds young. Female. Maybe Shadow’s own age. It’s soft but with a very obvious Canterlot accent, much more refined than Moon Shadow’s own accent.
Shadow sighs heavily. She had been hoping that the shadow would be the last of it and she could return to her peaceful, if irritating, destiny. To be honest, the bath had made her more relaxed than she had been in days. “Did you bring me here?”
“I did. This is important.” Moon Shadow looks back at the city, so strangely shrouded in blackness. Her Sandmare eyes have adjusted quickly to the dark and now she can see the familiar landmarks. The round dome of the observatory. The tall spires of the library. The elegant sun-shaped weather vane of Celestia’s school. But the statue of the three tribes standing together that sits on the rooftop of town hall isn’t there. Shadow squints, but only sees empty space. That can’t be right. Shadow may only have been six years old the day the statue was lifted onto the roof of town hall, but she still remembers it clearly. Even in this dim light, she should be able to see the white marble of the unicorn, the glittering stones that cover the pegasus’ wings…
“This is the past, isn’t it?” Shadow asks. She feels slightly stupid for not figuring it out sooner. Now that she knows, she can see why the skyline of Canterlot is so subtly different. There are buildings that don’t exist yet, trees that have yet to grow. This is how the city looked before her time.
“It is,” the voice replies. “So many years ago, now. How old are you?”
“Twenty one,” Shadow tells her. Her birthday was last October and the Jolly Orange was closed for the night so that her friends could throw her a surprise party. Even some friends from the castle had come to celebrate. Cranberry Joy had even made a special fruit cocktail and named it in honour of Shadow.
“You’re only a few years younger than I am,” the voice tells her, mournfully. Shadow has a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She’d bet anything that this night is the mare’s memory. There’s only one way that they’d be the same age now.
“Why are we outside of Canterlot?” Shadow asks instead. The only light available is the thin strip of the moon and that’s barely enough to light the ground in front of Shadow’s own hooves.
“You don’t want to be inside the city right now.” the voice insists. “This was a horrible night. All of the lights went out. Everything was filled with fear and chaos.”
“What happened?” Moon Shadow asks, even though she can already picture it. Her Equestria is usually filled with light and comfort. Its inhabitants would not cope well with sudden darkness. The fear would be palpable, the confusion heightening everypony’s panic.
“It was a planned attack. One evening, all the lights went out. Every single light in the city was just gone. And when everypony was running around scared and confused, a lone intruder slipped into Canterlot.”
“Just one pony?” Shadow asks. They’re too far away but she would swear she can almost hear the screams.
“I never said he was a pony,” the mare replies and the weight in Shadow’s stomach got a little bit heavier.
“You mean the beast,” she concludes, feeling sick. That terrifying creature from her nightmare, creeping along the back streets of her beloved city, the same one Shadow works so hard to keep safe… “Why did he come?”
“He had a very specific purpose. During all of the darkness and panic, he could get in while Celestia was distracted and take the Sandmare.”
“What?” Moon Shadow says, in shock. No wonder the beast had turned his eyes onto her: she was the kind of prey he had hunted before. “He took her? Why would he take the Sandmare?”
“In the past, when he was at the height of his power, it was a Sandmare that brought him down. I suspect he never forgot that.” The voice sounds fainter telling this part of the story. Almost pained.
Moon Shadow wishes the voice had a face she could turn away from. She knows who the mare is now…what the mare is.
“What does he want?” Moon Shadow finally asks. “Why was he in my dream?”
“I am sorry about that,” the voice says with regret. “I gave you that dream to show you the events of the past. But he can enter dreams too and he invaded yours. I woke you just in time.” Shadow suppresses a shudder. Everypony knows you can’t be killed in a dream…not unless you’re a Sandmare. To them, the dreamworld is real and corporeal. If they are wounded in a dream, they will return to the waking world wounded.
If a Sandmare dies in a dream, then she’s dead. Trapped in the Dreamworld forever. Only two mares had ever suffered that fate and Shadow grimly remembers Celestia’s warnings. Lapis Lazuli was attacked by a dreamer, caught up in a nightmare. And Wind Wisher was killed by a minor demon, who had escaped from Tartarus.
Neither of their families had bodies to bury.
“You said you were showing me events of the past. Why is that house important?” Shadow asks. The voice is silent, perhaps out of shock.
“You mean…you don’t know?” the faceless mare asks.
“No. Should I?” Shadow returns, with a hint of irritation. She has the nasty feeling she’s missing out on crucial information.
“You mean you don’t remember your past at all?”
“No.” Shadow continues. “I don’t remember much before I came to Canterlot.” Sometimes she wonders why that is. Everypony seems to have at least some memories of when they’ve very young but she doesn’t. She doesn’t recall anything from before she came to Canterlot to live with Tea Leaf. But usually she doesn’t care enough to find out.
Now she thinks that maybe she should have pushed just a little bit more.
“Perhaps you had to push it down so far that you forgot,” the mare says. “Maybe it was far too much for you to handle.”
“What did I push down?” Shadow demands, voice rising, just a bit. “Why would I want to forget my own past?”
“I’ll show you, one day,” the mare promises her. “One day, you’ll be ready. But that’s not today. Today, you needed to see the Demon Ram.”
“Is that who...what he is?” Moon Shadow asks, hesitantly. The name explains his curved horns, the red eyes, and the oppressive black magic. Shadow thinks of those long horns and the dead mare now talking to her. She shudders to think that was how she met her end.
“That’s a name for him, yes. He has many. But his real name is Grogar.”
Moon Shadow should be feeling better now that there’s a name to the monster of her nightmares but it doesn’t help any. The fear she felt staring into those blood-red eyes is worse than ever.
“Can he be stopped?” she asks instead.
“He can. He’s not invincible, much as he likes to think he is,” the mare says disdainfully. “After all, one of us defeated him before. We can again.”
“But how?” Shadow persists. “Tell me! I can get Celestia and...”
“No,” says the mare. “No. I’m sorry. There’s nothing Celestia can do. He’s hiding in the darkest realms of the dreamworld, where she cannot go. He’ll avoid facing her in this world, if he can. Last time, she came as soon as she knew and fought him with all the fury of the Daystar. He was seriously wounded and fled back to Tambelon. Since then, he’s only ever dared enter Equestria once more.”
“Tambelon?” It can’t be a coincidence; Celestia only just mentioned Tambelon this morning and now this mare says it’s the home of a demonic entity threatening Equestria. “But Celestia said Tambelon is abandoned!”
There’s a very inelegant snort. “Well, she would. But no, it’s not. Not exactly anyway.”
“You mean it wasn’t abandoned?” Shadow asks, confused.
“Not voluntarily,” says the mare. “Take care, Moon Shadow. Grogar will do the same thing to Equestria as he did to Tambelon if he gets the chance.
“Can Celestia fight him if he comes here?” Shadow asks, desperately. She’s grasping at straws now, she knows that. But those bright red eyes make her want to hide behind the strong, powerful goddess. She can’t help it. If she can’t fix it, then her mother can. And if Tea Leaf can’t, then Celestia can. There is no higher power and nothing Celestia can’t solve.
“Do you want that? That monster here in Equestria?” the voice asks, gently. She doesn’t sound accusing or angry; just gently reminding Moon Shadow that other ponies will suffer if she lets fear rule her. Like the Sandmare in front of her, other ponies will die before Celestia can even get to the battlefield.
“No. No, I don’t want that at all.” The city in the distance is still dark. Moon Shadow imagines that it will stay that way until Celestia brings the dawn. “Do we have any time?”
“Some. Not enough.” The mare’s voice sounds faint again. “There’s a lot to do. You have to wake up now.”
“No, I have too much to ask you!” Moon Shadow pleads. But it’s already happening. The other Sandmare is stronger than she is and Moon Shadow can feel the edges of the dream crumbling as the ghost of the Sandmare pushes her back towards consciousness.
“No, don’t leave me!” Shadow begs. For a moment the dream holds, blurring around the edges, the distant city already gone. The mare is quiet and Moon Shadow waits, desperate.
“I’ve never met another before. No pony else understands!” Her voice cracks, as she tries to get the mare to stay with her.
“I know. I know what it’s like,” the mare speaks suddenly, her own voice mirroring Moon Shadow’s tone. Moon Shadow wants to sob with relief. Finally. She was so sure she’d be alone and stay that way. “But I only exist in this world. You belong out there, no matter what Celestia tells you.”
Moon Shadow blinks away tears but before she can respond, the Sandmare begins to speak again.
“I won’t leave you. I’ll be here when you sleep,” the mare promises, fiercely. “I won’t let Grogar into your dreams again. You won’t be alone.”
And with that, the cracks reappear again and nothing Moon Shadow could do would slow it down.
“Wait!” she screams. “Wait! What’s your name?”
She wakes up in a bathtub of cold, dirty bathwater, still desperately screaming. But all that matters is that the mare’s final words are still ringing in her head.
“What do you mean, ‘Princess Celestia is in a meeting?’” Moon Shadow asks, in the coldest tone she can muster.
The guard looks nervous at being confronted by a lanky, pumpkin-coloured mare who, while she has been eating a little too much cake and her rump is larger than she’d like, is still only about half his size. He looks young, possibly even a new recruit. His armor looks as if it has never seen a battle and he seems slightly uncomfortable in it. Give him a few months of standing still in the same armor for hours at a time and it’ll eventually feel like his second skin.
“It means she’s in a meeting, Lady Shadow,” he explains, eyes wide. “With the ambassadors of Oxtria and their entourage. They’re here to discuss the trade agreement with Equestria and…”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Shadow replies, dismissively. Even if she never makes it to Night Court, she still has to study the minutes and know the topics being discussed. She forgot that the Oxtrians were visiting this week. “When will she be finished?”
“I don’t know,” says the guard. He looks like he’s starting to sweat. “She’s taking them on a tour of the castle right now. Her assistant will make you an appointment…”
“This is urgent,” says Moon Shadow, in a voice like razors. If her cat could speak, he’d talk in a voice like that too. “Crucial information, fate of Equestria urgent. I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT.”
“Lady Moon Shadow!” shrieks a familiar voice and Shadow winces. ‘Ugh. Not now. This is all I need.’
Sure enough, she turns and sees Orchid Belle hurrying her way as fast as her ‘no running in the castle’ feet will allow her. Her pearls are swishing side to side furiously, although her curls (Moon Shadow is sad to say) do not sway an inch.
“Exactly what are you doing?” Orchid demands. The guard looks positively petrified at the prospect of two angry mares. Shadow’s pretty certain she can hear his knees knocking together.
“I require an urgent meeting with the princess,” Shadow informs her, coldly. She really has no time for this. She wants answers and she wants them now.
“The princess has better things to do,” Orchid Belle replies, stiffly. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait.”
“She said it was about the fate of Equestria,” chips in the guard and then cowers as both mares turn their glares on him.
“Is that so?” asks Orchid Belle. “Exactly how is the fate of Equestria involved?”
“Are you Princess Celestia? No? Then I can’t tell you,” Moon Shadow answers, with a smirk. Behind her, she can hear the guard making his escape, scurrying down the corridor as fast as his oversized armor will take him.
‘Chicken,’ Shadow thinks dismissively.
Orchid Belle looks ready to blow a fuse. “Regardless, I am the Housekeeping Coordinator for this castle! I keep it pristine and professional looking. I know when a vase is running low on water. I know when a visiting school has left hoof prints on a stained glass window. I organize every single pony in the two hundred large housekeeping staff we have here and YOU ARE DRIPPING WATER ON THE CARPET.”
Oh. Shadow glances down at her hooves and, sure enough, she’s dripping cold bathwater onto the rug. She’d flung herself out of the tub so quickly, there’s probably still water flooding her bathroom back home. She hadn’t even dried herself off completely. Instead, she’d cast a heating spell or two to keep her warm and raced straight to the castle.
“I’ll go get a towel,” she finally allows, suddenly aware of her wet mane sticking to her neck. Orchid Belle looks like she’s suppressing a shriek, and not very well, by the way she’s gritting her teeth together.
“I’ll just…” Shadow backs away carefully, before lighting her horn and vanishing in a bright aura of magic.
She re-appears only a few corridors away, outside of a public bathroom. Her head is spinning so much that she regrets using the spell almost instantly. It’s a bit beyond her magical capabilities and Celestia had warned her when teaching Shadow the spell that it should be kept for dire emergencies.
Orchid Belle definitely counts as a ‘dire emergency.’
Stumbling slightly, she manages to stay upright as she pushes her way into the bathroom. Her head will be pounding for at least half an hour, which is the lightest punishment she can get away with. A few years ago she teleported for the first time and singed off her eyebrows. Shadow has only ever seen Celestia teleport without looking at least a little dizzy. Most unicorns don’t use spells outside of the basics or the ones directly linked to their talents.
‘Sometimes there are ones that are even related to your talent you can’t use at all,’ Shadow thinks miserably.
Moon Shadow sighs heavily. At least here, she can hide and dry off, before she goes and finds Celestia. She carefully rubs down her body and then tries to dry out her mane and tail, using a combination of heating spells and a fresh towel. She tries her best to use magic to untangle her mane but it proves too difficult. When she’s mostly dry and only a little bit damp, she stares up at herself in the mirror.
“Well, this is what the bearer of bad news looks like,” she tells herself, dryly. There’s indigo hair sticking up from behind her ears and her tail is definitely too long and trying to wrap itself around her hind legs. It’s difficult for her to go to a hairdresser so she usually just cuts it herself. She had forgotten it was due for a trim.
She trots out into the main hallway but then stops short. She doesn’t really know what to do. Orchid Belle is probably scouring the castle for her this very minute, no doubt determined to throw her out. Celestia is goodness-knows-where with a group of visitors. If the ambassadors see her now, they’ll think Equestria is full of lunatics going on about the end of the world.
Moon Shadow sinks down onto the carpet. At this exact moment in time, it’s all she can do. She could still be asleep right now but instead she’s running around the castle like a mad mare.
‘Orchid Belle does do a really nice job though,’ she distantly thinks, as she stares at the carpet. ‘This runner is spotless.’
She’s not sure how long she lies there. This isn’t a very busy area of the castle this late in the day. Everypony is either about to leave work or just arriving for the night shift. Besides, after everything that’s happened this week, it’s nice to just sit still.
After a while she hears voices overhead.
“Is she alright?” asks a worried voice. He has a very distinctive accent. ‘The ambassador,’ realizes Moon Shadow.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” answers a perfectly sweet voice. Moon Shadow recognizes her at once. Celestia. “Are you all right, Moon Shadow?”
“Fine,” mutters Moon Shadow into the carpet.
“See?” Celestia says cheerfully to the surrounding group. “She’s perfectly fine. This is one of the representatives from Night Court. I’m sure she’s just taking a small break…” Impossibly long white legs appear in front of Moon Shadow’s nose and there’s a hot breath in her ear.
“If you need to speak me to me, come to my chambers in fifteen minutes.” Celestia whispers to Moon Shadow. Without waiting for a reply, the princess straightens and returns to her guests.
“Shall we continue?” Celestia blithely addresses the ambassadors, completely ignoring the fact that she’s standing over one of her subjects. Taking the silence of the ambassadors’ company as a yes, she moves her hind legs over Moon Shadow’s prone body and continues walking. After a beat, the collection of oxen and guards follow her, all carefully stepping around Moon Shadow.
“Welcome to Equestria!” Moon Shadow chirps as they pass by. She waits until they’ve disappeared down the end of the hall before moving her legs and sitting up. She considers to herself, as she watches them go.
Well, that went well.
Fifteen minutes later, Shadow knocks cautiously on the door to Celestia’s chambers. When she hears the princess’ consent Shadow pushes it open and slips into the room.
Celestia is sitting at the same breakfast table where they ate together only a few days ago. The princess gestures to the spare cushion opposite.
“Please have a seat, Moon Shadow,” she offers, at once but Shadow immediately hesitates.
“The ambassador wasn’t put off by my behaviour, was he?” she asks nervously. With the given title of “Lady,” she’s well aware that she should behave appropriately in front of guests. However, she knows that she often acts more than a little strange instead. She has no idea how well this went over with the ambassadors.
“Actually, he thought you were charming,” the princess easily responds. She smiles. “It’s just as well it wasn’t the griffons I was showing around today. They’re far less easy going.”
“And rams are known for their laid back nature,” Moon Shadow mutters, dropping her rump onto the cushion. She knows she shouldn’t be sarcastic. She could have just ruined trade relations between Equestria and Oxtria. But she’s still tired and irritated. She’s also cold from wandering around damp for so long. It makes for an unhappy combination.
“What’s this all about, Moon Shadow?” Celestia finally asks, kindly. Moon Shadow is briefly silent. Now that she’s staring into the princess’ keen violet eyes, she struggles to properly voice her concerns.
“Princess…” Moon Shadow trails off. There’s too much to say, to explain everything properly. So she starts with her most burning question. “Where did I come from?” Celestia’s eyes widen, just a fraction. Ponies who spend less time with the princess probably wouldn’t have noticed it. But Moon Shadow has spent years sitting across from the princess, staring into her eyes.
“What do you mean, Moon Shadow?” Celestia answers, evenly. “You were in an orphanage in Manehattan when I found you. You know that.”
“I know,” Moon Shadow replies. Something isn’t right. She keeps her eyes on the princess, watching for the slightest sign. “But I also think you know where I was – who I was - before that. Don’t you?”
“Why are you asking this now?” Celestia quietly responds. “You’ve never asked before.”
“It never occurred to me that you’d lie before,” Moon Shadow realizes, stunned. For a moment Sandmare and princess stare at each other. Moon Shadow is shaken to her core. She is now faced with the undeniable fact that Celestia has kept secrets from her. She doesn’t know what to do. She could have dealt with Celestia lying to her about Tambelon. That’s almost nothing compared to this, just a name spoken without a thought. But she never expected Celestia to lie about something as important as where she came from. Does she still have family out there? Are her parents waiting for her? What could possibly have been so awful that cClestia has kept it hidden all these years?
“It’s not time to tell you yet,” Celestia insists. “I’m sorry. But you weren’t old enough…you weren’t ready. I only kept it from you to keep you safe.”
“Does it have something to do with Grogar?” asks Moon Shadow, softly, and Celestia’s mouth drops open.
“I…where did you learn that name, Moon Shadow?” she asks, astonished.
“I’ve been dreaming,” Shadow admits. She shakes her head, correcting herself. “I’ve started dreaming. Have any Sandmares ever dreamt before?”
Celestia shakes her head, just a fraction to each side. She’s so still, she looks like a goddess frozen in stone. Only her ethereal mane continues to shift.
“No…” Celestia replies. Her voice seems faint. “Sandmares don’t dream.”
‘Not unless another Sandmare sends them,’ Moon Shadow slowly realizes. As there’s only ever one at a time, that would be impossible. Wouldn’t it? But Moon Shadow isn’t ready to tell her about Kimono yet. Something in her no longer trusts Celestia. For Kimono’s sake, Shadow will hide her existence for now.
“Last night I saw a shadow in a dream. It was hiding from me,” Moon Shadow continues. Celestia snaps out of her unblinking daze.
“Did it attack you?” she asks, concerned.
“No. It just…ran away.” Shadow couldn’t help but wonder about that. It could have taken her: she’d made it more than obvious she wasn’t prepared for combat, sore and tired as she was. It had even had the element of surprise. Instead it had just fled. Why hadn’t it taken her? She wished she knew.
A voice suddenly rips Moon Shadow from her reverie. “I think you should leave now, Moon Shadow,” interrupts Celestia and Moon Shadow jerks her head up to stare at her mentor.
“But…you haven’t told me anything!” she protests. “How can you still keep things from me?”
“Because I can, Moon Shadow,” Celestia says, sharply. More than ever, Celestia seems to fill the room. There’s no visible magic, no bright corona around her horn but the presence of it is stifling. Even a Pegasus or Earth pony would be able to feel the crackling magic in the air. “You can demand all you like but you don’t know what’s best. You are still not ready!”
Moon Shadow levels her gaze at her mentor. “Are you sure I’m the one who’s not ready?” she retorts. “Or are you afraid to admit that you’re the one who can’t handle it?”
The door swings open suddenly to reveal several guards. Big guards. Big guards armed with pointy things. This is not Moon Shadow’s day.
“Princess! Are you alright?” shouts Silver Strike, eyeing Shadow suspiciously. “We heard shouting.” Ironic, considering the sound of his voice. Moon Shadow glares back at the guard.
“Oh, quite fine,” Celestia tells him in her usual voice. Not the strange, distant one she’d been using with Moon Shadow. The daunting goddess is gone and she is merely Celestia again. “We got rather deeply into our discussion. Lady Moon Shadow is leaving now. If you could come by in a few days’ time for our usual meeting, Shadow, I’d appreciate it.”
Shadow shoots Celestia a short look but reluctantly stands.
“Of course, princess,” she replies, as demurely as she can. “I’ll expect that information then, shall I?” She holds Celestia’s gaze for a few moments longer, until the princess nods.
“Of course,” Celestia tells her. “Of course.”
Moon Shadow swishes from the room, nodding to the guards as she passes. “Gentlecolts. Good evening.”
She waits – very patiently – until she’s left the castle courtyard and is in the streets of Canterlot, before breaking into a run. She knows the truth. Celestia isn’t going to tell her a bucking thing. She’s going to have to find things out for herself.
If Amber Bell was surprised by Moon Shadow charging into the library just before closing and demanding to be let into the restricted section, she didn’t show it.
“You know the rules,” Amber tells her, briskly. “You have twenty minutes. You’re only allowed to check out four books and Celestia help you if you damage any of them.”
“I know, Amber,” Moon Shadow answers, placing her saddlebags on the table. “I’ve got it. Thanks.”
Amber Bell nods and then lets herself out the door, leaving Moon Shadow alone.
Shadow stretches her head side to side. She has twenty minutes to try and find all the answers she needs. If they’re even in here.
She starts at the shelves nearest the door. The restricted section isn’t huge by any means. Any truly dangerous books are kept locked away at Canterlot castle, or were destroyed by Celestia’s command. Nonetheless, there’s still enough shelves to easily fill twenty minutes. When her time is up, she’ll just have to take what she can find and come back another day.
‘I can probably skip some sections,’ she immediately realizes. A few shelves are simply controversial or explicit material that got banned from the main library. What she wants are the spell books and-or any books written by Celestia, herself. Not that Shadow is expecting to actually find a book titled: ‘All You Ever Wanted to Know About Grogar the Demon Ram’ or ‘What to Do When There’s a Dead Mare Haunting Your Dreams’ but she can hope, right?
Apparently not. It’s not nearly that easy.
Fifteen minutes in, there’s a stack of abandoned books at her side and Shadow is about ready to slam her head onto her desk. There’s nothing here that can help!
She’s studied every dark magic book and history book. There’s been no mention of Grogar, Sandmares or moving stars. She supposes it would have been too easy to have found them, even in the restricted section. After all, there are only two ponies in the world that even know the Sandmare exists – Celestia isn’t just going to leave books about it lying around in the library.
Shadow sighs and sets about returning the scattered books to the shelves. She needs a Plan B. What that is, she has no idea.
There’s a quiet knock at the door, startling her. “Shadow?” Amber calls out, uncertainly. “Shadow? Are you ok?”
“Yeah, Amber, I’m nearly done,” Shadow replies. She finishes shelving the last book, as Amber sticks her head around the door.
“Did you find what you were after?” Amber asks her, curiously. Shadow regretfully shakes her head.
“No,” Shadows answers her. “But I appreciate you letting me in here on such short notice.” She moves to gather up her saddlebags and sling them over her back.
“It’s no problem,” Amber gently reassures her. Shadow slips past the librarian to wait patiently in the corridor.
“Come to my desk whenever you’re ready and I’ll return your card,” Amber says. Amber then pulls the door closed behind them and carefully locks and resets its magical enchantments.
“Sure,” Shadow listlessly replies, as she follows Amber back down the stairs to the main floor. She wasn’t really expecting all the answers to be hidden in the library but she was hoping for something. Grogar and Tambelon happened – that means that it exists in history and history is usually written down, even the obscure and forbidden parts. Maybe this is just something Celestia managed to erase from history entirely.
The hallowed halls that she trots down are as large as Canterlot Palace’s grand ballroom. The royal Canterlot coat of arms is emblazoned everywhere; from the large oak doors Shadow walked through, to a small plaque over the check-out desk. Everything gleams white and gold. Smart librarians purposefully move around, never rushing. Unicorns levitate books where they need to go and a serene pink-pelted pony pushes along a small cart of returns. Desks and chairs are scattered everywhere, filled by content colts and fillies. Large arched windows let in the bright morning light, and give ponies an excellent view of their beautiful capital city. Rows and rows of books fill the walls and stacks go on for as far as the eye can see. Looking at them towering above her had made Shadow feel quite small when she was a filly.
The Canterlot Royal library was, in fact, Princess Celestia’s own library. A great deal of the books there had even belonged to the Princess herself at one time, but those were kept under tight security and only lent to certain important ponies. (Apparently, the punishment for damaging one was really quite severe.) Once Celestia had become too busy with her royal duties to care for the library, she’d decided her favourite books were best shared amongst the ponies she loved most: her subjects. She had been the one to choose the building, the furniture, the caretakers and the librarians. Thus, she had ensured that only the best were chosen to care for her beloved collection and share the gift of knowledge with all of Canterlot.
Shadow has extensive access to the library, including a great deal of the restricted section and Celestia’s own books. She doesn’t really have time for the kind of fiction Midnight writes, instead dipping in and out of Equestrian History and spell books when she can.
Shadow and Amber stroll through the stacks to the front desk, where Shadow’s library card is being held for security reasons.
“Shadow?” A voice curiously calls out. Moon Shadow stops and turns around to see Midnight heading towards her.
“Oh, hi,” Shadow greets her. She quickly turns back to Amber. “Amber, I’ll be there in a minute. Is that ok?” Amber Bell nods in agreement and trots back to take her place at the front desk.
“What are you doing here?” asks Midnight curiously. Her oldest friend has her glasses up her on head and a scarf tying up her golden blonde mane. Shadow isn’t too surprised to see Midnight here this late in the afternoon. Midnight spends a lot of time researching her current novels and frequently writes in the quiet of the horror section of the library.
Shadow hesitates to respond. For obvious reasons, she cannot explain her reasons for being at the library to Midnight. “I just…needed to look something up in the restricted section,” Shadow carefully replies. “How about you? Are you working on your new novel?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. Once I go on tour, I won’t have any time. I figured I can write on the train if I’m prepared.” Midnight blinks at her, suddenly realizing something. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” she asks, with a worried glance.
“I…had an early meeting,” Shadow quickly explains. She hopes her friend won’t notice her excuse or the shift in her eyes. “It made sense to come here while it was quiet. Not that there’s ever a queue for the restricted section.” Very few ponies have the highest clearance for the whole library. Even the ones that do rarely visit the restricted section. This is probably only Moon Shadow’s third visit since she got her clearance three years ago.
“Why would you want the restricted section?” prompts Midnight. Shadow stares at her, unsure of what to say. It’s a perfectly normal question – for somepony who wasn’t doing something suspicious and can also lie well. Moon Shadow, unfortunately, is neither of these things.
Shadow coughs and looks away before continuing. “I…just want one of those banned history books. There’s a controversial case in Night Court right now and I heard that there might be something similar that happened twenty years ago.” She knows the instant she says it that it was the wrong thing to say. Midnight’s innate curiosity immediately latches onto the potential story.
“Oh, what’s the case about?” she eagerly responds.
Shadow shifts her weight from hoof to hoof, anxiously wishing this would all go away and soon. “It’s confidential. You know, Court stuff?” Shadow finishes, lamely.
“Oh, of course. I understand.” replies Midnight, looking a bit disappointed. Moon Shadow yawns as obviously as possible. She hopes her friend will take the hint but Midnight makes no comment.
“Well, I should get in a quick nap before work this evening. I’ll see you around, ok, Mids?” Shadow says.
“Um, sure,” says Midnight. She still seems unhappy but Shadow shakes off her concerns. “I’ll see you soon?”
“Of course,” Shadow says, suddenly feeling guilty. Sandmare secrets are once again getting in the way of her friendships.
Her friend interrupts before Shadow can easily slink off and shake off her uncertain guilt. “Maybe we could do dinner this evening? Before work? Nothing much, just a quick sandwich,” suggests Midnight hurriedly.
“That’d be really nice,” Shadow replies and, in all honesty, she means it. She misses her friends. “The Jolly Orange? Or Cotton Candy café?”
“Jolly Orange, for a change. I’ll see you at six?”
“Six,” Shadow nods happily and sets off for the check-out desk.
“Hi, Amber. My card?” Shadow says, when she makes it to the front of the queue.
“I’ll get it right away,” Amber replies, putting down the pile of books she was carrying to return to the shelves.
Shadow waits, while Amber disappears into the back room. Her eyes wander over to the front desk. The head librarian, Pages, stands at the other end of the desk, taking in book returns. Another is arranging books on a cart, sweeping the returned books off the counter as quickly as Pages can take them from library patrons.
“Here we are!” smiles Amber, as she returns with Shadow’s card.
“Thanks,” Shadow smiles and slips her card back in her bag.
“I hope you have more luck later with your search,” Amber confidentially tells her. “What made you think that it might be in the restricted section?” Shadow shrugs. Even she’s not sure why she started with the restricted section. She had to start somewhere and it’s not like any of this stuff is just going to be available to anypony on the street.
“I don’t know,” Shadow says reluctantly, her eyes downcast. “I’m just…trying to find something. I thought it might be a good place to start,” Shadow sighs.
“Well, good luck anyway. Where are you going to look next?” Amber asks her.
But Shadow just feels hopeless. This was her one guess. Where is she supposed to turn to, now? Where is she supposed to look, when she doesn’t even have any clues beyond a dead Sandmare and a demon ram? What is she supposed to do, when even Celestia, of all ponies, has lied to her?
“I don’t know,” admits Shadow, helplessly. She lets out an exhausted breath. “And right now, I don’t even care. I just want a nap.”
Shadow’s cat, Icarus is prowling in the hall when she arrives home. He meows indignantly as she shuts the door behind her.
“I know, I’ll feed you,” Shadow tells him, wearily. He winds his way through her legs, purring loudly.
She trots into the kitchen and dumps her saddlebags on the counter. She digs around in the cupboards for cat food. She uses her magic to tug on the ring pull and dumps it upside down into his bowl. He’s on it immediately, enthusiastically chowing down. Moon Shadow wrinkles her nose at the strong smell of fish.
“Well, at least you’re easily pleased,” she tells him and peeks into the cupboard for a fruit and oat bar.
She munches as she walks into her bedroom and flops down on her bed. She really needs a Plan C now, but she’s no longer sure what to do. It’s highly doubtful the princess will keep her promise and tell Shadow everything she wants to know. It’s even more unlikely that Shadow will be able to find the information she wants in Canterlot. How else is she supposed to figure this all out? As she leans back in depressed repose, Shadow suddenly realizes something.
She may have exhausted all of her choices in Canterlot. But that doesn’t mean that she is out of options. Or out of places to look. There has to be another way….
Shadow sits up in shock, and drops her oat bar on the bed. Truthfully, maybe there is no information in Canterlot. But there might still be an answer where this all began, the place of her birth: Manehattan.
Moon Shadow steps forward in the queue. It hadn’t taken her long to pack her saddlebags with some necessities and rush to Canterlot station. There’s a train for Manehattan leaving in ten minutes and she hopes to be on it.
The sullen ticket master passes a ticket to an elderly stallion and shouts for the next customer. Shadow steps forward again and prays that she’ll get there in time. There are still two more ponies in front of her.
She’d made arrangements for a neighbour to feed Icarus, just until Tea Leaf gets back. Icarus barely pays attention to whomever feeds him anyway. She’d also sent a note to the castle for Celestia and to Midnight’s apartment. She felt awful for skipping again but she’d just have to make it up to her friend somehow. She couldn’t have made dinner with Midnight and made it to Manehattan in time to settle in before going to work.
“Next!” shouts the ticket master and Shadow jolts back to the real world. All the ponies in front of her have bought their tickets and moved on. She sheepishly moves up to the desk and places some bits on the counter.
“Ticket to Manehattan, please,” asks Shadow, nervously. The stallion takes her bits and prints out her ticket. Nearby a train sounds its whistle. Shadow realizes that she might just have enough time to jump on before the last train departs the station.
“Two bits change,” says the stallion. “And your ticket. Next, please!” Shadow sweeps her change into her bags and clutches her ticket in her teeth. If she runs, she might just make it.
“All aboard for Manehattan!” shouts the conductor. Moon Shadow leaps onto the train just before the doors slide shut. She’s panting so hard that she nearly swallows her ticket. She stashes it in her saddlebags and moves into a nearby carriage. Hopefully she can find a seat to sleep in: the trip to Manehattan will take at least three hours. When she arrives, she’ll have enough time to dump her bags and eat. How she’s going to find someone’s dreams to invade, she’s not sure. She’ll have to figure that out when she gets there. Tomorrow, after she’s slept, she’ll begin her investigation.
Shadow moves through the carriages until she finds a quiet spot to spread out. She could have paid for a sleeper carriage, but it didn’t seem worth it for such a short trip. She can make do. She arranges her saddlebags into something resembling a pillow, pulls the curtains on the window and curls up as best she can. There’s only the distant chatter of two mares several seats down. Not many are going to Manehattan this late at night, she realizes with relief. Shadow tucks her hooves in a little more and wonders if Kimono will appear while she sleeps. Right now, Kimono is her best shot at getting answers.
There’s only one way to find out.
Moon Shadow closes her eyes and, to the rhythmic clicking of the train, falls asleep.
Disoriented, she wakes up in a strange room, on a flagstone floor.
“Ugh,” mutters Shadow, as she tries to get up. She once again curses the strange rules of the dreamworld– her hind legs feel like they’ve been asleep on a cold stone floor for hours. She gives up and glances at her surroundings.
The room is huge. It looks like the throne room at Canterlot castle but it is made of stone and wood, instead of pristine glass and marble. There are tapestries hanging from the walls in every colour and a grand dining table set alongside one wall. Not Canterlot, Shadow surmises. And probably not the present.
“Kimono?” she calls out, while trying to pull her stiff legs up off the floor. “Kimono! Are you there?” There’s no answer from her spirit-bound, sister Sandmare.
Shadow finally makes it onto her slightly sore legs and turns around, only to gasp. She is in a throne room. At the other end of the large hall, she sees a raised platform with two elaborate chairs. Large chairs, Shadow notices. Larger than any regular pony would need. They are like the one Celestia sits on. Presumably they’re made for alicorns.
Alicorns?
Shadow takes a slow step forward and winces when she hears the loud clack that her hooves make on the stones. She creeps forward more cautiously, until she’s at the base of the stone steps, staring up at the grand thrones.
One throne is as yellow as the sun, bright and shining under a matching banner, hanging from the ceiling. The one on the left is as dark as an inkblot and the banner above it is many shades of blue. If it weren’t for the different colours, the thrones and tapestries would be identical to each other.
Two thrones meant for two alicorns. Two princesses
“That’s not what I brought you here to show you,” whispers a voice in Moon Shadow’s ear. Shadow jumps a mile. She nearly has all four hooves off the ground before she recognizes Kimono’s voice. It’s extremely unnerving to address somepony without knowing where to look. Kimono’s voice seems to come from everywhere, making it hard to place where she actually is.
“Kimono!” she exclaims, heart still pounding. “Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry,” replies Kimono, softly. “I was trying to make sure your dream was protected from intruders before I could join you.”
Moon Shadow is stunned. She blinks back her surprise. “You can do that? How?” she asks in amazement. She wonders what kind of magic was taught to Kimono, or that Kimono has herself.
She recalls her limited knowledge of Sandmares, to try and connect Kimono’s magic to her own. Sandmares don’t share the same cutie marks – they all have their own individual talents. Glory was said to have a shooting star, to represent her strong leadership skills. Galaxy, the first Sandmare, had the North Star to symbolize her light magic. Moon Shadow herself has never really understood the point of hers, beyond the basic mark of a Sandmare. The day she first stepped into the dreamworld and successfully banished a nightmare, her cutie mark appeared on her flank – an elaborate bronze moon overlapped by a bright yellow sun, similar to Celestia’s mark.
“Later,” Kimono sharply insists. “Right now you must focus. We don’t have a lot of time and there’s much you need to see.”
“All right.” Shadow replies, uncertainly. “Can you start with where we are?”
“That’s…not important,” answers Kimono, hesitantly dismissing Shadow’s question. “We’re in the past, many years ago.”
“It doesn’t look like Canterlot this time,” agrees Moon Shadow, turning to get a closer look at the tapestries on the walls. She doesn’t know all that much about fabric but she’s pretty sure that these all look hoof-stitched. No such thing as sewing machines here.
“That’s because Canterlot doesn’t exist,” says Kimono dryly.
Shadow’s mouth drops open. She doesn’t reply for a moment. “What?” she finally answers, stunned. “But…but that must mean we’re…”
“Over a thousand years in the past,” finishes Kimono for her. “A thousand and two hundred years, precisely.” Moon Shadow swallows dryly. This is a place that existed over a thousand years in the past. How many ponies alive will ever get to see this?
“So…why are we here?” asks Shadow. “I’m pretty sure we’re not here for the décor.”
“No,” says Kimono. “But some of these tapestries do hang in the Canterlot castle today. Not very many though. I’m afraid most of them were destroyed.”
“How…?” Moon Shadow starts, before the other mare cuts her off.
“That’s not the story I’m telling you today,” Kimono reminds her. “Remember that.”
“Well, what are we here to see?” Shadow finally snaps. “I don’t have long! The minute somepony comes to check my ticket or we arrive at Manehattan station, I’ll wake up!”
“I know that,” Kimono sharply replies. She lets out a breath and purposefully directs Shadow forward. “To the left of those thrones, there’s a door behind a curtain.”
Shadow looks to the left of the platform and sure enough, there’s a blue curtain covering one section of the walls. She walks over, moves it aside and sees a small wooden door. Shadow puts her hoof on the doorknob but doesn’t turn it.
“Shall I go through?” wonders Shadow aloud. With Kimono’s murmured agreement, Shadow pushes it open and steps through, making sure it shuts behind her.
“Now what?” asks Shadow, standing in a small hallway. It’s fairly bare and stretches in front of Moon Shadow, to the left of her and to the right. It’s even draftier here than it was in the grand hall.
“Go right,” instructs Kimono, from behind her. Shadow quickly tempers the urge to jump or bolt. Instead, for the next ten minutes she follows the disembodied voice across the abandoned corridors. Her footsteps echo across the vast silence with each turn as she traipses across the dark and silent castle. Shadow soon realizes that she really needs to start rethinking her life. Even a nap on the train has turned into something weird.
“Are we nearly there yet?” Shadow eventually complains, as she climbs up yet another flight of stairs. She plans to appreciate future architecture far more. The stairs of the past are huge, steep and not at all sturdy. Shadow constantly worries about falling, which seems somehow unfair in the Dreamworld.
“Nearly,” responds Kimono quietly. She seems faraway. “The last door is just up ahead.”
Shadow makes the last step and sways, slightly out of breath, on the landing.
“I really am going to a gym in future, I swear,” she swears to herself. Kimono doesn’t reply. Shadow takes a deep breath and moves forward, lighting her horn to touch the handle. While Kimono remains mute, Shadow readies herself and pushes it. As it opens, Shadow realizes that she can hear soft singing. She steps cautiously into the room and immediately winces at the bright light. She’s been so used to this castle being so dark. It surprises her that this one room can be so warm and light. It holds only a bed, an ornate chest and an empty bookcase.
The mare inside is as bright as the room itself. Her coat is pristine and white and almost glitters in the light. Her golden blonde mane is almost the colour of sunlight, only matched by the thick, long tail that trails behind her. Her cutie mark is just as bright, a trio of the sun, moon and stars. Everything about her shines and suggests comforting, warm light. She moves from one side of the room to another, taking items out of a chest and placing them in saddlebags on the bed, as she sings softly to herself.
“Hello?” greets Shadow, curiously. The mare just continues singing and packing. It is as if Shadow has gone completely invisible. As the young Sandmare tries to process this, her companion’s voice sounds near her ear.
“She can’t hear you,” explains Kimono. Shadow is surprised but listens closely to her friend’s instructions. “This is a memory that I can show you through a dream. You can’t interact with anypony here except me.”
“Who is she?” asks Shadow curiously. The mare continues to hum softly as she uses her magic to pull carefully-bound books off of the shelf. She looks so happy and at peace.
“Her name is Bright Lights,” Kimono tells her softly. “You must remember that name. Bright Lights.”
“Bright Lights,” Shadow repeats, committing the beautiful mare’s name to memory. She pauses to blink, as she suddenly makes a connection. “Wait. Is she a Sandmare?”
Kimono is silent for a few moments, leaving only Bright Lights’ song to fill the silence.
“No, she is not,” Kimono finally replies, and her voice is tinged with sadness. “But she is very important. Remember her. Remember her as she is now and not…not however you might see her in the future.”
Moon Shadow just stares at the mare, who is surely dead by now. Now she just has more questions than answers. She has a nasty feeling that Kimono’s method of teaching is much like Celestia’s version. Here’s a little bit, but not enough to answer your question. I expect you to solve this one on your own. It’s not at all what Moon Shadow needs or hoped for. But, then again, perhaps it is to be expected? If Kimono was truly a Sandmare and taught by Celestia, then maybe it’s no wonder her methods are the same. That said, does everypony have to be so bucking cryptic?
Shadow waits to open her mouth again. “Who is she?” she finally, carefully asks, uncertain if she’ll receive any more useful answers.
“She is a gifted unicorn, very bright for her time. She was apprenticed by a powerful sorcerer.” Kimono pauses and Shadow waits, continuing to listen to her guide. Continuing to wait for answers that aren’t coming. “Now that she’s older, she’s packing to move into her own rooms in the village.” Shadow watches in silence as the golden mare gently places a hoof-sewn teddy on the top of her belongings. She closes the bags up. A white aura lifts the bags up and over her back but Bright Lights doesn’t leave the room just yet. Instead she lingers, as if in contemplation.
“Why is she important?” tries Moon Shadow again. She feels a bubble of irritation rise when Kimono remains silent, yet again. “Fine, don’t tell me!” snaps Moon Shadow, the end of her tail flicking furiously with frustration.
“I can’t tell you!” responds Kimono, regretfully. She almost sounds desperate, which causes Shadow to pause. “I wish I could, but I actually can’t. All I can do is show you.”
“Wait,” says Moon Shadow. “When you say you can’t, does that mean…?”
“It means I am physically unable to,” admits Kimono. As upset as Shadow is with the circumstances, the pain in Kimono’s voice is obvious. Shadow tries to patiently listen. “It is a very powerful spell meant to bind a pony’s tongue and therefore extremely forbidden. Celestia banned its use thousands of years ago because it denied ponies free speech. Unfortunately, it is still used deviously by those who would do anything to keep their secrets safe.”
“That’s all right,” answers Moon Shadow, guiltily. “I didn’t mean to snap.”
“It’s okay. I know you must be frustrated,” says Kimono. Shadow knows that she understands. She must have been exactly in the same spot as Shadow now stood. Shadow considers this, before asking her next question.
“Does everypony lie?” she finally asks, sadly. Kimono is mute again, but this time Shadow guesses the silence means Kimono is thinking rather than being bound by a curse.
“In our line of work, I’m afraid so,” replies Kimono gently. Inside the room, Bright Lights appears to be done with reminiscing and with one last glance at her old home, strides past Moon Shadow and out the door.
“Should we follow her?” asks Moon Shadow, as the white mare vanishes down the long staircase.
“Yes!”
Moon Shadow sets off after Bright Lights, clattering down the stairs as quickly as she dares. When they reach the bottom of the tower staircase, Bright Lights veers off to the right and down a different corridor to the one Shadow and Kimono came through.
“Whose castle is this?” asks Moon Shadow, in awe as they walk through as grand a hall as the throne room, complete with glittering chandeliers and magnificent stained glass windows. But Kimono appears to be tongue tied again. Shadow quickly interprets her guide’s silence. “Can’t tell me?” realizes Shadow wryly.
“No, it appears not.” Kimono is unsurprisingly apologetic.
“Who put this spell on you in the first place?” asks Shadow, as she follows Lights at a decent pace. Going down the stairs was less of a struggle than ascending them, thankfully.
“Guess.” replies Kimono, facetiously. Moon Shadow rolls her eyes.
“Grogar?”
“Got it in one,” answers Kimono dryly.
“But why? No offense but aren’t you…well, dead?” responds Moon Shadow bluntly. “It’s not like you can talk to anypony.”
If Kimono were corporeal, Moon Shadow suspects she’d be getting quite a look right now.
“No pony but you,” corrects Kimono. “He would rather you be unprepared for what’s coming, as I was. He will not hesitate to kill you if he sees you again.”
“Got it,” Moon Shadow quips, in an attempt to hide her fear. “Stay away from the massive demon ram with pointy horns.”
“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple,” Kimono sighs. Bright Lights emerges into a large entrance hall, possibly even bigger than the one at Canterlot Castle. Giant tapestries hang from the walls and ceiling. There’s a thick, red rug leading all the way up to the main staircase. “He will come looking for you. He was defeated by a Sandmare before and he faces that risk again while you are still alive.”
But Shadow is paying more attention to the tapestries overhead. The blue one is reminiscent of the night sky, with a crescent moon at the centre, surrounded by stars and planets. The golden one, on the other hoof, has a very familiar symbol in the centre.
“That’s Celestia’s mark,” Moon Shadow says, dumbfounded. “All this time, we were in Celestia’s castle?”
“We are,” confirms Kimono. “This is where she lived, over a thousand years ago.”
“That means-” Moon Shadow turns but Bright Lights has already gone. The snow white mare had through the main doors and is now out of sight. Moon Shadow ignores the mare’s sudden departure. She knows she’s on to something. She’s so very close to a conclusion. What is it? “That means that Bright Lights was Celestia’s student!”
“Yes, one of the first,” Kimono says and once again, her voice rings with sadness. “Very talented. Most suitable to be apprentice to the ruler of the sun. But that’s all I can tell you, I’m afraid. Grogar’s curse won’t let me tell you more.”
Moon Shadow turns her gaze back to the other hanging. It is marked with a half-moon shape in a soft gleaming blue. Shadow goes back over what she saw in the throne room. There were two chairs. There are two hangings. But that doesn’t make sense. Celestia moves the sun and the moon. Who could possibly sit in that throne?
“Alright,” Shadow agrees, reluctantly. “Was this all you brought me here to see?” Kimono inhales sharply, aware of something Moon Shadow can’t sense.
“It doesn’t matter. The rest will have to wait. I’m sorry,” she tells her gently. All of a sudden, Shadow can feel the edges of the dream slipping away. The castle begins to crumble away, the tapestries becoming blurry. She’s being woken up. Moon Shadow has no choice but to let go of the castle and the shining white mare and return to the waking world.
“Miss? Miss?” A pony in uniform is the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes. He smiles down at her as she blinks blearily. “Well, there you are, miss. It’s time to depart the train now,” he tells her, kindly.
“We’re here?” Shadow asks him, sleepily. Drowsiness settles on her like a fog. Outside the window she can see the bustle of Manehattan station - even at this late hour, ponies are coming and going in the city that never sleeps.
“Yes, miss. The Big Apple!” He turns and walks down the train. As he departs, he calls over his shoulder, “I hope you enjoy your stay!”
Shadow rubs at her eyes and gathers up her things. Kimono’s dream hasn’t helped. She now has to figure out who is Bright Lights and why she’s important. She lived over a thousand years ago. She should be dead now.
And yet Equestria keeps moving along as if nothing were wrong at all.
The throne room is quiet but filled with ponies going about their work with purpose and professionalism. The castle’s event planner is busy comparing samples for new tablecloths for the Grand Galloping Gala. Maids dust and polish and shine, all under the watchful eye of Orchid Belle. Her dutiful guards stand by the throne, as stock still as statues. In short, Canterlot Castle goes about its daily business as it always has, as if no one knows the truth of what is happening.
And that is how it should be, no matter how much distress this causes Celestia.
Celestia sighs heavily and adds the parchment that she has just signed to the steadily growing pile to her right. It’s barely even settled before her assistant, Ivory Thorn, has whipped another one down in front of her. Wearily, Celestia picks up the quill again.
“Are you alright, Princess?” Ivory asks suddenly, concern in her cat-like eyes. Some may think that she’s more suited to a being a model than a secretary, with her dark curls and narrow green eyes, but Ivory Thorn has a quickness and professionalism to her that ponies don’t see when they first meet her. She notices everything and often has fixed problems before Celestia is even aware of one. Quite frankly, she’s the perfect assistant.
Right up until she notices too much.
“Oh, yes,” Celestia says absently. “Why do you ask?”
“I wouldn’t…” Ivory says, hesitantly. Her assistant looks unusually worried. If the past three years have taught Celestia anything about her assistant, it’s that Ivory only ever drops her blank face of professionalism in dire circumstances. “But that’s the third time that you’ve sighed in five minutes.”
Celestia pauses, quill aloft in a golden glow. She’s clearly not concealing her inner conflict all that well. How can she, when the argument with Moon Shadow is still playing in her mind? Her ward has never once looked at her like that before, with such anger in her eyes and a snarl of disdain on her lips.
She has argued with Moon Shadow before, of course. You can’t mentor a filly until adulthood and not have a few spats here and there. It was especially hard when Moon Shadow was a teenager and couldn’t understand why she was the only one unable to go to parties or dates or even to school like a normal pony. But there has never been such vitriol before.
And the worst part is that Celestia can’t even blame her. How can she, when she has lied and hidden things from Moon Shadow all her life? So much about Shadow and who she is and how she came to Canterlot. Moon Shadow will inevitably find out the truth. Who knows if she’ll forgive Celestia when she finds out?
“Princess? Princess!” Ivory Thorn is definitely frowning now. If she’s not careful, Celestia may find herself promptly referred to the medical wing. Some may think that as princess she doesn’t have to listen to anypony but that’s far from the truth. The ponies around her value her health and wellbeing. They will not hesitate to send her to a doctor, or a therapist or, Heavens above, put her on a diet.
“I’m sorry, Ivory Thorn,” Celestia says wearily. “I did it again, didn’t I?” Ivory Thorn looks as disapproving as she is professionally allowed to.
“Yes, ma’am. Should I send for someone? Nurse Needles perhaps?” Ivory says, carefully and Celestia tries to contain a shudder. Nurse Needles rules the medical ward with an iron hoof and is as prickly as her name suggests.
“No, thank you, Ivory Thorn,” Celestia says, turning back to the papers in front of her. “Maybe a cup of tea would help? I feel a bit drowsy this afternoon. I think I’d like another cup.”
“If you’re certain, Princess,” Ivory Thorn says. “I’ll order one be sent up from the kitchens right away. I noticed that you didn’t seem especially hungry at lunch earlier. Would you care for a snack?”
“Oh,” Celestia says. The tea was just a ruse but now that Ivory has mentioned it, she is a bit hungry. She was so upset over her argument with Moon Shadow that she barely ate. “That would be lovely, Ivory. Some fruit or biscuits will do.” Ivory inclines her head and steps away from the throne and towards the large double doors. Once her assistant is out of sight, Celestia exhales and puts down both quill and paper.
She needs to get this out of her system. She needs to try to make amends with Moon Shadow, maybe to explain herself before it all comes out anyway and their relationship is ruined forever.
She glances up at the closest window and judges the time to be mid-afternoon. Moon Shadow must be awake now. She can send for her and have dinner together, like they used to. She can have Moon Shadow’s favourites prepared and tell her…
Tell her what exactly?
Admittedly, this has not been the only time that she’s done this, Celestia begrudgingly admits to herself. She has never told Twilight what waits for her but that’s because she can’t. When Twilight goes to Ponyville she must make friends, truly and genuinely with her whole heart – and not just because Celestia told her to. Twilight will go into battle with five special ponies, who Celestia is sure will not let her face the danger alone.
But Moon Shadow, oh, Moon Shadow. By the nature of being the Sandmare, Moon Shadow must go alone.
“Excuse me, Top Bolt?” Celestia says and the guard in question immediately snaps to attention at her words.
“Yes, ma’am?” he asks. He wears the same gold armour of all her guards and he’s quite young, if Celestia remembers. Came here from Cloudsdale, just last year. Son of a former guard, eldest of three children and known for speed. He’ll be perfect.
“If I may, I need you to fetch somepony for me?” she asks. She reaches for a scrap piece of paper in her magic and hastily scrawled down Shadow and Tea Leaf’s address on it. It shouldn’t take him long to reach it. “I would like for you to go to this address and ask the young lady within to accompany me for dinner.”
The paper drifts over to the guard in her magic and he pulls it out of the air with a hoof. His eyebrows furrow when he sees the address.
“There is a young mare there who lives with her mother,” Celestia explains. “I need you to be speedy about it. I estimate that it will take her two hours of sulking and then half an hour for her to work up the nerve to actually come here. If you leave now, she should be in plenty of time for dinner.”
The guard looks more than a little bit startled at this statement but to his credit he hides it well. He merely looks at his fellow guard for permission but the stallion to Celestia’s left only nods. It is a direct request from the princess and she is not in immediate danger, so he is free to follow it.
“Certainly, Princess!” Top Bolt says, his eyes bright with the challenge. “I’ll be as fast as lightning and deliver your invitation to this mare immediately. What’s her name?”
“She is Lady Moon Shadow,” Celestia informs him, hurriedly gathering up her papers and quill again. Ivory Thorn must be returning shortly. Celestia will be in trouble if it looks like she’s slacked all this time. “Please, when you see her, express my sincere apologies and that I would like nothing more for her to accompany me to dinner. Oh, and don’t take it too harshly if she slams the door in your face.”
This causes the guard to look a little less enthused about his mission now, but he bows and turns to head for the throne room doors. Staff quarters are only a few streets over. He shouldn’t be gone long.
Not even five minutes after Top Bolt has exited, Ivory Thorn returns with a cup and plate levitating in a field of dark blue magic.
“Ivory, you didn’t have to bring it yourself,” Celestia says in surprise, retrieving the meal with her own magic. Ivory delicately shrugs.
“I went directly to the kitchens, it seemed simpler to bring it straight back myself,” Ivory says, taking her place to Celestia’s left, as always. “Did you make much progress on those documents?”
“Of course,” Celestia says, discreetly trying to hide the stack of papers behind her while she investigates what Ivory has brought her. The tea smells wonderful, but strong and sharp. Ginger, Celestia deduces, with lemon and maybe some honey. Her snack appears to be a fresh fruit salad and a few oat biscuits.
“This looks wonderful. Thank you. I’m sure I shall be revived after this,” Celestia says, lifting the cup to her lips. The tea is warm and soothing on her throat, the ginger invigorating her and the honey is smooth and comforting. Celestia easily swallows half the cup before lowering it.
“Wonderful. Who made it? After all, Tea Leaf is away on leave.” Celestia notices too late that Ivory Thorn has slid around the throne and is staring with disapproval at the pile of documents that is the exact same size as it was when she left.
“Café Au Lait did,” Ivory answers, after a beat. “She didn’t manage it as well as Tea Leaf but nonetheless, it seems to be satisfactory,”
“Indeed. Although, I wonder if there is a little too much ginger,” Celestia muses. “That might explain the honey to compensate for…”
Celestia is cut off when the door to the throne room suddenly opens, revealing a windswept Top Bolt. He’s back quicker than expected. Either Shadow agreed to dinner easily or there was door slamming involved.
But this thought is quickly dismissed when Top Bolt arrives at the base of the throne. He dips into a quick bow in front of the princess, still slightly breathless from his flight. Celestia feels a ribbon of worry curling around in her gut. The guard’s face does not imply that the visit went well.
“Top Bolt?” Celestia asks, worriedly. “What’s wrong? Did she shout at you?”
Top Bolt takes a few deep breaths before looking up at Celestia. “I’m sorry, Princess, but she’s gone.”
Ivory’s magic is fortunately quick enough to catch the cup of tea before it hits the ground or even spill a drop. Ivory really does deserve a raise, Celestia thinks muzzily. She’d never be able to rule Equestria without Ivory taking care of little details like unhappy nobles, lost vases and falling cups.
“Gone?” Ivory asks, quickly setting the cup down. “Who’s gone?” The throne room has gone still as the other guards, staff and Orchid Belle have all gone quiet to listen. One of the maids has paused with her duster frozen in mid-air, so captivated is she by the dramatic appearance of Top Bolt. The palace rarely has such drama.
“I’m sorry but while I was knocking on the door, her neighbour came out,” Top Bolt explains. He looks thoroughly unhappy to have to be giving the princess bad news. His ears are twitching, although he tries to contain it. “It was Blooming Dahlia, one of the gardeners, and she said that Moon Shadow had left an hour before for the train station. She’d asked Dahlia to take care of her cat and then left with full saddlebags, with no word of her return.”
Celestia is frozen. This is much worse than she feared. There are only two places that Shadow could have gone. One is Ponyville to see her mother and, as much as Celestia hopes this is true, it is extremely unlikely. Celestia knows Moon Shadow and how she thinks and she would not give up that easily. Certainly not to slink off to Ponyville, where there are no answers.
But Manehattan on the other hoof… Well, Moon Shadow could find out everything there.
Celestia struggles to focus her eyes and notices that the entire room is watching her. Taking a deep breath, she issues the only command she can think of.
“Ivory Thorn,” she says and her loyal assistant immediately stand to attention. “Please take a letter. I need you to send a message to Ponyville.”
Moon Shadow splurges and gets a taxi. Her legs feel as stiff as they did in the dream. All those bucking stairs, Moon Shadow thinks grumpily, as she pays the driver and trudges up towards the apartment block.
She’s on her grandparents’ street and she really, really doesn’t fit in. She’s aware that there’s a middle aged couple on the other side of the street, suspiciously eyeing her. Around here all the saddlebags are worth several thousand bits and if it’s not couture, then it doesn’t count. Even the gleaming building in front of her looks more pristine and polished than she ever has. She swears that the little topiary bushes out front don’t have even a leaf out of place.
Shadow takes a deep breath and forces herself to walk in.
The doorpony looks up as the door shuts behind Shadow, and she’s pretty certain that he wrinkles his muzzle at her. Her sudden exit from the bath this morning has made her mane and tail frizzy and sleeping on the train has left her dusty. Combine that with the puddle she stepped in when she got out of the taxi, she looks a fright.
“Madam, the homeless shelter is a few streets over. This is a high class building. Move along or I’ll have to call the police.” The guard intones, barely looking at her. Shadow bristles at his cool remark. This is why she hates Manehattan’s high society. Canterlot nobles are just as rude, but they rarely say so to your face.
She strolls right up to the desk and glares right at him, while she levitates her ID out of her bag.
“If you could please let Fine Dining and Lace Bonnet on the fifth floor know that their granddaughter, Lady Moon Shadow is here, I’d appreciate it,” she explains, in the snottiest tone she can muster. Living so close to nobles for so long means that she has a well-trained accent. “I’ve had an exhausting train journey and I would very much like a bath.”
The doorpony’s blue eyes widen at the sight of her official castle ID.
“Of course, ma’am! Right away!” he exclaims, at once. He turns around to address the intercom on the wall. Shadow puts away her ID, feeling slightly smug. Being the Sandmare does have its perks sometimes.
“Yes, sir, she’s right here. Yes, that description matches her exactly. I’m afraid she didn’t say her reason for being here,” the doorpony replies into the mouthpiece. He casts a quick glance towards Moon Shadow. “She looks…” He trails off again, at Moon Shadow’s quick glare.
“If you say I look homeless again, I will lodge a complaint!” she threatens him.
Well, no, she won’t. Who has the time for that? But it always works.
The orderly sizes up her threat and then turns quickly back to the intercom. “I’ll send her up, shall I?” says the doorpony hurriedly into the mouthpiece. “Yes, very good, sir.”
He hangs up and turns back to Moon Shadow, plastering a smile onto his face. It is clear that he still wants her to leave, but Shadow couldn’t care less. She simply waits for further instruction.
“My lady, if you could please direct yourself to the elevators. Your grandparents are waiting for you upstairs,” he says, politely gesturing with a foreleg. By rights, he should escort her up, but she can’t blame him for not wanting to be stuck in an enclosed space with her.
“Thank you,” Shadow says, drawing herself up with a final, tired smile. “Have a good night.”
“You too, my lady,” the stallion answers, weakly.
Moon Shadow tries her best not to skip straight into the elevator. She takes her victories where she can get them.
Moon Shadow tenses before the door opens onto her grandparents’ apartment, but it’s not nearly enough to prepare herself for her grandmother’s bald scrutiny.
“Good heavens!” Lace Bonnet exclaims, as soon as Moon Shadow steps slowly out of the elevator and into her grandmother’s clearly concerned gaze. “How can your mother let you out of the castle in this state?” she continues, closing the door behind her granddaughter. Moon Shadow stands carefully on the doormat, ever more aware of setting her filthy, bedraggled self on her grandparents’ immaculate white carpet.
Of course, her grandmother is as flawless as ever. Even this late in the evening, Lace Bonnet has her hair piled up in perfect golden curls and a set of pearls gleams around her neck. Not even her eye makeup has smudged. Moon Shadow can’t manage wearing mascara without it running off in the first five minutes
“Stay there, dear.” Her grandmother warns, clearly having the same thoughts that Shadow has had about staining the carpet. Moon Shadow has no choice but to stay, uncomfortable stuck in one spot, as her grandmother continues to study her with undue discontent. “I’ll have Feather come to take you to your bath. And run your bath. And maybe burn your saddlebags.” Lace Bonnet adds, with a quick shake of her perfectly coiffed mane, before hurrying off to find the maid.
Shadow continues to stand awkwardly on the mat, unwilling to move an inch. Everything in her grandparents’ apartment is colored in white and beige. Much of it is made of glass and any one item is probably worth more than Shadow’s entire salary. She has the feeling she would break everything simply by breathing near it.
“Good evening, Miss Shadow!” chirps Feather Duster, trotting through to the family room. “Now, shall we take you through to the bathroom?”
“Of course you may, but I don’t know how I’m going to get…woah!” Shadow muffles a mild shriek, as a yellow glow of magic carefully lifts her into the air. Shadow considers protesting, but finally slumps as she involuntarily follows Feather Duster like a balloon. It unfortunately reminds her of when she was a filly and the head housekeeper, Pristine Glass, used to carry her around the same way.
Shadow is finally put down on all four hooves on an unsurprisingly white towel in the bathroom. Feather begins to run the taps in the giant white Jacuzzi tub, filling the bathroom with steam and the delicious, sweet smell of bubble bath. Shadow breathes it in, appreciatively. Her grandmother has been buying the marshmallow bath cream since before she can remember.
“Let me take your bags,” politely prompts Feather Duster. Shadow reluctantly hands them over, well aware that the Sandmares Journal would be a very odd item for any pony to find should they decide to look in Shadow’s bags. Thankfully, all Feather does is hang them on a hook.
After a few moments of comfortable and companionable silence, Feather tests the temperature of the bath. With a quick nod of her head, she turns off the taps and smiles at Shadow. “It’s all ready, Miss,” she informs her, as she steps aside. Shadow makes a quick assessment of the situation. Without another thought, she walks across the floor and carefully climbs into the tub, intensely grateful for the soothing hot water on her sore limbs.
It could only have been eight hours or so since she was sitting in her own bathtub at home, but it somehow still seems like days ago. Moon Shadow lazily lifts a hoof out of the water, watching the drips slide down her coat. Gosh, how the mud does cling to her fetlocks.
“Would you like a drink, miss?” Feather asks her, politely. She’s the former housekeeper’s niece, if Shadow remembers correctly. She even has the same shade as Pristine Glass’ cream mane.
Shadow blinks, coming out of her haze. She’d almost forgotten the other mare was still in the room. “Oh. Some cold apple juice would be lovely, if you have it.”
Feather inclines her head, almost in a nod. “Of course, miss. I’ll have Rose Petal bring a glass immediately. In the meantime, however…” Shadow does not appreciate her tone. With growing horror, she lifts her head to see the diminutive brown mare advancing on her with a loofa, nail clippers and scissors held aloft in her magical grip.
“What are you doing?” shrieks Moon Shadow, dark eyes wide. She clings to the back edge of the tub, as far away from Feather as possible. This obviously isn’t a very good plan as she just slips back down the side again, towards the implements of doom.
“Miss Bonnet has requested you be appropriately cleaned up. That means the full works, Miss,” cheerfully smiles Feather Duster. Before Shadow can even think of a reply, let alone move, her tail is once again caught in a glow of magic and the loofa comes down on her.
When Rose Petal arrives a few minutes later, to deliver an ice cold glass of fresh apple juice, she knows better than to comment on Moon Shadow trying to crawl out of the tub, while Feather Duster scrubs at her hind hooves with a pumice stone.
It takes an hour before Moon Shadow is finally released from Feather Duster’s clutches, rubbed raw to the point of gleaming. Without another word, the sinister maid delivers a shivering Shadow into the family room, where her grandparents are seated on the couch. Shadow shoots one last glare at her captor, just before she is presented to her grandparents.
The maid clears her throat as they enter the grand room. “Lady Moon Shadow is ready,” Feather announces their presence. Lace Bonnet pulls herself off the couch to inspect her granddaughter.
“Well, at least she’s cleaner,” she decides, pacing around Moon Shadow to scrutinize every inch.
Cleaner? Moon Shadow thinks with indignation. She is pretty sure Feather got close to scrubbing off her cutie mark. Even Mrs. Glass was never that thorough. And Shadow made mud pies as a filly.
“And her mane is a vast improvement,” adds the older mare, with approval, as she continues to inspect Shadow’s purple mane and tail. Feather did a pretty good job on that, Shadow has to admit. Her tail is neatly trimmed to a more suitable length and curled at the ends. Her mane, on the other hand, is shorter and styled so it no longer hangs in her eyes.
“She looks like an actual member of society now. Don’t you think so, dear?” Lace Bonnet turns to ask her husband, who hasn’t yet moved from his seat.
“Much better,” says Fine Dining, not sounding the least bit interested in his granddaughter’s appearance – approved by his wife or not.
“Hello, grandfather,” greets Moon Shadow, finally able to see her grandfather since she stepped foot into this apartment.
“Hello, dear,” Fine Dining replies with a soft smile. Her grandfather hasn’t changed much since she was a filly. He’s a strong stallion, from years of building up his restaurant business and working long hours every day. The last few years, he’s started to bow out of the long hours that the food industry requires, instead taking on a more relaxed role in his old age.
“Now, have you eaten?” Lace Bonnet says, already interrupting their reunion.
Her granddaughter’s eyes widen. “No, I haven’t,” realizes Moon Shadow, suddenly remembering her hunger. The last thing she’d managed to eat was half an oatbar, and that was hours ago.
“I’ll have Crème Brule bring out a light supper,” announces Lace Bonnet, already making her way towards the kitchen. “You won’t believe our fantastic tomato and basil tarts!’
Fine Dining waits until his wife is out of earshot, before whispering in his granddaughter’s ear. “She acts like she makes it herself.” Moon Shadow giggles, as she carefully settles herself onto the loveseat. It squeaks a bit, as she sinks into its plush cushion. Oh, this is so much better than the train benches, she thinks blissfully.
“So, how’s Canterlot?” Fine Dining asks her, as he continues to peruse the newspaper.
“Fine, fine,” responds Moon Shadow, absentmindedly. “How’s the restaurant business?”
“Very well, thank you,” Fine Dining insists, as he sets down his paper. “Marvellous, if I do say so myself. I must take you out for dinner while you’re here. You always loved the dessert trolley when you were a filly!”
Moon Shadow hides a smile, as she simultaneously tries not to salivate at the images of deserts that begin to float through her mind. Mixed fruit tarts. Red velvet cake. Banoffee pie. All of it sounds perfectly wonderful, especially to a very hungry pony.
“That would be lovely, Grandfather,” she answers him quietly, trying to swallow her extra saliva.
A clatter and high-pitched voices cause both Shadow and her grandfather to lift their heads towards the kitchen. It sounds like yelling. Shadow turns a quizzical glance towards her grandfather but, after a moment, Fine Dining simply rolls his eyes.
“And she wonders why we go through so many chefs.” he mutters, disdainfully. “She won’t even let me cook, did you know that?” Moon Shadow wants to laugh at his scandalised expression.
“But you own three five-star restaurants…” she begins.
“Five now, dear,” he says, sounding pleased as he passes over the newspaper. Flicking her eyes over the page she sees a review for the Manehattan Times. Shadow skims over the review but doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Five stars, excellent service, the usual city review. It sounds like the rest of her grandpony’s restaurants. Fine Dining will settle for nothing less than the very best. It’s a trait that he passed on to Tea Leaf.
She turns a smile on her grandfather. “Did you get Las Pegasus?” she prompts him, knowing he will want to speak about it. She doesn’t talk much to her grandparents; her schedule doesn’t allow it and Tea Leaf avoids visits to Manehattan unless absolutely necessary.
“And Mareseilles,” he proudly informs her. “We’re global now, dear! Next Cloudsdale and Saudi Arabian! Heck, give it a few years and Appleloosa will be a big enough town.” Shadow wrinkles her nose but doesn’t comment. She’s not so sure Grandfather’s classy, expensive restaurants will ever fit in Appleloosa.
Lace Bonnet bursts back through the door, looking harassed. “That mare is intolerable,” she grumbles.
“That’s because you keep yelling at her, dear,” Fine Dining tells her, bluntly. Lace Bonnet bristles at his comment.
“All I did was ask her for a few small appetisers, is that so hard?” she says answers, in a high snobby tone. Moon Shadow easily recalls how much she had hated that tone when she was younger. It stings all too much of rude Canterlot ponies and nasty little fillies at magic school.
“It’s quite late in the evening, dear,” Fine Dining reasonably points out. “I’m sure she has to go home. Let me whip something up instead-”
Lace Bonnet is nearly about to breathe fire in response, when Moon Shadow chooses to interrupt and hopefully save the peace.
“We should. I can help! I’m sure Grandfather can teach me a few dishes suitable for Canterlot in the process.” Shadow turns to address Fine Dining. “Can’t you, Grandfather? After all, one of his restaurants is the highlight of the food district there.”
“Well, then. That’s settled.” says Fine Dining, as he folds up his newspaper. “We can let Crème Brule go home and I can put my skills to good use. I will teach my granddaughter what it means to own first class restaurants!” As he stands up and heads towards the kitchen, Lace Bonnet deflates a touch.
“Well, I suppose,” she finally manages, reluctantly. “But don’t let her get dirty!”
Moon Shadow scowls as the pair trot into the kitchen. Fine Dining shakes his head, with amusement born of love.
“She means well, dear, but she’s from an old family,” he reminds her, leading Moon Shadow into a large, shining kitchen of polished metals and honeyed wood. It is a far cry from the cluttered and disorganised kitchen that Shadow and her mother share.
At the end of the room, there is a mare putting away some pans. She looks up when they enter and her mouth turns down.
“Is this she?” she asks Fine Dining. Moon Shadow’s temper immediately flares. Isn’t she standing right in front of that mare?
“This is my granddaughter, Moon Shadow” Fine Dining tells her, his voice warm with approval. He places a hoof on Shadow’s shoulder. “Moon Shadow, this is Crème Brule.”
“Nice to meet you,” says Shadow as kindly as she can, as she tries to ignore the fact that the mare is studying her up and down.
“You are not what I expected,” says Crème Brule flatly informs her.
“You’re not what I expected,” Shadow returns and it’s true. She expected Crème Brule to be a classy mare, with creamy colouring and a delicate voice. In actuality, she has brassy red hair piled on top of her head, lurid eye shadow and a rather rounded rump. It is quite round, actually, and very curved. The kind of rump you see in Playcolt Magazine. Curvier than Moon Shadow’s, for that matter.
Crème gives her a sharp look and then trains her eye back on her employer. “She’s not snooty,” she continues, sounding mildly mystified. She also continues to speak as if Shadow has never even entered the room. “I thought you said she was from Canterlot.”
“She is. I mean, I am!” interrupts Moon Shadow, incensed. “I am right here!” Crème finally eyeballs her, a touch sceptically.
“You’re meant to be a lady?” she asks. Moon Shadow bristles but Fine Dining interrupts, clearly sensing an impending argument.
“Now, Crème, you can go home for the day. Moon Shadow and I will take care of the appetisers,” Fine Dining tells the cook, not appearing at all worried about getting between the two mares. Moon Shadow’s quite grateful for it, though – she’s pretty sure Crème Brule would flatten her in an instant.
Crème studies them for a moment and then shrugs. “All right. But remind your old lady that I can’t be expected to stay after hours, unless she asks me in advance.”
“I will make sure to do so,” replies Fine Dining calmly. Crème pulls off her apron and hangs it on a hook. Her cutie mark is a flaming Crème Brule. Moon Shadow holds her tongue, but in her mind she realizes how well-matched the cook is to her flaming cutie mark. Well, that explains that charming personality. Less of the fancy dessert, more of the ‘Watch out, it’s on fire.’
Crème pulls on her saddlebags and swishes out of the door. Her long, fiery tail wraps around her hind legs as she goes. Fine Dining shakes his head, already pulling a large pan out of one of the cupboards.
“Not quite sure how she got past the interview stage, to be honest.” he comments, as he sets the pan on the granite island. He continues to trot over to the fridge and Moon Shadow follows in his footsteps.
“Because of her sparkling personality?” asks Moon Shadow, with a hidden smirk.
“Well, now your grandmother chose to hire her,” he gruffly replies. “And, as you can tell there’s no love lost between them.” He drops the subject there, and Shadow chooses not to pursue it any further. Whom her grandmother chooses to hire is none of her business, anyhow.
Her grandfather turns a winning grin on her, his blue eyes alight with mischief. “Now, I do hope you know how to dice, young lady…”
Moon Shadow collapses back onto her seat with a happy groan. “That was some of the best food I’ve ever eaten,” she exclaims, eyeing the plate in front of her. If there’s going to be dessert she should stop now but if not, surely she can fit in one or more of those delectable little toast points?
Fine Dining beams, obviously pleased. “I’m glad you think so, dear. And you helped, don’t forget. I’m sure that you can quite easily make these at home. Your mother is quite an accomplished chef herself so she should be able to help you.
Hmm. It’s true that Tea Leaf is a great cook but she usually prefers to use those skills for hay burgers and vegetable stews and moist slabs of cake. Nothing quite like the fancy meals her grandfather specialises in.
“Oh, I forget that she used to work in your restaurant,” Moon Shadow says, deciding that one more little treat won’t hurt. But which one to choose? The tarts, the toast points or the zucchini parcels?
“Before she threw all that expensive culinary training away and skipped off to Canterlot, that is,” Lace Bonnet sniffs. She gestures for the maid to bring another bottle of wine and then wrinkles her nose when she sees the label.
“Really,” Lace Bonnet mutters. “This is very undignified. Dinner at my coffee table, cooked by my husband and granddaughter, served with the very questionable wine we got from Glitter Gloss and her husband. Honestly, who do they think they’re kidding? This is ten bits from the market at best! You just can’t expect these entertainer ponies to have class…” Lace Bonnet grumbles.
“Serve the wine, dear,” Fine Dining says flatly, as he passes out plates. “This is just a family occasion, I’m sure we can survive for one night.”
Lace Bonnet sniffs and looks suspiciously at the wine as if it might bite her.
“You know entertainer ponies?” Moon Shadow asks curiously, finally deciding on a zucchini parcel. “What do they do?”
“Lovely couple,” Fine Dining says, before Lace can get a word in edgeways. “Glitter is an actress on Bridleway and her husband is a music producer. They have some wonderful stories. When we were at dinner last week they told us a delightfully scandalous tale regarding an opera singer, a bellboy and a chocolate cake!”
“That’s hardly a suitable story for the dinner table!” Lace Bonnet scolds him, as she fills up her glass. Fine Dining chuckles as he offers his own for a refill.
“Well, I didn’t tell the story, did I? Just the key details,” he says, with an impish grin. “What Moon Shadow makes of it, is up to her.”
Moon Shadow can probably guess. But chocolate cake? Surely pudding would be easier…
Shadow is jolted out of her thoughts by Lace Bonnet offering her the wine. She declines – after all, she’ll need to go to work soon. She can’t be too intoxicated. It was hard enough having just the one glass, when she was so worried about spilling even a drop onto all this pristine white.
“Now, how about some pudding?” Fine Dining says. “I believe we have a marvellous cheese board or just the best amaretto trifle this side of Equestria…” He trails off and then laughs at his granddaughter’s expression. “Trifle it is, then!”
“You spoil her so!” Lace Bonnet says, but there’s no real anger in her voice. Moon Shadow is not theirs by blood but you’d never guess it, for how she’s been showered in treats, trips and presents since she was a foal.
The trifle is fetched and dished out into bowls. Moon Shadow has to restrain herself from planting her face muzzle-first into the dish, instead waiting while spoons are handed out.
“Did Crème Brulee make this?” she asks. There are simply mounds of fluffy whipped cream, on top of soft sponge and amaretto biscuits. The whole thing smells amazing and even though Shadow just ate, she knows she’ll have no problem licking out the bowl.
“She did,” Lace says. “That mare is a trial, but she makes spectacular desserts.”
Moon Shadow catches the look on her grandmother’s face and thinks she knows why Lace hired and subsequently keeps the feisty chef around.
It’s not too long before the table is silent, save for the clink of spoons and quiet chewing. The trifle is perfect with just the right amount of amaretto. Moon Shadow’s is gone all too soon and she scrapes around the sides of the bowl as best she can.
“That was amazing,” she sighs, pushing her bowl away, “You’ll have to roll me back to Canterlot.”
“Would you care for some coffee?” Lace Bonnet offers. “It’s not quite as good as your mother’s, but we have a nifty little machine now that can make a nice latte, quick as anything.”
“I think I may need one or I’ll fall asleep right here on this couch!” Shadow says, barely able to stifle a yawn. All this delicious food has made her sleepy and she doesn’t have long until sundown. Some strong caffeine should perk her up.
Lace departs to the kitchen to make three coffees, as Feather Duster has long been dismissed for the night. Moon Shadow rests her head on the back of the couch and tries hard to not doze off. Fine Dining returns to his newspaper and for a while, all that can be heard is the quiet rustling of newspaper pages.
It’s just as Lace Bonnet is returning with a tray of cups and saucers that Fine Dining makes a startled noise.
“What’s wrong, Grandfather?” Moon Shadow asks, jolted awake. He’s staring in shock at a small article near the back of the newspaper. Lace places the tray gently down on the coffee table and moves beside her husband to read the paper for herself.
“Oh my,” she breathes, raising a hoof to her mouth. Moon Shadow grinds her teeth and then slides over the couch so she can peer over her grandfather’s foreleg.
What she sees almost makes her meal come back up again.
“That’s awful. Who would do such a thing?” Lace asks, unaware of her granddaughter’s plight as Moon Shadow clutches the side of the couch and tries to breathe deeply. “Actually stealing… It’s so…so…”
“Indeed,” Fine Dining agrees solemnly. “No good can come from somepony stealing corpses. I think the last time anypony did that was that mad stallion from a few hundred years ago. What was his name? You know the one I mean, Lace, the one who thought he could bring ponies back to life…”
Lace Bonnet very visibly shudders and sets about pouring the coffee, a far more normal and familiar task.
“Goodness, I don’t know his name. I don’t want to know his name. Ghastly business. Maybe it’s no pony at all. That far out, near a tiny town with no decent civilisation to speak of, maybe it’s some beast…”
“A beast that carefully dug up six graves and removed all traces of the bodies?” Fine Dining asks, hitting the newspaper with a hoof for emphasis. “No, this must be the work of some sick individual. Someone very clever indeed to sneak in and steal corpses without a trace…”
“I vote that we cease saying ‘corpses’ for the remainder of the evening,” Lace says briskly. “Now, Shadow, would you like cream and sugar?”
Shadow has just about gotten a hold of her stomach again and is just about capable of saying yes to both. Lace pours in some cream and drops a few sugar cubes into a cup before passing it over. Shadow breathes in the comforting smell of coffee, letting it take her back to when she was just starting to patrol the dreamland every night.
It was so hard to sleep during the day back then and she’d be tired and grumpy when she got up. Tea Leaf would make her strong, sweet coffee and Shadow would slump over the breakfast table and drink it, while Tea Leaf made dinner.
“I’m just saying that this seems no ordinary crime,” Fine Dining says, crisply folding the newspaper back up.
“Then why would they hide it at the back?” Shadow asks, taking a sip. Lace Bonnet is right, it’s not as good as Tea Leaf’s but it’s still tasty nonetheless. “Why is it not a big headline?”
“They probably can’t,” Dining explains. “It would frighten everypony. We’re herd animals, dear. If a few get spooked then you’ve suddenly got mass panic on your hooves.”
This is, unfortunately, true. Even for the tiniest things, ponies will follow everypony else. This is especially true in Canterlot – ponies hate to stand out by not following the latest trend. Shadow has seen some absolutely ridiculous fads sweep the city because of this exact problem.
“I think that we should finish our coffee and head to bed,” Lace Bonnet says, nose wrinkling with distaste. “Shadow, dear, will you be alright? I know your schedule is quite different to ours.”
“Yes, how do you do that every night?” Fine Dining asks, curiously.
“I suppose I’m more than used to it by now,” Shadow says. “I hope I won’t bother you if I keep the same schedule while I’m here?””
“Not at all,” Fine Dining assures her. “You know where the library is should you need something to pass the time.”
“Speaking of that, I’m going to bed,” Lace Bonnet says, placing her cup down on the table. “Leave the cups, Shadow, dear. I’ll have the maid clear them up in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Grandmother,” Shadow says, accepting the cheek kiss offered to her by Lace Bonnet. “Goodnight, Grandfather.”
“Goodnight,” Fine Dining says, wrapping a foreleg around Moon Shadow to squeeze her tightly. “It’s lovely to see you. Sleep well.”
“Yes, you too. I’ll just stay up a bit and read,” Shadow says. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
Her grandparents head down the hall to their bedroom and once they’re out of sight Moon Shadow slumps down with a sigh. She wants to curl up on this plush sofa and fall asleep right here. She has basically been awake all day and every bone in her body feels exhausted. But now night has fallen and she has work to do.
She levitates the mugs and saucers and takes them through to the kitchen to wash them up. The apartment is quiet but she can hear the bustle of the city outside the windows, even at this hour. The ponies that live here are more likely to be returning home late from the opera than making noise at a club. But even so, Shadow can hear music from a few streets over, and the squeaky wheels of a cart as it trundles down the road.
When she places the last dry cup back in the cupboard, she pauses in the dark kitchen to stare out of the window at the Manehattan skyline. She can’t help but wonder if she’s done the right thing by coming here. She’s never defied Celestia before, especially not when they’re being threatened by a crazy, murderous ram.
Honestly, she’s never really had to do anything without Celestia before. The Princess might not be able to go into the dream realm with her, but Celestia has always been there to patch her up and guide her when needed.
Now she’s really, really alone.
Shadow heads back through to the living room, grabbing her saddlebags on the way. She wasn’t lying to her grandparents, she really does intend to read. But the subject matter is a little different from what they might have pictured.
The room Shadow stays in when she comes to visit is mostly unchanged from when she was a filly, frozen in time. The walls are a delicate lavender patterned wallpaper and the furniture is all the same matching cream colour. When she was a little filly and it was time for her to get a proper bed the magnificent four poster bed seemed large enough for ten of her. There’s only one teddy left sitting amongst the pillows, Shadow’s favourite as a child.
Shadow picks up the teddy in her magic and rubs it gently against her face. She can no longer remember his name, but his fur is as soft as ever.
She climbs up onto the bed and sets Teddy and her saddlebags beside her. She had packed them in a hurry, so chances are she’s forgotten her hairbrush or something else. The outline bulging against the side shows however that she has remembered the one crucial item that she needs.
Taking a deep breath (and clutching teddy to her side with her hooves) she magically lifts the flap of her saddlebags and slides out the Sandmare’s journal.
She’s not sure when she’d had the idea. Maybe it was on her furious exit from Canterlot Castle. Maybe it struck her as she browsed the library. Maybe it had clung to her subconscious all day and only just now was making itself come to light. But there was a Sandmare in her dreams and every Sandmare that ever existed wrote in this book.
Kimono held this book in her hooves, just as Shadow has done countless times before. Kimono found something to write in these pages, or maybe she struggled to find the words as Shadow has. Either way, this is the first time Shadow has held something tangible related to her fellow Sandmare.
She flicks it open to the first page and then flips through, slowly at first and then faster. Names blur together, the writing changing from a delicate calligraphy to a messier scrawl. Old Equestrian makes way to more modern language. A thousand years pass in the blink of an eye.
And then there she is.
The name Kimono is accompanied by a little paper lantern sketch. It’s not uncommon for Sandmares to draw their cutie marks with their entries, started all the way back with Galaxy, who used to mark her pages with little stars. It didn’t catch on for a while though, when Dancing Butterflies, a more artistic Sandmare, started adding a cluster of butterflies to her pages. Shadow wonders if little Galaxy ever expected hundreds of mares after her to look to her as a beacon, and use her journal a thousand years after her death. Really though, Galaxy was a little twelve year old filly, who was homesick and lonely and had nothing more than crayons and blank pages for comfort.
For a moment Shadow stares at the page, drinking it in, not even seeing Kimono’s words. This here is proof that Kimono existed. No trick, no illusion – a real mare wrote this and a real mare visited Shadow’s dreams. A real Sandmare.
Shadow’s heart skips a beat and she flops down on her stomach onto the bed, eager to devour Kimono’s story.
Half an hour later and she turns the page to nothing but white. Kimono’s words are cut off, her story’s end untold. Although it’s not a mystery what happened to her – Kimono’s sudden, tragic death meant that there was nopony to finish the tale. Only Sandmares have ever written in this journal. Not even Celestia has ever added anything.
Kimono only ever wrote a few pages. It started with her describing her home so far away and how much she misses her family. Like many Sandmares, Kimono was brought to Canterlot young. Shadow is lucky and her mother is always close by, so she can’t imagine how hard it must be to have to leave your family as a little filly. Moonstone was brought all the way from Roam. Dancing Butterflies was Prench. Not all the Sandmares were picked up from a town only a few hours away.
Kimono doesn’t really try to add advice to the journal. After all, after so many Sandmares, there’s not much more you can say. But she does express the same feelings that all the others had. Loneliness. Worry. Fear of what hides in the night. Shadow can both hear Kimono’s voice and an echo of her own feelings as she reads the words.
Kimono’s entry skips on a few years to describe her feelings when she receives the news that her parents are expecting a baby. Later on, the page is covered with joy when she discovers she has a new sister. Discovering her cutie mark, terrifying experiences, wonderful dreams: Kimono puts them all down, her feelings uninhibited and free.
And then there’s nothing. At about twenty years old, there is no more, the author brutally murdered. ‘Is Kimono’s family even still alive?’ Shadow thinks. Maybe they never found out what truly happened to their daughter. Or even worse, they’re like Tea Leaf and know exactly what Kimono went out to face each night.
Shadow closes the journal and slides it back into her saddlebags, so nopony will easily find it. The last thing she needs is her grandmother coming across this secret and ancient relic and demanding to know what it is.
Shadow gets up and stretches, stiff from reading. When she gets back from work in the early hours of the morning, she’ll have to go right to bed; otherwise she’ll never have enough of the day to do what she needs to do.
But for now she has to sneak into Feather Duster’s bedroom and pray that she doesn’t get caught.
Tea Leaf doesn’t want to admit it, but her hooves are shaking with every step.
Goddess, she doesn’t want to lose her job! She loves her job. She needs it so badly, too. If she can’t find work, she’ll have to pack up her things and go all the way back to Manehattan, with her tail between her legs. Imagine what Mother would say. Actually, don’t imagine that. Tea Leaf would rather face a hundred angry princesses than just one disapproving Lace Bonnet.
Ok, maybe if she throws herself on the mercy of the princess, Celestia will forgive her. Maybe she and Butter Crumpet shouldn’t have added alcohol to that leftover iced tea and gotten drunk in the palace gardens last Thursday. Maybe she should do her orders on time for once. Alright, and she probably shouldn’t have put cayenne pepper in Lady Slipper’s afternoon carrot juice.
Actually, she’s a terrible employee. She should promise to do better. Whatever it is, she should beg forgiveness and vow to be a model employee for the rest of her life.
Tea Leaf finally reaches the end of the corridor. There’s no turning back now. Celestia’s private wing is just ahead.
If she gets fired, Lady Slipper will become even more insufferable. She had delivered Celestia’s message to Tea Leaf, with the biggest smirk on her face. “Summoned to the princess?” she’d asked, smugness seeping out of every pore. “Well, that can’t be anything good now, can it?”
Finally, Celestia’s door is right in front of her nose. Taking a deep breath, she announces herself to the guards. After a beat, the grand doors swing open to admit her.
She really wishes she had some of that peach and vodka iced tea again.
The doors shut behind her and Tea Leaf has to admire how smoothly they close. Lady Slipper may be a frustrating nag, but she wasn’t kidding when she said she made sure every hinge in the palace was perfectly oiled.
“Come in, Tea Leaf,” says a regal voice. Tea Leaf almost swallows her tongue.
“Good afternoon, Princess,” Tea Leaf says and she is glad she can speak without a tremor in her voice.
The princess is waiting for her at a charming little breakfast nook, pouring fragrant tea into two matching cups. Tea Leaf tries not to gawk – few ponies ever make it into Celestia’s personal rooms. Everything is simple but elegant, perfect for a princess. The tapestries on the walls, the soft rugs underfoot, even the gossamer curtains suggest quality. Everything is beautiful and golden and…is that a phoenix?!
The princess smiles and gestures towards a cushion for Tea Leaf to sit on. Hesitantly, Tea Leaf takes her place.
“Here,” Celestia says, levitating over a steaming cup of tea. “Have some camomile tea. It’s my favourite thing on a busy afternoon.”
“I’m sorry for taking up your time, Princess,” Tea Leaf says, bowing her head. Out of habit, her hoof reaches out to pull the delicate teacup closer to her, so that she can inhale the sweet scent. Mmm. The princess has good taste. Tea Leaf has studied at the best culinary school in Manehattan, but there’s nothing she loves more than a good cup of tea.
“Not at all,” Celestia says, raising her cup to her lips and taking a sip. “My, that’s delicious.” Once they’ve both taken a moment to appreciate the tea, Celestia lowers her mug again. Tea Leaf clutches her mug, awaiting the inevitable dressing down.
“Do you enjoy your job, Tea Leaf?” Celestia asks. Tea Leaf nearly chokes in her haste to answer.
“Oh, very much, Princess!” Tea Leaf says. Celestia looks at her carefully.
“You’re originally from Manehattan, are you not?” Celestia asks. “If I recall, you hadn’t been in Canterlot very long before you applied for a position here at the castle.” Tea Leaf is surprised: if she’s in trouble, this is a very odd way to go about firing her.
“Yes, I am, your majesty,” she replies. “My parents and sister still live there.”
“Why did you decide to leave?” Celestia says, horn glowing once again. A box of biscuits appears on the table in front of them. Celestis gestures at them, as she opens the box with her magic. “Do help yourself.” Tea Leaf swallows and finds she has no appetite. Not even for garibaldis.
“I…well, you see my father owns several restaurants in Manehattan. And my mother…well, I’m not sure what my mother does. Charity work and social gatherings, I guess. It was hard to get a job when everypony in the food industry knew who I was. Actually, it was hard to know that they hired me for my talents and not for who my parents were. But…” Tea Leaf hesitates. She’s already said so much more than she intended to. However, the princess is looking at her knowingly.
“But that’s not the only reason you left Manehattan?” Celestia gently probes. Tea Leaf stares up at her kind, understanding face and wonders if everypony who comes in front of her feels like this. An overwhelming urge to run to her hooves, like a small child to their mother.
“No, Princess,” Tea Leaf sighs. “I’m afraid I had an argument with my mother not long before I left. I’m afraid she disapproved of some of my…life choices and wanted me to desist. Her goal for me was to finish college, marry a society stallion and spend my days having endless tea parties. Not this…’deviant hobby’ of mine. Her exact words, I believe.”
“And you decided to go your own way instead,” Celestia concludes. “That’s very brave of you.” Tea Leaf snorts in reply.
“It was a little more like a tantrum than a mature decision, really, Princess,” she says, lifting the cup to her lips. The tea is wonderful and soothing, just cooled enough to drink comfortably. “But yes, I packed my bags and left for a train the next day. I’d heard from a friend that Canterlot was a wonderful place to live. And it has a thriving food industry. So, here I am.”
Celestia studies her intently. Tea Leaf only just manages to meet her gaze. But finally, the princess smiles warmly.
“Wonderful. Just wonderful,” Celestia tells her, cheerfully. “Now, if you don’t mind, Tea Leaf, I brought you here to ask a favour.”
“What?” Tea Leaf asks, stupidly. “You’re not firing me?” It’s Celestia’s turn to look shocked.
“Fire you? Goodness, why would I fire you?” Celestia says, shaking her head. “You’re a charming young pony, with great talent. I think you’ll do wonderfully here.”
“But Lady Slipper-” Tea Leaf starts and then shuts her mouth with a clack as she gets a grip on herself. She’s not being fired, now is not the time to bring up the pepper incident.
“Oh yes, she did complain about her carrot juice being too spicy,” Celestia agrees, with a curious glint in her eyes. “But as there’s no proof of who was responsible, I guess we’ll just have to put that down to a harmless prank.” Tea Leaf feels the corners of her mouth lift with joy. I’m not fired! Even better, the princess knows about the pepper and is letting me off the hook!
“That said,” Celestia reminds her, sternly. “As difficult as Lady Slipper can be, she is a marvellous housekeeper. Maybe stick to only using pepper when absolutely necessary?” Tea Leaf ducks her head.
“Yes, Princess,” she says, as demurely as she can, while trying to restrain her grin.
“Now, about this favour,” Celestia says, unfolding her long, slender legs from under the table. “If you’d like to follow me, please?” Tea Leaf abandons her cup to scramble from her cushion and rush after the princess. They leave the same way Tea Leaf came in, Celestia waving off the guards as they attempt to follow her.
“We’ll only be a moment!” she calls back to them. “Expect my return shortly.” The guards nod and resume their stiff position by the door.
“Where are we going?” Tea Leaf whispers. Celestia smiles and leads her down a corridor.
A minute later, they arrive in front of a much smaller door than the one leading to Celestia’s rooms. It’s plain beech and unpolished, with no sign on the door. Tea Leaf’s mind is spinning with the possibilities. It couldn’t be related to work. If Celestia wanted her to make a special beverage, they’d go to the kitchens, not some backroom in the palace.
The door swings open under the influence of Celestia’s magic and Tea Leaf moves inside, mouth opening in shock.
A nursery? What in Equestria is a nursery doing inside the palace?
The room is small and simple. The walls are a creamy butter-yellow decorated with glittery stars. The curtains are a delicate cream, tied back with orange ribbon. There’s an armoire and a changing table, and a carefully carved crib by the window, all practical and sturdy.
Tea Leaf takes in her surroundings, the obvious detail and loving care that went into making this nursery. The stars are a perfect flurry across the ceiling, a replica of the sky outside. The furniture is carefully painted in bright colours suitable for an infant. There’s a cupboard for supplies and a basket in the corner absolutely bursting with toys.
A gentle wind comes through the open window, sending the mobile above it spinning. As if drawn to it, Tea Leaf steps closer to the crib. Tucked up, fast asleep, is a tiny orange foal.
“Oh!” Tea Leaf cries out, startled. She makes she sure hasn’t disturbed the foal before she sticks her head over the rail to take a closer look. The foal appears to be a filly, slightly round and orange. Tufts of indigo hair fall into her closed eyes and wrap around her hind legs as she sleeps, unaware of the alicorn and Earth mare watching her. All, in all, it was a perfectly ordinary foal.
“She’s not yours, is she?” Tea Leaf asks, before she can stop herself. Celestia chuckles quietly.
“No, she’s not mine. But she will be my ward. She’s an orphan and she needs a home.”
Tea Leaf raises her head and stares up at the princess. Celestia’s pointed look is all she needs.
“Me?!” she yelps and then sucks in a breath. Thankfully, the filly sleeps on. “But your highness…why me?” Celestia tilts her head thoughtfully.
“To be honest, she could have found a loving home from one of the orphanages here or back in Manehattan. I’m sure there’s many a family who would want a healthy little filly. But you see, this particular child is special.” Tea Leaf looks down again at the foal, who peacefully farts in her sleep. She’s not exactly emitting specialness right now.
Celestia seems to realize what Tea Leaf is thinking. “I know it doesn’t seem like it right now,” Celestia explains, with a grin. “But she will be. She’s going to face hardship and loneliness and doubt. And while I’m sure there are families who could look after her very well, I need somepony who’s going to understand and love her, no matter what. And I think that somepony is you.” Tea Leaf goes back to watching the foal. This is not what she expected. This is motherhood. She’s only twenty-two. How can she suddenly be responsible for a little foal?
“Her parents are dead, you say?” Tea Leaf asks. “She has no family to look after her?” Celestia gravely shakes her head.
“I’m afraid her parents were murdered.” Tea Leaf suppresses a gasp. Murder in almost unheard of in Equestria. There have been very few cases in history, at least of those done with intent. One day this child will have to be told that her parents are dead at the hooves of another pony. She’ll need love and sympathy and to be told with the utmost care. I might even be the pony to tell her that.
“And as for the rest of her family, she has very little,” Celestia continues. “None that can easily care for her. I believe she has an aunt near Los Pegasus. Unfortunately, she has a family of her own and cannot take in little Moon Shadow here.”
‘Moon Shadow. What an odd name for such a bright little filly,’ Tea Leaf thinks. That name would be better suited for a dark coloured Pegasus, not something the shape and colour of a pumpkin.
“If it would suit you, there are staff living quarters that you could move into. We have day-care available for when you’re at work. There’s plenty of help for you, since it’s your first time taking care of a foal,” Celestia says. There seems to be an underlying meaning in there somewhere that Tea Leaf did not – could not – miss. Adoption agencies favoured married couples, not single mares. Having a child of her own in the future might prove difficult. This one is being handed to her, with the princess’ blessing. And (this is something Tea Leaf knows deep in her heart) she has the chance to be the type of mother her own never was. Warm and devoted and supportive, no matter what. Could she pass that up to return to her lonely, empty apartment?
“Well?” Celestia prompts. “If you like, I could give you some time to think about it?”
Down in the crib, the filly finally wakes up. She yawns sleepily and raises her green eyes up to meet Tea Leaf’s golden ones. For a moment, mare and child stare at each other silently. Tea Leaf leans over to lower a hoof down into the crib. Moon Shadow grabs ahold of it with her tiny forelegs and pulls it up to her mouth. Tea Leaf lets herself be used as a dummy and this time when she speaks, her voice shakes just a bit.
“No need,” Tea Leaf tells her. “I’ll be her family from now on.”
The morning light is the most terrible thing that Moon Shadow has ever experienced.
It isn’t even like in fairy tales where soft golden light slowly wakes up the sleeping princess. It’s more like a thousand suns have decided to burn out Shadow’s eyeballs.
So you can’t really blame her when she shrieks and tries to roll away from it.
The scream combined with the thump she makes when she lands on the floor brings Lace Bonnet and Feather Duster running.
“What in Equestria are you doing?” Lace Bonnet demands, looking furious. She looks a lot like she did when Moon Shadow decided to play dress up as a filly and tore an original Hoity Toity design. Feather on the other hoof, merely looks concerned and rushes over to help Shadow up off the floor.
“I’m sorry, Grandmother,” Moon Shadow says, trying to get to her hooves. Feather hooks a foreleg under to try and give her a boost. Shadow’s legs feel like jelly and her head feels even worse. She can’t have been asleep very long. Shadow recognises the pounding headache of exhaustion when prioritizes breakfast with her friends before getting to bed.
“I must have fallen out of…” Shadow says but Lace Bonnet dismisses her with a wave and then jabs her hoof at the figure across the room.
“Not you, Shadow. Her!” Lace snarls and Shadow turns her head to see a silhouette standing in front of the windows. The light is so blinding it takes her a moment to identify the intruder in her room.
“What?” Crème Brule asks, nonchalantly flipping back the drapes.. “Isn’t it time for her to get up? Everypony else has gotten up for the day.”
Lace storms across the room to stand muzzle to muzzle with Crème. Feather helps Shadow climb back onto the bed – although, Shadow collapses into it more than anything else. She only got back a few hours ago when the sun was already in the sky and she can’t have had more than a few hours sleep.
“My granddaughter works for the night court at Canterlot palace,” Lace informs her chef frostily. “She has a very different sleep schedule to the rest of us and it’s extremely important it is not disrupted during her stay here.”
“How was I supposed to know that?” Crème asks. She appears to be chewing on something, either a leaf or gum. She seems entirely unconcerned by her employer’s wrath…and Shadow knows from experience that an angry Lace Bonnet glaring at you from inches away is a terrifying thing.
“Maybe you should be in the kitchen where you belong,” Lace says, through gritted teeth. “Doing what I pay you for. I have a very important luncheon today and yet the appetisers aren’t even started! Never mind the fact that you are bothering my granddaughter.”
Crème eyes Moon Shadow with a sliver of distaste.
“So she is a snotty Canterlot Lady, afta all,” she drawls and Shadow is far too tired to get up to smack her.
“Hey!” she protests and then tries to smother a yawn. Already, the soft mattress and plush pillows are calling to her. If only she can sleep a few more hours, she’ll be able to at least make a start on her search. “I sleep during the day but that doesn’t make me snotty!” Feather Duster reaches over to help get her settled back into bed and even pulls the cover up over her. Shadow can’t help but sink into it, her eyes already starting to droop.
“Yes, I’ve never heard such impertinence!” Lace says, her voice level rising. “Please return to your station at once and do not disturb Moon Shadow again! She needs her rest and you need to make carrot soup for ten!”
“Grandmother, it’s…its fine,” Shadow says, not quite stopping the yawn that appears in the middle of her sentence. “I just want to sleep.” Lace holds her death glare with her employee for a few seconds longer before turning her back on Crème.
“Sleep well, dear,” Lace says, as she passes. “You will not be woken again, I assure you.” This last sentence sounds like a thinly veiled threat – something Crème clearly understood, judging by her snort. But Lace manages to exit the room without incident and Crème soon follows.
“Sleep well, miss,” Feather murmurs as her magic whisks the curtains closed again. But Moon Shadow is already half asleep and doesn’t hear the maid leave.
The second time she wakes is much more pleasant. Shadow stirs underneath the covers, feeling the soft sheets under her limbs as she moves. For once she slept soundly, with no disembodied visitors or terrifying nightmares.
Yawning wildly, Shadow slips out of bed to head to the nearest bathroom. However, her mane is not the complete disaster she was expecting. The haircut seems to have tamed her mane and aside from a stray piece or two, it mostly just curls around her neck in soft loose waves.
After the initial shock, Shadow can’t help but admire herself. Shadow never manages such a good job when it’s time to cut her hair and while Tea Leaf is slightly better at it, her mother never manages more than a quick, efficient trim.
“You might actually be able to pull off being a Canterlot lady now,” Shadow tells her reflection. If she puts on the dress she bought for the gala she might even get a date.
Shadow quickly washes her face and brushes her teeth. It’s about noon, she has to get moving before everything in the city closes. She has so much to do and she knows that her time in Manehattan is limited. Running away from everything will not solve her problems - but it can at least buy her some time and, if she’s very lucky, answers.
Shadow pauses for just a second to spritz on some scent and to smooth over her hair one last time. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Her grandmother’s luncheon is in full swing so Shadow carefully avoids the fancy dining room, tiptoeing past the door as softly as she can. Judging by the clink of cutlery on plates and soft laughter, nopony notices her at all. When she makes it to the living room, she finds Fine Dining drinking a cup of delicious smelling coffee and perusing yet another newspaper.
“Good morning, dear!” he says when he spots her. “You’re looking rather lovely today.”
“Thank you,” Shadow says, unexpectedly pleased at the compliment. Much like this trip, her new appearance won’t last. Her mane will grow back as wild as ever and her lifestyle will guarantee a slip in coat and hooficure maintenance.
“I hear you had a rather interesting wakeup call this morning,” Fine Dining comments, lifting his cup to his lips. But it’s too late and Shadow catches the glimpse of a smile behind the fine china.
“Interesting, I think not,” Shadow retorts, throwing herself onto the sofa next to him. “Brutal, considering I had only slept for two hours! Do you know how that feels?”
“Extremely unpleasant, I’d wager,” her grandfather acknowledges. “However, it did provide a bit of…well, drama, I believe the young ones call it these days.”
“Do you really want drama living with grandmother?” Shadow points out. Judging by his face, probably not. Shadow can’t resist a chuckle at his horrified expression.
“It’s fine when it doesn’t involve me! However, I do appreciate things being livened up around here,” he says, turning the page. “This dignified life we lead can get a bit repetitive.”
“Do you ever think of retiring?” Shadow asks curiously. Her grandparents are still very active and they involve themselves in a variety of activities. But they are no longer as sprightly as they used to be and one day soon, her grandfather might have to step down from his company.
But Fine Dining makes a noise in the back of his throat, one that clearly expresses distaste for any ideas like that.
“Not in the slightest! Maybe if I had a worthy successor I’d feel more comfortable taking a step back. However, my only candidate took herself out of the running quite a while ago,” he laments. Shadow’s mouth involuntarily drops open.
“Wait. You mean…Mom?” she yelps. “I didn’t know that you’d ever considered it!”
“To be honest, dear, I doubt she does,” Fine Dining says, turning another page. He somehow manages to hold a conversation, drink coffee and read the paper all at once. Shadow suspects that this multitasking talent comes from years of living with Lace Bonnet. “She had the skills, the training, the talent to take over. Alas, she fled Manehattan to seek her own path. Not that’s for the worst, of course. She’s done quite well for herself, no matter what your grandmother says. And if she hadn’t left, we wouldn’t have you.”
Shadow sits back, trying to imagine it. Tea Leaf, in a crisp apron, pink and gold mane tied up into a professional little bun under a chef’s hat, commanding a whole kitchen. Then a whole restaurant. Fine Dining is right, that’s something Tea Leaf would be good at. Choosing menus, atmosphere, providing a genuinely wonderful dining experience would be where her mother excels. She is firm, kind, a great teacher and inspiring, with a good eye for detail.
And yet, Shadow gets the feeling that Tea Leaf is happiest in her nook in Canterlot kitchens, researching drinks for the princess and chatting to pastry chefs, with a smudge of fruit on her cheek.
“Do you think Crème Brulee will make me some breakfast or will she murder me with a fork?” Shadow says, instead deciding to change the topic. Fine Dining chuckles.
“I think you’ll be fine. She makes some spectacular banana and chocolate chip pancakes.” Shadow’s belly gives a loud grumble. Pancakes sound great.
She’ll stay by the door though, just in case that whole fork murder thing comes around.
Shadow has forgotten how loud the city is. At night there’s still noise, the bustling and low hum of a city that never sleeps. But here in the light of day, it surrounds her with an endless cacophony. Sellers shout their wares, the wheels of carts rumbling by and everywhere the chatter and music and the buzz that makes up a city like this.
For a moment Shadow stands on the pavement, overwhelmed. Canterlot is never like this. But maybe that’s because Canterlot is home and its noises are so familiar to her.
But it occurs to Moon Shadow as she sets off in search of a cab that in another life entirely Manehattan would have been her home. She would have been raised here, in a different school with her parents. She’d be able to step out and navigate the busy street with commuters easily and call a cab without a struggle. She’d know where to get the best falafel and have a regular coffee place.
‘Another, different life entirely,’ Shadow thinks, as she is casually bumped by ponies rushing down the street. Not better perhaps…just different.
Getting a cab is hell, even though Fine Dining gave her some bits for it. She seems to have picked a bad time of day – it's lunchtime and everypony seems to be doing a mad dash to do their shopping or get some food before they have to return to work. Shadow sighs wearily and looks for the nearest subway station. No doubt her grandparents would disapprove, but she is always conscious of the time ticking away from her.
The journey is short, if extremely hot and cramped. Shadow curses her ability to always choose the carriage with a crying foal in it, as she squeezes out of the doors to her stop. She only just manages to avoid it closing on her tail. Manehattan folk don’t seem to understand letting previous passengers off before embarking the train. She was very nearly whisked away to the next station.
The air outside is a relief compared to the stuffiness of the underground. Shadow gets a whiff of some delicious coffee and struggles with her urge to go find a cup. She hasn’t slept as much as she should and she’s craving some caffeine and sugar like oxygen. But she manages to curb her desires and set off down the street. Mission first. Coffee later.
The street she’s on is fairly upscale with smart boutiques and fancy cafes. There are smart little restaurants that are open for lunch and the smells wafting out nearly makes Shadow’s knees buckle. The pancakes were divine but somehow she could eat all over again. But her hooves keep moving. At least they remember what’s important.
And then finally, there it is.
The jewellery store in front of her has a luxurious and subtle shop front. The awning is a deep red to match the front door. The window is the highlight however - displays and stands show off a small sample of what the store has to offer, all beautifully illuminated by soft lights that make the jewels sparkle.
A small bell chimes as Shadow pushes open the front door. Inside everything is soft and plush and screams of luxury. This is where gentlestallions come to choose a ring for their sweethearts, where mares stare wistfully at bright diamonds, warm rubies and dazzling emeralds and dream of the day they have enough bits for one. Everywhere Shadow looks there is the glitter of silver, gold and platinum from horn rings to bracelets.
A few ponies mill around the shop browsing and one young couple are clearly on the hunt for an engagement ring. The mare looks through the glass cabinets with a single minded focus, sure that somewhere in this shop is the perfect ring.
A mare stands behind the counter, carefully polishing a diamond ring. When she holds it up to the light it shines but she clearly isn’t satisfied. She’s a stunning mare with a golden coat and tumbling red curls held back off her face with a sparkling diamond clip. She’s turned away but Shadow already knows that her eyes are a warm, bright blue.
Shadow raps a hoof gently on the counter.
“Be right with you!” the mare trills as she carefully tucks the ring away into a box. The polishing cloth is tucked into a drawer and then the mare turns, with a customer ready smile on her face, which drops the minute she sees Moon Shadow.
“Aunt Crystal?” Shadow says.
“Shadow!” the mare cries and rushes forward. Shadow finds herself wrapped in a warm, perfume scented embrace…tinged with just a hint of polish.
“My darling niece,” Crystal says, pulling back to get a good look at Crystal. “What are you doing here?” Shadow coughs, somewhat aware that the other patrons of the shop are curiously looking at them.
“I had hoped to discuss that with you but in a more…private area perhaps?” she says hopefully. Crystal nods immediately.
“Of course, of course. Diamond!” she calls into the back of the shop. A young pink mare sticks her head out.
“Yes, Crystal?” she says chirpily. This is Diamond Dazzle. Her aunt’s apprentice, Shadow remembers. Pretty, gifted at designing jewellery, little bit forgetful. She once lost a five carat emerald ring and after a full investigation had been launched it turns out she’d left it in an entirely different cabinet. But she designs beautiful pieces and Crystal is more than good enough at managing the business.
“I’m going to take my niece upstairs for a little while for a chat about family matters,” Crystal explains. “Could you watch the store for an hour?”
“Of course,” Diamond says, trotting through. Crystal nods to Shadow and then vanishes through the red velvet curtain separating the back of the store from the shop floor. Shadow hesitantly follows her.
“is it alright for me to be back here?” she asks. The immediate backroom looks to be the area where Crystal and Diamond design and make their jewellery. Shadow hurriedly moves over to avoid a sharp looking piece of equipment and follows Crystal through a door.
Crystal gives a small, tinkling laugh that sounds scarily like Lace Bonnet. Luckily that’s where the familial resemblance ends.
“Oh, darling, I own the store,” she says. “It’s absolutely fine. Just up these stairs, dear.”
The stairs in question lead up to Crystal’s flat. It is beautifully and tastefully decorated, with rich red armchairs and plush rugs underhoof. The walls are a delicate cream and the floors are hardwood, polished to a beautiful shine. The whole effect works wonderfully together, mixing the luxury of her grandparents’ apartment with Aunt Crystal’s more flamboyant tastes.
“Sit down, sweetheart,” Crystal says, gesturing to a plush armchair. “I’ll fetch us some tea.”
Shadow sinks into the armchair gratefully, while Crystal vanishes into the kitchen. Shortly the whistle of a kettle can be heard, while Crystal removes cups and saucers.
Shadow sighs and rests her head on the arm. She’s feeling a little bit more drained than normal, but that’s too be expected. She uses so much magic in the dream world these days. Long ago, Celestia explained that use of magic in the dream world would exhaust her much quicker than any spells she casts in the day. Combine with that a much shorter sleep than normal and she’s feeling the side effects pretty hard.
“Here we go,” Crystal says and Shadow jolts as her aunt walks in with a heavily laden tray. Judging by the drool on her muzzle, she fell asleep briefly. Shadow discreetly rubs her mouth as Crystal sets down the tray and picks up the teapot.
“Milk and two sugars, if I remember correctly?” Crystal says, carefully pouring hot tea into a china mug.
“Please,” Shadow says. In goes a swirl of milk and two large sugar cubes. Shadow waits until Crystal has her cup and is sitting down before taking her first sip.
“So, what are you doing here, my lovely?” Crystal asks, inhaling the scent of her tea. “I can tell that you’ve already been to my parents’ house,” she says, raising an eyebrow at Shadow’s mane.
“Feather Duster soft of attacked me with a loofah and scissors,” Shadow admits. “Does it look alright?”
“It looks lovely,” Crystal assures her. “My, if we go out for dinner, I have some stunning amethyst pieces you could wear. But I suspect that’s not what you came here to talk to me about. What brings you to Manehattan?”
“I came to find out about my birth parents,” Shadow says, without hesitation. “And I was hoping to use your help.” Crystal’s eyes had widened at Shadow’s first sentence and then got bigger still.
“Me?” Crystal asks sceptically. “What can I do?”
“Just…help?” Shadow says with a shrug. “I couldn’t tell Grandma and Grandpa what I was doing here. They’d try to understand but I think they’d be hurt. Mom’s away in Ponyville right now and I just can’t bear to do this by myself.”
“Oh, darling,” Crystal’s eyes soften. “Of course not. That’s a very brave thing you’re doing. What brought this on?”
“I just don’t know anything about them,” Shadow says and immediately feels bad for lying. But the alternative is to tell her aunt that a dead mare hinted in a dream that Celestia has fudged the truth about her parents and her early life. It's probably better to lie.
“Well, I suppose you don’t,” Crystal says thoughtfully. “Do you have any ideas on where to start?”
“The orphanage is the only lead I have,” Shadow admits. “Mom doesn’t know very much more than that.”
“Which orphanage is that?” Crystal says, eye flicking to the expensive looking clock on the mantelpiece. “If you’re quick you might be able to get there in time today.”
“Prim Petal’s Orphanage for colts and fillies?” Shadow says. She’d looked up the location on the map earlier. It’s a decent length train ride but Shadow could be there and back in reasonable time.
“Ah. Yes, family run, I believe,” says Crystal. “It was started a hundred years ago by the original Prim Petal. Run by one of her ancestors now. Hopefully somepony there can help you.”
“If I’m lucky, maybe somepony there remembers me,” Shadow says, gulping down her tea and resisting pulling a face at the temperature.
“That would be lucky,” Crystal says. “But I don’t know if you’ll be so lucky. It’s been nineteen years, after all.”
Crystal escorts Shadow downstairs and out of the shop, giving her a big hug at the door.
“Take care, my dear,” Crystal says while Shadow is smothered by mounds of crimson, strawberry scented hair.
“I will,” Shadow promises. Crystal steps away, giving her a small smile as she does so.
“Good luck!” Crystal says before turning and stepping back into her shop. Shadow watches her go and then pulls herself up. Enough side quests. Time to move on.
Prim Petal’s Orphanage for fillies. It’s a place she doesn’t remember and she’s not sure if it’s right or downright terrifying that she’s returning there. This may be a total waste of her time. Crystal is right: it’s been nineteen years. That’s a very long time and she can’t hinge all her hopes that somepony there will remember her.
But as she has nothing to lose she sets off in search of a large latte and blueberry muffin to take on the subway with her.
It wasn't uncommon for there to be a knock at the door this time of night.
But Prim Petal the Third would never forget this particular night.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" shouts Prim irritably, trotting to her front door as fast as her hooves would take her. Her hip still acts up on cold nights and her legs don’t move as fast as they used to. She'll soon become too old to run the orphanage and Prim the Fourth will get to have her chance at it.
But Prim won't give it up until she's confined to a bed. Her grandmother built this place with her bare hooves and she'll be damned if she lets her fool of a daughter ruin it.
"Hold your hooves," Prim grumbles, finally making it to the lobby. She heaves herself up a bit to peep through the eye-hole. I swear I’m getting smaller in my old age, she thinks to herself, half-serious, as she struggles to get a look at the figure out in the gloom. She then begins to undo all the locks and bolts at a great speed.
"What are you doing out in this weather?" she queries, concerned, as she finally gets the blasted door open. "Get in, hurry!"
A cloaked stallion quietly slips in through the door and Prim hurriedly shuts it behind him. In the darkened night air, she can barely see his face. The older mare is more than a little disconcerted. The wind whips in behind the shadowed stranger, sending another set of shivers down Prim's spine.
"What were you doing?" Prim asks again, rooting around in a cupboard for a towel. Lucky for the cloaked stallion, she’s prepared for these types of situations. She knows that it's best to have these supplies with little foals running under her roof. After all, Autumn Whisper and Ruby Fire came in just this afternoon, covered head to hoof in mud. Pushing back the errant thought, Prim finds several towels and kindly offers them to the stallion.
While her back was turned, the guard had pulled off his dripping cloak. Still silent, he thoughtfully hangs it off a hook so that it will drip onto the mat and not her perfectly polished floors.
"Take this, then and quickly come sit by the fire." Prim urges, but the guard shakes his head. Before she can ask why, he shifts his large black wings out the way, to reveal a tiny, shivering filly.
Prim makes a small “Oh!” in shock and surprise, before surging forward in a rush of maternal instincts. She takes the small, shocked filly from the shadowed captain without another word or, indeed, a second thought. As the captain begins to dry himself off, the once-grump orphanage owner begins to fuss about the little pony.
The guard busies himself with a towel while Prim rubs down the little filly and then swaddles her as best she can.
"How could you take this little one out there in such a storm?" Prim finally snaps, suddenly furious with the clearly inconsiderate guard. This particular filly doesn't seem too badly off from her stint in a storm, but you can never tell with foals. They're usually as resilient as anything. Still, you can bet that the one time they go frolicking out in a drizzle is the one when they come down with a cold - or something far worse. Prim has never been the type to court trouble. “What were you doing? Where did she come from?” Prim continues, as she quickly moves to take care of the babe.
Best to warm her up immediately and get her some food, even though she seems a sturdy little thing. In all this time of primping and pampering from the elderly orphanage owner, the little one hasn't even made one squeak of complaint. It is truly impressive, when one stops to think about it.
The cautious guard hasn’t yet managed to reply to the now-cantankerous mare’s questions and she doesn’t plan to give him more time to explain. "This way," Prim directs them both to her private quarters through her office - her cozy bedroom, a little kitchenette and a small sitting room. Everything is clean, well-lit and clearly in use. It is obvious that this is a home kept with pride. When her daughters were small, Prim hadn't stayed there much, allowing any staff members staying overnight to use it as a break-room instead. But her fillies are long grown and for the past twenty years, this has been her sanctuary. The orphanage has been her home as long as she can remember. She followed her own mother through these halls until her untimely death, when Prim suddenly was in charge. Being in charge so young taught her so many things...but it hasn’t prepared her for everything that walks through her doors.
Prim stokes the fire. After a moment’s hesitation - because only an idiot would bring such a tiny one out into a storm and he never did answer her questions - she passes the filly back over to the guard so that she can make some tea for them both.
The guard has a towel awkwardly draped over his back but it leaves his hooves free to cradle the filly. Admittedly, It’s an odd sight, a burly guard with a scar over one eye, holding a fat little filly as if she were made of glass. Yet, he seems unnaturally attuned to the foal and clearly protective. Unasked and unanswered questions fill Prim’s head but, for the moment, she sets them aside and focuses on her kettle. With another thought, she also fetches a saucepan and a bottle of milk for the filly.
For a few calm minutes the guard waits, drying his wings by the fire, while the foal half-dozes in his hooves. Finally, the water boils and Prim makes the tea. It takes a few minutes after that for the milk to be heated. She drips the milk bottle over her foreleg, checking the temperature, before she is fully satisfied that it is ready for the still-silent foal. She leaves her mug of tea on the counter while she sees to her guests.
She relieves the stallion of his charge and passes him a mug instead. Settling down in an armchair and carefully shifting the filly so she can feed her, Prim offers the nib of the bottle to her.
"Well, it doesn't seem to have done her much harm." Prim comments, as the foal practically inhales half the bottle in a minute. "Now, are you going to tell me why you're dropping off a filly in the middle of the night?" And why you haven’t spoken a word since entering my house? She hates to admit it, even to herself, but the whole episode was mildly unsettling.
The guard stares at the flickering flames of her fire, dancing red and gold against the brickwork, before briefly before shaking himself out of his reverie. "I'm sorry for the disturbance, ma'am. There was nowhere else."
"Doesn't she have any family?" Prim asks, suspiciously. Still, she knows her position well enough. It’s never a good sign when guards are involved with bringing in small foals. She finds herself glancing away from the stallion’s hollowed expression, noting how the foal sucks almost rhythmically from the bottle, as if it’s easy as breathing.
A mild frown puckers her forehead. Judging by the age of this little one she should be on solid foods by now. She abruptly turns back to the captain. "Surely, there must be somepony..." But he shakes his head and her heart plummets.
"Orphan," he replies, heavily. "Or, at least she is as of tonight. We'll start a search for other relatives tomorrow.” he chances a glance at the infant and his eyes lock onto the tiny, chubby, innocent filly. He clears his throat and looks away. There’s something oddly broken about his gaze and his tone. “Tonight, she needs someplace to stay."
"Of course," Prim agrees, at once. He should have known that he needn’t ask her. "My grandmother would never turn away a child and neither will I.” her eyes flicker back and forth between the filly and the guard. “But I must say, this is the first time a foal has been dropped on my doorstep by a guard, without even a blanket to her name."
The guard seems cautious again and perhaps a little out of his depth. She supposes she can’t blame him. "We'll collect what we can of her belongings," the guard finally explains, a touch hastily. "But the princess gave explicit orders that her house is out of bounds until further notice."
Prim gapes. The princess herself in Manehattan! But this again sends the hair on her neck standing on end. Why has the princess unexpectedly come to Manehattan without any notice?
"I think you'd better start from the beginning," Prim tells him, in the same tone she uses when she finds a vase broken and a ball nearby when the foals know that playing ball games in the house is explicitly forbidden. You do not raise hundreds of orphans without having that kind of voice.
Her laser focus is now directly on the suspicious guard, even as she keeps the little filly safely protected between her hooves. "I'm Prim Petal the Third, matron of this orphanage. And, you are?"
"I am Captain Black Dagger of the Manehattan Royal Guard," the stallions announces.
Prim can almost see the straightening of his shoulder; the pride in his military training. But the soldier in him fades, as he gazes on the dozing filly. "This is Moon Shadow. And she needs a home."
"I'm sure that won't be a problem." Prim tells him. "She's such a quiet filly."
Black Dagger sadly shakes his head. "She might not be. I'm afraid what she saw tonight has frightened her badly. She's barely made a noise since we found her in her crib."
Prim narrows her eyes - now she understands why the princess came to town. Something horrible happened. Something that this Captain Black Dagger couldn’t yet explain. Something awful enough to pull the Princess from her duties in Canterlot and make this sweet filly into an orphan. Prim is suddenly and inexplicably chilled with that last notion. Unaware, she pulls the sleepy babe closer.
“I can’t remember the last time we had a violent crime committed in Equestria. Is it-?”
But the word stops at her tongue and will go no further. The Captain understands what she means, however, and dips his dark head in agreement.
“Murder?” he gently answers. “I believe so. We haven’t found the bodies of her parents but there’s blood there, whichmakes us believe that is what happened.”
A bit of a fuss causes Prim to break her gaze from Dagger’s broken expression and focus on the little one. Moon Shadow has finished the bottle and is plainly clamouring for another one. Prim sighs and slides off her stool to comply, depositing the foal back in Black Dagger’s hooves again.
Moon Shadow stops whimpering immediately, and stares up at Black Dagger’s face. She seems captivated by the old captain.
“That’ll be a hard cross for her to bear.” Prim comments, once the milk is heating up in the pan.
“I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” Black Dagger says quietly. His eyes flick to the old clock on the mantelpiece, but Prim is too busy with the milk to notice. “Measures will be put in place to protect her. I’m sure she’ll explain it all to you.”
Prim turns to face him, eyebrows raised in confusion. “She? You surely don’t mean her…?” she says, with a gesture towards the child.
She half-means it as a joke, of course, though not a very good one. It is nearing two in the morning. It’s a miracle she’s even awake after a day of paperwork, organising staff and separating a fight over the biggest ball in the toy box.
Black Dagger doesn’t even smile, not that she expects him to. He looks so grave that it’s causing Prim’s stomach to roll uncomfortably. She has seen more than enough in her years as matron and even before then, following her mother around when Prim Petal the Second ruled these halls. It is the kind of feeling she has developed when she knows something is going to happen.
The knowledge that a ball will break a window before it happens, that a foal will fall and be injured. Like any mother or guardian angel, Prim is blessed - and sometimes cursed - withtiny premonitions of what’s to come. Right now, something bad is coming. She just wish she knew what that something was.
With the knowledge still haunting her, Prim turns back towards Black Dagger. Guard and foal are still staring silently at each other, forever bound by this night and whatever transpired there. It’s something Prim cannot hope to understand.
“Captain?” Prim asks, her voice barely audible over the loud crack of thunder that echoes through the building.
She’s aware of a child crying somewhere overhead. Somepony has woken up and is frightened by the storm. I know the feeling, little one, she thinks, quietly. Unfortunately, it is not the storm that frightens her. Her uneasiness hits its peak as another bolt of lightning races through the sky.
And then, shattering the stillness of the moment, the doorbell rings.
The small office is a little messy but cosy. Shadow can imagine little fillies coming here with their problems and prospective parents feeling soothed by the foal’s drawings on the wall and brightly coloured filing cabinets. Light streams in from a large window, that offers a charming view of a small playground. Behind the desk sits a middle-aged Earth mare with a lavender bun and glasses perched on her muzzle. She's certainly older than Tea Leaf, judging by by the slight streaks of grey in her updo and the lines by her eyes. In other words, the scene is exactly what you’d expect from an office in an orphanage. Comforting. Welcoming.
Unfortunately, it’s also the place where Shadow’s hopes have been shattered.
“What do you mean, ‘there’s nothing in the file?’” Shadow asks, unable to keep the bite out of her voice. “I must have a file; you keep one for every filly!”
Prim Petal the Fourth looks as though she’s glad that there’s a large desk between them. She reaches out for the slim file in front of her. She’d left the room only minutes ago to search the records room, keys jingling. “Don’t you fret, dear!” she’d sung out. “We get so many little fillies like you, looking for where they came from. I’m sure we’ll find something for you!”
But then she’d returned, clutching a raggedy looking thing, a dismayed frown on her face and Shadow’s heart had sunk.
“You do!” Prim says, her voice tinted ever so slightly with a Manehattan accent. “Well…you did. I’m afraid that this is all we have.” She offers it out to Moon Shadow, who doesn’t hesitate to snatch it.
The brown coloured file in her hooves is slightly faded and discoloured. But Shadow can see her name on the front. Printed there in solid black, with the dates of her stay at the orphanage. Proof that she was here. But Prim Four isn’t wrong – it’s thin.
Moon Shadow knows paperwork. Even if she was only here a little while there should be some weight to it. Admittance papers, medical record, papers for her adoption. So she's not that surprised when her file is empty. Gutted certainly. But not surprised. All of the fight leaves her at once, leaving only a strange numbness.
"I am sorry, dear," Prim says, eyebrows furrowed together in a confused crease. "This is highly unusual...The file itself is here so we know you did come to us all those years ago but everything that should have been inside is gone."
"It's ok," Shadow says, although it's really not. Just another dead end. She'd put a lot of hope into this trip, hoping that someone at the orphanage would remember her or that an orphanage would at least have good records. But there's not even that. "I don't suppose there would be anywhere else it might have been stored?" Shadow tries but Prim shakes her head.
"I'm afraid not," she says, sadly. "We just don't have the space. We do shred information after a certain time of course but we have more fillies come through our doors than the storage. After all, sometimes they stop here for only a few weeks like you did."
"Is there any pony else I can speak to?" Shadow says desperately. She can't take her eyes off that empty file. Her answers were so, so close. "Somepony who worked here? They might remember me!"
Prim looks taken back at the desperation in Shadow’s voice. She coughs and reaches out. Shadow reluctantly hands back the file, trying to ignore the empty feeling in her gut. "I'm not sure that would be possible,” Prim says crisply. “Very few of our staff have been here that long and with the ones that are left it's unlikely they would remember you. Our chef has been here for many years but she doesn't interact with the children all that much. I am sorry, dear but I don't think that will help."
"What about your mother?" Shadow says, with a bolt of inspiration. "You said she was matron here years ago! Surely she would have met me!" Prim does that funny little cough again, and hitches her glasses up her nose. If Shadow was a betting mare, she’d guess that’s Prim’s tell. But then it’s gone and there’s only a perfectly serene expression on the mare’s face.
"I'm afraid my mother is quite elderly," Prim says, with a small smile. "She's infirm and her mind is not what it was. I don't think it would be a good idea. You probably wouldn't be able to get that much out of her anyway. She's gotten very strange in her old age."
“Oh,” Shadow says quietly. It was worth a shot. Just a little filly giving it one final go to try and find where she came from.
“I should go,” Shadow says. The light from outside has settled into that warm glow of late afternoon. There’s pounding hoof steps overhead and excited calls echoing around the house, signalling that the many small inhabitants have returned. Prim must have work to do, with so many children to care for. “Get out of your mane.”
Shadow slides off her chair and Prim does the same to walk her to the office door.
“I am dreadfully sorry that we couldn’t help,” Prim says, her voice the perfect mix of warmth and understanding. “Please don’t hesitate to come visit us again if there’s anything else you can think of. Or if you’d even like to see the house! Maybe it’ll prompt some memories.”
Shadow gives a weak smile. “That might be nice. I was only three so I don’t expect much…” Prim waves a hoof.
“Well, you never know!” she says cheerfully. “We’ve had many a mare step in through that door and say how familiar it seems to them. Or even the details they remember! One mare came here fifty years after her adoption and was able to recall the strange varnish stain in the upstairs bathroom! You’d be surprised what’s trapped up in the mazes of our memories.”
“Maybe,” Shadow says. “Thank you for your time.” She offers out a hoof, even as she pulls on the door handle with her magic. But before Prim can shake it, here’s an enormous bang and a frightened cry from the floor above. Not long after, several more small voices begin to cry, startled and upset.
“Oh my stars!” Prim gasps. “Excuse me, Lady Shadow, I’m afraid that you’ll have to see yourself out. It sounds as though somepony has had an accident – unavoidable with children!”
And with that, the matron dashes off down the corridor to seek out the source of distress. Shadow can hear her voice fading as Prim hurries up the stairs – “Now didn’t I warn you all not to run in the house?”
Shadow shakes her head and turns to give the small office one last glance. If her younger self was here, this room isn’t calling forth any memories. Actually, she doesn’t remember this place at all. Stepping through the front door into a clean if well-worn hallway hadn’t sparked anything, hadn’t even given her a sense of déjà vu. Maybe she’d been too young. Maybe there’s a reason she remembers nothing before she was four years old.
Shadow has just turned around when there’s a bang from behind her, inside the room. Shadow whirls around, expecting to see somepony. But there’s nopony there. Nothing that she can see that’s fallen down, anything that might be the source of the noise.
Shadow’s eyes flick furiously over the space. She’s not going mad – that sound came from this room. Her horn almost lights itself, pulling forth magic that crackles and sparks. It’s half conscious, half instinct. A Pegasus will flare its wings as a fear response and unicorns summon magic.
Shadow has taken a few cautious steps inside, trying to gauge if there’s an enemy here when the noise comes again. Shadow, already tense, nearly jumps a foot into the air. This time, further into the room, she can better tell where the sound came from. It almost definitely came from near Prim’s desk. Taking a deep breath, Shadow leaps forward the last few feet to find…nothing. A desk. Filing cabinets. A ‘Best Mommy!’ mug on a coaster, still containing a few dregs of tea.
Shadow frowns. She hates feeling like somepony is outwitting her. But as her hooves carry her forward, past the last cupboard to her left, she finally sees what she’s been missing.
It’s a door. A door just to the right of a large cupboard, perfectly positioned that it blocks the view of whoever might be sitting in front of the desk. Shadow glances to the door. Prim hasn’t returned yet but she may soon. She shouldn’t be snooping. But a final bang confirms it. There’s somepony or something behind this door, causing a ruckus. Are they trying to get her attention?
Taking a deep breath, Shadow yanks on the handle.
She very nearly trips over several items on the floor as she walks in. Shadow collects them in her magic field so she can inspect them. She holds an old paperback, a coaster, and a glasses case. Somepony was definitely throwing these with intent. Maybe somepony would throw the book in disgust, Shadow noted, looking at the muscular stallion and swooning mare on the front cover, but these are likely whatever somepony had to hand. Desperate for attention, they’d lobbed them at the door, knowing that whoever was in the next room would hear.
“About time!” an elderly voice grumbles and Shadow looks up, heart in her throat. She’d been so preoccupied with the mystery that she’d forgotten that somepony in this room would have had to have thrown them.
But settled into a soft armchair is an old mare. There’s a grey mane tucked under a cap and bright eyes glinting at Shadow in the flickering light of the fire. Even so, the mare is tucked under several blankets, as if the room weren’t already blisteringly warm.
“Come in, child!” the mare cajoles. “And bring my things back while you’re at it. I’m not done with that book but I was running out of things to throw.”
Shadow walks over and settles the items down on a nearby side table, well within the mare’s reach.
“So you were trying to get my attention!” Shadow says, somewhat confused. “Or….do you need Prim Petal instead?” The mare waves a hoof dismissively. For a pony that looks so frail, she must have some strength left in her to throw those things against the door with such force.
“Not her,” she snorts. “I see plenty of her! No, it’s you I need. I knew that someday you’d walk these halls again. I just hoped it would be before I walk off this planet.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” asks Moon Shadow politely. The old mare coughs into a handkerchief and glares.
“Prim Petal the Third!” she wheezes. Shadow starts.
“So…you’re the Fourth’s mother!” she says. “She didn’t mention…”
“That I’m left here to rot?” says the mare with a smirk. “’Course she wouldn’t. She thinks I’m senile in my old age. Pah! Sharp as a tack, me.”
“Uh huh,” murmurs Shadow, doubtfully. Prim Three narrows her eyes at her.
“Don’t believe me? Who are you then? Another strange filly wandering in, looking to find where she came from?” Prim Three enquiries, with that unnerving glint in her eyes again.
“Well, yes,” Shadow replies. “I’m Moon Shadow.”
“Moon Shadow,” repeats Prim Three. “Unusual name.”
“Perhaps. I haven’t really thought about it,” Moon Shadow says, with a shrug.
“Maybe you should think about it,” snaps Prim Three. “Not a name you come across often, especially not a distinct mare like you.” Moon Shadow suspects that’s a jibe about her colouring again but she lets it slide.
“Wait,” says Shadow, suspiciously. “Does that mean you remember me? Were you here the night I was brought in?”
“It’s a possibility,” says Prim Third slyly. “There’s many an Aurora Dawn or Rainbow Flash going around these days. Not too many chubby pumpkins by the name of Moon Shadow.”
Shadow bristles. “I was three! I had some extra foal weight!”
“Perhaps,” says Prim Third cheerfully. “Cute as a button. Good to see you’re less round now. Well, in most places.” Shadow self-consciously moves her rear out of Prim’s eye line.
“So you were here. Who brought me in? What happened to me? Prim Four couldn’t find anything in my file!”
“Of course she couldn’t!” snaps Prim Three. “It’s long been destroyed.”
“What do you mean ‘destroyed’?” asks Shadow, in horror. This wasn’t something she’d anticipated. The contents were gone but she’d still hoped that maybe they were just lost somewhere. “By who?”
“Me, I’m afraid,” confesses Prim Three, with another hacking cough. The old mare raises a tissue to her muzzle to wipe away spittle that clings to her lower lip. Shadow tries to not wince. She suspects that if she'd come even a year later Prim Three wouldn't be here and the secrets of Shadow's life would be lost forever.
“But why?” Shadow asks angrily. “What could you possibly have to gain from destroying my file?”
“Wasn’t my choice there, kid,” says Prim Three. “So don’t go biting my head off. I’m afraid it was a request I couldn’t refuse. You understand?” Shadow nods.
She knows exactly who would request such a thing. She also knows the only pony in the whole of Equestria that no pony could ever refuse. “I am sorry,” says Prim Three softly. “At the time I didn’t know why and it didn’t seem a good idea to ask. So I shredded the file and gave you over to her and did my best to not think about it again.”
“Why? Because it was easier?” asks Shadow bitterly. Prim Three makes a derisive sound.
“Because it was too awful to remember,” she says bluntly. “The guard that brought you in was shaking from head to tail. You were a tiny little thing, wrapped in a blanket and you didn’t make a sound all night. Something had scared you both fierce.”
“I was brought in by a guard?” Moon Shadow perks up at the sound of a lead. “Do you remember his name?”
“Eh, let’s see,” Prim Three muses, tugging her pile of blankets higher over her hind legs. “Dagger something…He was part of the Manehattan City Guard near twenty years ago.”
“Do you remember the rest of his name?” asks Shadow, impatiently. In any city guard there could be at least ten ponies with the name Dagger.
“Ah! Black Dagger!!” exclaims Prim in delight. She smugly beams a toothless grin at Shadow. “Told you I’d remember!”
“No, actually, you didn’t,” Shadow sighs wearily. “You said you were as sharp as a tack. Which I am beginning to doubt, to be honest.”
“Ooh. Smart ass, aren’t you?” says Prim, raising an eyebrow. She tries to reach for the tissue box and Shadow magically moves it over to her.
“No offence but you are old,” says Shadow. “But you’re not senile, I will give you that.”
“Told you that too,” says Prim grumpily. “Mind telling my fool of a daughter that?”
“I’m sure Prim Four is very nice!” Shadow protests. Prim makes another disgusted noise.
“Nice ponies can still be fools,” she says, matter-of-factly. “Besides, she persuaded her daughter to name my great grandfoal Prim Petal the Sixth.”
“Ooh,” Shadow wrinkles up her nose. “The sixth. Do you not know any other names in your family?”
“Clearly not,” Prim Three says. “She was never very good at thinking for herself, that mare. Relies far too much on our family's name and prestige. Now, you gonna go find that guard?”
“I guess so,” says Moon Shadow, biting her lip. It might not be so easy tracking down an old captain. It depends on whether the Manehattan guard will help her. Maybe there are some public records she can look at. “I’m going to have to, if he’s still alive. Nopony else can tell me what happened that night.”
“Well, good luck then, I guess,” says Prim Three grudgingly. Nice to see that you grew up well. I'll admit, I was worried that night would leave too much of a mark on you."
"Do you know what happened?" Shadow asks hopefully but the old mare shakes her head.
"Sorry, lass, not my story to tell," Prim says sadly. "I only ever got a few gruesome snippets. Find your guard. He's the best pony to tell you. You and he came out of that night with a bond between you."
"Of course," Shadow says, mind already ticking over with all the ways of tracking down a retired guard Captain. "Thank you for your help."
Prim gives a wry smile, tinged with regret. "Only what I owe you, lass. It’s always nice to know that a filly from my care grew up happy and healthy. I’m glad I got to see you again.”
"As am I," Shadow says. This crotchety old mare had been one of the first ponies to hold her and care for her after that night all those years ago. Shadow can't really resent her for what she's done, not when it was Celestia who ordered it all. Who in Equestria could say no to the goddess who raises the heavenly bodies across the sky? "Although I hope you stick around a little longer. I'd like to visit you again when this is all over."
"I'd like that," Prim Three responds, with another toothy grin. This one looks genuine, lacking any slyness or teasing. "You can take me for a walk and we'll drink whiskey in the park."
"No, we won't!" Shadow says in horror. “We can have cake and tea.” Prim pouts and hitches her blankets higher over her thin legs.
"And here I was hoping you'd be more fun than my grandfoals," she sighs. There's a clatter behind them, hooves on hardwood floors and Prim Four sticks her head through the door.
"Lady Moon Shadow!" she says, eyes widening with shock. They get wider still when they see who Shadow has been talking to. "Mother!"
"Oh good, you're already met," Prim Three says cheerfully. As Prim Four trots in and makes a fuss over her mother, Prim Three gives Shadow an obvious wink. Shadow dips her head once to acknowledge the message has been received.
"I'm so sorry to be a bother," Shadow says. "I was on my way out and this lovely mare needed a hoof with a fresh box of tissues." Shadow slips into her more proper Canterlot tones as a force of habit, the ones she uses when she's trying to open doors that are not usually accessible to the daughter of a tea maker.
I see" Four says, suspiciously but as her mother indeed has a new box right next to her, there's very little she can say. "I would prefer that mother stay at a proper home but she insists on being here during the day with me."
"It's my home," wheezes Prim Three into her handkerchief. "My mother raised me in this house, as I did with you and your sister. I don't know what you're doing keeping Prim Five out of her birthright. She should have grown up wandering these halls and learning the family business..."
"Yes, thank you, mother," Prim Four interrupts, looking flustered. Prim Three scowls and readjusts the blankets that her daughter had just moved. "But I'm sure my daughter has all the time in the world to take over running the house."
"How wonderful to have another addition to such a legacy," Shadow interrupts. "I'm sure my grandparents would be willing to give a donation as I spent some time here as a foal." Prim Four's eyes light up while Three smirks. Yes, it's an underhanded move but Shadow needs to ensure she can come back again, if needed. Prim Four seems the type to open up at the offer of a donation.
“That be would very kind indeed,” Prim Four gushes. “Thank you! We do so rely on the kindness of benefactors here, I’m afraid that government funding doesn’t always cover our needs…”
It probably doesn’t. The paint is peeling in the corners of the walls and the playground outside could use some new equipment. They seem to function well enough but a few things have clearly slipped.
“Well, I will certainly see to it,” Shadow says briskly. “I’d love to come again to discuss it?”
“That would be wonderful!” Prim Four enthuses. “Just wonderful! Do let me know and we’ll schedule something in.”
“Of course,” Shadow says, flicking her eyes to the clock on the mantelpiece. “I’m afraid I have to dash now but I will be back in Manehattan in a few weeks, I expect. I’d love to sit down with you and your lovely mother.” Oops, went too far. Prim Four looks a bit startled. Lovely was probably the wrong word to use.
“I’ll see myself out,” Shadow says hurriedly. “I’ll send a letter. Goodbye!” She bolts through the door and through the house as fast as she can without making it too obvious that she’s escaping. Back on the street, she sticks a hoof out for a taxi. She has some research to do, She came to Manehattan for answers and she’s determined that she won’t set foot on that train back to Canterlot without them.
"Why does it have to be giant spiders?!" Moon Shadow shrieks, going as fast she her legs will take her. This is even worse than the carnivorous clowns or possessed dolls or the room full of insects or any of the other terrifying dreams she's been encountering lately. For starters the spider is about the height of a small building. No matter how fast she goes, it makes no difference as the spider takes one giant step and catches up again almost immediately. Secondly, there's a young colt who's screaming at the top of his lungs as they run so there's no chance of them being able to hide. And thirdly, shooting the spider with magic seems to have very little effect.
"It worked on the bucking clowns!" Shadow mutters under her breath. "And the dolls!" Of course it's entirely possible a 30 foot high spider isn't just going to vanish with just a little bolt of magic. She's not weak magic wise but that is going to take some serious power to disintegrate a giant spider. Unless of course it just dissolves into thousands of little spiders. Maybe it's lucky that she can't just shoot it.
Course, she has very few plans for what to do now. Get the kid to stop screaming and then create a portal for them both. She does not want to know what's going to happen if the spider catches them. Those pincers are huge and makes her stomach squirm just at the sight of them.
"Would you be quiet!" Shadow shouts, finally at her limit. "You're making this so much worse!" The colts whimpers, eyes wide with terror, but he does stop screaming.
"It's going to eat us!" he wails, verging on hysteria. Shadow scowls. She has no idea how he's managed to gallop full pelt while screaming at the top of his lungs for the last five minutes. Her lungs are already burning and she's tried the best she can to breathe regularly. The last few weeks have improved her fitness immensely - there's no motivation quite like running for your life.
"We're going to find a door so we can get out of here!" Shadow shouts back. The spider takes another giant step, shaking the ground below their hooves. Each time Shadow has to try and adjust to the tremors and not let herself be thrown off her hooves. "But it'll take me a few seconds to cast the spell!"
"It'll eat us in a few seconds!" the colt says, looking as though he's on verge of screaming again. Shadow groans. She had thought of that...she just had just hoped he wouldn't. Goodness, Daffy coped much better than this. Of course, the little filly with the dolls had outright fainted but you can't win them all.
"We'll work around it," Shadow fibs. "Now hard right!" She veers off course suddenly and the colt has had just enough warning to follow her, stumbling on his skinny legs as he does so. Their sudden divergence seems to have bought them a little bit of time. The spider doesn't appear to be very bright and manoeuvring with those large legs can't be easy.
"It just had to be spiders..." Shadow mutters again. "And left!"
The spider makes a strangled noise as its prey escapes it's reach once more. Shadow feels bile rising at the back of her throat. Oh, good, a giant hungry spider that can talk. At least they can have a good chat about politics and the like before they get eaten.
"Did that thing just talk?" she shouts at the colt. He winces.
"Yes. probably. The smaller ones usually do!" he says, defensively. Shadow screeches quietly out of disbelief and frustration and then snaps "That doesn't help! Why in Equestria can they talk? No, don't answer that! Now left!"
They veer off course once more and run full pelt down the street. Shadow knows that they won't be able to do this much more before the spider catches on. But if she can buy them a bit of time by slowing it down then she'll have enough time to cast the spell to get them out of here. She risks a glance over her shoulder. the street they've gone down is a bit too small for the spider to fit through and is currently attempting to squeeze it's body through the gap but this only achieves its many legs getting caught instead. Now is the time or they may not get another chance.
"That door there!" Shadow shouts. Her legs feel as though they might buckle beneath her and she's running out of breath to speak. But the colt gets her meaning and puts on a small burst of speed now that an end is in sight. Shadow sucks in a deep breath and pushes harder to keep up with him.
"Do it now, do it now!" the colt begs as she makes it to the door, panting heavily. Shadow glares at him, trying to summon moisture to her mouth. The spider appears to have gotten a leg free and is trying to scuttle sideways. It's not having much luck but if it figures out to go over the buildings they're in so much trouble. Trapped in a web and devoured trouble.
Shadow ignores the panicking colt besides her and lights up her horn. The spell is intricate and complex and it's hard enough when it's just her she has to move through dreams. This is the fourth time now she's had to escort another passenger and it's not getting any easier. It's a significant amount of power more required to move across dreams than it is to adjust the dream itself. But these kinds of dreams won't let her change any details, not a thing. Even more worryingly, not even the dreamer has any control.
The spider roars again - and that's a sentence she never thought she'd say - and pounds a leg against the ground. Everything shudders and the colt nearly collapses into a ball.
"You know, real spiders don't act like this!" Shadow says, eyes closed, still weaving magic. Just a little bit more. Pull on this thread here and move that over there and...
The door lights up in an indigo glow, signifying that the spell is complete. The door is now a portal. Hopefully it'll take them to a much less terrifying place than this one.
"I know but this is much scarier!" the colt whimpers, from behind his hooves.
"Well, can you dream a bit more realistically next time?" Shadow snaps, fed up. Cannibal clowns and an army of machete wielding dolls and bugs with large pincers every night will do that to a pony. "Spiders don't talk, don't roar and don't have temper tantrums!"
Shadow is suddenly cut off by a string of white, sticky goo pinning her foreleg to the ground. The colt shrieks and tries to bolt but suffers the same treatment. Now they're both stuck. Fantastic.
"Is that spiderweb?" Shadow asks incredulously, trying to pull her leg free. The colt seems to be shuddering and not looking at the web covering his hooves. Behind them the spider....grins? Or at least makes an unpleasant face that looks like glee and continues to try to wriggle through the gap.
"Actually it's spider silk and it's tensile strength is greater than the same weight of steel," he says, eyes closed. Shadow looks skyward, praying for strength.
"Well, thank you for that little bit of trivia now that we're about to be eaten," she says, not even attempting to soothe him. There's a two storey high spider advancing slowly on them, he probably knows.
"Can you get rid of it?" he says, trembling.
"Not easily," Shadow comments. If the web is like the spider itself it probably won't come off. She might not even be able to dissolve it with magic at all. It occurs to her that she's being very calm for somepony about to be tied up and swallowed whole by a huge spider. "Don't suppose you have any ideas? Do you think that spiders are afraid of bees or something stupid we can use to get it away from us?"
The colt opens his eyes, looking hopeful. "I heard once that spiders are ticklish?" Shadow can only stare at him until he wilts under her gaze.
"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Shadow sighs. But foals are very susceptible and rumours they hear on the playground occasionally affect their dreams. If he believes spiders to be ticklish, then there’s a good chance that in his dreams, they will be.
"Let's give it a go," Shadow says, igniting her horn and looking around for something to use. They're in a small empty street that resembles no town that shadow has ever seen - possibly one constructed entirely by the dreamer. But there's a plant pot nearby holding some long frondy thing. Shadow uses her magic to rip one out and levitate it high into the air. She narrows her eyes as she manoeuvres it under the spiders belly, just so it brushes the furry underside.
"Here goes nothing," Shadow mutters and then pulls with her magic. The frond sways back and forth, slowly at first and then picking up speed as Shadow gets the hang of the motion. To her extreme surprise the spider stills and then begins to twitch, trying to escape the unpleasant sensation.
"It's working!" the colt whispers. He’s peeking out from behind his hooves with an expression of curiosity and horror.
"This is the weirdest and most disturbing thing I've ever done," Shadow says flatly. "Don't just stand there! Try to get free. I don't know how long this will work for."
The colt bends down and tugs at his trapped hoof. It pulls off the ground somewhat but snaps back easily. It's far too sticky.
"It's not working!" he says in a panic.
“Keep trying!" Shadow says, through gritted teeth. The spider is trying to get away and Shadow has to try equally hard to keep up with it's movements, never letting it bat away her improvised tickling tool. The colt tugs and tugs, even resorting to using his teeth to rip through the silk pinning him to the ground.
"It won't budge!" he says in frustration, after very little give from the silk. Shadow grits her teeth and quickly casts her eye around for anything that can be of use to them. Something to cut the silk with or a weapon...large can of bug spray or a very big shoe but there’s nothing. There's just her. Ugh.
"Ok, so I have an idea," Shadow says reluctantly, having completely run out of options.
"Great!" the colt says eagerly.
"But you won't like it," Shadow says bluntly. His face drops.
"Don't look at me like that," Shadow says, grumpily. "We have no other options and you dreamed a massive talking hungry spider! And we're stuck!" The colt scrunches his eyes shut. The street is still shaking from the spider’s many legs crashing down into the pavement as it desperately tries to escape,
"Ok, what's the plan?" he says. 'Tell me quickly!"
Um. No. if she tells him he might protest or get too scared and he needs to be calm for this. This is going to use most of her magic and strength and she has one shot. That's all. If this doesn't work...well, then she's spider chow and Grogar rules the world. Yay.
Honestly, these life and death adventures are getting tiring.
Shadow takes a deep breath. summoning all the magical energy she has...and then drops the only thing that's keeping the spider from them. Before it even has a chance to react she teleports a metre away. She lands, dazed and tired, foreleg still sticky but no longer pinned down. By this point the spider has begun to move again and the first giant footstep has caused her companion to open his eyes in horror. Before he can scream, Shadow grabs hold of him and teleports again. They land in front of the door and Shadow wastes no time wrenching it open and throwing them both through.
Just before the door closes she gets a glimpse of eight eyes blinking in confusion. "Og?" it asks before the door shuts and the portal disintegrates.
“That was the worst," Shadow complains. There's gunk attached to her foreleg and she has no idea if that will come back with her to the waking world. Her legs are sore and her lungs feel like they're on fire. That's not even getting started on her how hot and itchy her horn feels. She definitely pushed it a bit too far for her magical reserves. These nightmares are getting harder and harder to escape.
They appear to have transported to an open field, sunny and alive with many colourful, blooming flowers. Across it, several foals are playing with a gigantic inflatable ball. At least somepony is having a happy dream.
Shadow exhales and lets herself relax. The grass underneath smells sweet and crisp and she has to resist the urge to take a few bites out of it. After a night of relentless running and fear, it's nice to have a few moments, letting the sun warm her belly and watching the wind carry stray flower petals past.
There's a groan next to her and she turns her head to see the colt similarly slumped on the ground. With a sigh, she rolls over and pulls herself to her tired hooves.
"Ok, kid, let's get you back to your own dream," she says, in the best calming teacher voice she can manage. He lifts his head up, face immediately changing to one of panic.
"What?" he squeaks. "You want to send me back to that....thing?" Shadow resists the urge to roll her eyes.
"No," she says. "Back to a nice, non threatening dream in your own head. This belongs to somepony else so you can't stay here. I'll make you your own special dream, how about that? Anything you like."
"In a locked steel room, protected by twenty royal guards?" he says and she's not entirely sure if it's a joke or not.
"Anything," she says through gritted teeth. "But I promise that if you ever have another nightmare, I'll come running. How's that?" He looks down at his hooves considering. Across the field, the foals chase the ball as the wind whips it away from them. They don't seem to mind though, their endless laughter echoing as they call to one another.
"Okay," the colt says finally. Shadow offers him a hoof and when he accepts it, she pulls him up. It's impressive that he managed to run for so long when he feels as though he might also be swept away by the wind.
Summoning a door takes her a moment and it causes her horn to burn uncomfortably but she does it. The colt looks suspicious and on the verge of running again when she goes to open it but inside it’s a soft, quiet dream filled with other foals playing board games.
“Off you go now,” Shadow says. “Go play a game of Ogres and Oubliettes for me.”
The colt pokes his head in but still looks back doubtfully at her. Shadow smiles and gives him a nudge.
“I promise the ogres won’t come alive,” she says, hoping against hope that’s true. She has no more left in her. “Now go play!” He beams suddenly and rushes through, where he is greeted by the crowds of foals. Shadow watches him quietly for a moment, noticing how different he is. All at once he’s become somepony that’s happy and confident, eagerly joining in the game. This dream has him in his element.
Shadow sighs heavily and lets the door close. It vanishes immediately. He’ll forget that she was there come morning, hopefully. It’ll just be another bad dream. Ponies very rarely remember their interactions with her, the strange dream mare crumbling away into distant memory the moment they wake up.
But just maybe, that colt will now know that spiders aren’t ticklish, Shadow thinks with a wry smile.
But now, it’s back to business. The night isn’t over yet and there’s so much more to do. Shadow stretches out her tired legs and carefully prods her horn. She might have to wrap it in some ice tomorrow or it’s going to hurt.
Shadow prepares to summon another door to move her to the next dream when she suddenly feels uncomfortable. It’s the sensation you feel when you sense another pony’s presence, when it wasn’t there before. The invasive feeling of somepony’s eyes on you. She whips around but of course, there’s nopony there. Just the waving flowers and laughing children.
So why does she still feel like she’s being watched?
Finding and contacting the guard had taken all of Shadow’s resources. Luckily Crystal, a born and raised Manehattanite, has a good knowledge of the city and plenty of contacts. Finding a Captain Black Dagger from nearly twenty years ago was a breeze. Getting a message to him was less so but eventually someone gave them his home address. Shadow sent a letter by messenger requesting that he meet her at a cafe and he’d responded, confirming that the next day would be suitable. He hadn't even asked what it was she wanted to talk about. All she’d said was that she wanted to discuss an old case.
She arrives at the café a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time, a quaint local eatery that is apparently not too far from where Black Dagger resides in his retirement. He’d jovially written that his knees weren’t what they were and did she mind making the trip out to the suburbs. The train ride was decent and made quicker by the to go coffee she’d grabbed before hopping on at the station.
She pauses to scan the crowd, shielding her eyes against the bright light with a foreleg. The lunchtime diners are all sitting under forest green umbrellas and enjoying the sunshine. It's busy, everypony enjoying a quick bite outside before they head back to work. She scans the crowd for an older stallion matching his description. Eventually her eyes land on a black pegasus with an ash grey mane. His bulk definitely suggests he was very active when he was younger and still keeps himself in shape now. There’s slightly greying around his muzzle but his eyes look warm as he chats with his companions. When she gets closer, she can see the ornate dagger emblazoned on his flank. That’s him, she thinks brightly, to herself, as she nears the waiting pegasus.
He’s sitting with two mares, sharing a large jug of what looks like lemonade. The older mare is a similar age to the captain. She’s a pretty periwinkle blue pegasus, with a rose pink mane and tail. Unlike Black Dagger she doesn’t have any grey on her muzzle or mane, either through good genes or dye. Her cutie mark is a trio of pink and blue whistles. The younger mare is about Tea Leaf’s age. Her coat is a deep, rich red and her mane is twisted into a fancy hairdo that Shadow has seen on her grandmother a few times. She approaches the group cautiously. She hadn’t realised he’d be accompanied.
“Black Dagger, sir?” she carefully greets, once he is in earshot. He turns to smile at her but his companions don’t look so welcoming.
“This her?” asks the older mare in a not so kind voice, directing the question at the captain. She eyes Moon Shadow with disdain and…suspicion? Shadow swallows nervously. Her best guess is that this is Black Dagger’s wife but she's not sure she understands the hostility.
“I presume so,” Black Dagger replies jovially.
Shadow tries to smile at the table’s other occupants but it soon drops off her face when she doesn’t receive much of a response. Instead, both continue to quietly stare at the intruder, through two pairs of dark, suspicious eyes.
“Have a seat,” Black Dagger offers, not paying the slightest bit of attention to his family’s twin glares. He shoves a chair out for Moon Shadow and she awkwardly climbs into it, trying not to look either mare in the eye.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you during your retirement, Mr Black Dagger,” she begins, politely. She’ll just have to ignore the daggers she’s getting the brunt of. “But I actually have a few questions. As I said in my letter, my name is…”
“Moon Shadow,” Black Dagger cuts her off. “I know, lass. I remember you.”
She gapes at him before closing her mouth, aware that she’s being rude. She hadn’t expected that he’d so easily remember her after all these years. Hundreds of cases and countless victims, witnesseses, suspects...but to be fair, Equestria so rarely sees the kind of crime that her family went through.
Black Dagger chuckles, pulling an empty glass forward and filling it from the jug of lemonade on the table.
“Distinctive name you’ve got there. And asking about a case from nineteen years ago? That case has lived with me every day since then. And when I saw you, well, I just knew. A distinctive little filly, you were,” he warmly explains, sliding a filled glass of lemonade across the table to her. She takes it gratefully and gulps it down, dumbfounded. It’s pretty good actually. Sweet without being overbearing, the right amount of citrus on her tongue.
“So, you remember me?” she finally asks, when the glass has been half emptied. The lemonade hasn’t helped much, delicious though it was, and she briefly wishes for something stronger.
“You bet I do.” He turns away, leaning towards his silent, still suspicious wife. “Wind Whistler, this here is the little filly we rescued all those years ago,” he explains to the older mare. “Don’t you remember the Bramley Lane case?”
Wind Whistler and her daughter turn to look at Shadow with new eyes. Their unfriendly looks warm considerably, tinged with guilt.
“We’re so sorry, dear,” Wind Whistler tells her, fretfully. “We thought you were a journalist, asking all sorts of questions again.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” his daughter comments, reaching for her own glass. “That case got a lot of attention. We’ve had journalists hounding dad for years. We thought you were another one, trying to get some intel from us.”
“No, no!” Moon Shadow waves her forelegs emphatically, in an attempt to calm them. “I was told that your father was the one who dropped me off at the orphanage that night. I was hoping to find out what happened.” she hesitates. “I’m afraid I don’t know very much about what happened to my parents.”
All three of the ponies’ faces fall. Shadow squirms a bit under their pitying looks. She doesn’t like where this is leading. Wind Whistler and the daughter look dismayed but Dagger somehow appears resigned. Like he knew that she’d come and one day he’d have to tell her the truth.
She knows. She’s always known. There was no her chance of her arriving in Manehattan for somepony to say that her parents were still alive. That they were in hiding or have spent the last nineteen years in a hospital somewhere.
Yes, she’s probably known since she got on that train. Maybe even before. But she can’t mourn. Not yet. There’s still so much to do. Black Dagger has a story to tell her, pieces of her past that Prim Four only half completed. There’s still so many gaps.
“Oh, dear,” murmurs Wind Whistler. She turns back towards her daughter. “Come along, Cerise. We should give them some peace.” She makes one last glance towards Moon Shadow, with a small smile. “It was very nice to meet you, dear.” With that, Wind Whistler and Cerise slip down from their chairs, gulping down the last of their drinks and shrugging on their saddlebags.
Moon Shadow waves awkwardly as they leave, before she finds a renewed glass of lemonade being shoved in front of her muzzle.
“Drink up, lass,” Black Dagger firmly instructs her. “We’ve a long afternoon ahead of us.”
Their route to her old house is slow going. Moon Shadow is used to rushing about back in Canterlot, but Black Dagger walks much slower. He isn’t exactly sprightly anymore, either. When they set off from the cafe, Moon Shadow expects to get a cab or get a train. Instead they seem to be taking a leisurely walk down a suburban street in the sunshine. The houses sit in neat rows, with brightly painted doors and carefully maintained front gardens. There are window boxes and blossoming flowers. One has sunflowers by the front gate that tower over the both of them. Another even boasts tiny topiaries shaped like birds. If you couldn’t see the skyline in the distance, with all the towering skyscrapers, it would almost be like you were out in the country. It’s like a whole other world away from the city. Moon Shadow is quietly dazzled by the difference, having never set hoof this far outside of the main city before.
“Peaceful out here, isn’t it?” says Black Dagger, seeing her look at the quaint houses and bird-feeders in the yards. “My wife and I moved out this way a few years back, when our youngest went off to college. Seemed like the best place to retire and still be close to the city we love.” She mutely nods, unsure of the strange feeling in her gut. She grew up in the centre of Canterlot, exposed to culture and politics and every amenity the city had to offer. How very different her life would have been if she’d grown up here. Playing out in her very own garden after school, taking trips into the city only for special meals and visits.
“Is it this way?” Shadow bursts out, almost unable to contain herself. There’s a feeling of urgency in her belly; not quite excitement but almost a desperation, knowing that the answers she seeks are so close. “Along a street like this?”
“It was,” Black Dagger replies, trying to hop up back up onto the pavement and not quite making it. He tries again, without the hop, while Shadow impatiently waits for more answers. “I remember getting called out here and thinking that evil didn’t belong in a street like this.”
“Was that what it was?” Shadow asks uneasily. “I mean, is that what you think it was?”
Black Dagger gives a heavy sigh. Whether it’s from their conversation or the long walk, Shadow isn’t sure.
“Heavy word, evil,” he eventually comments, not quite to her. Shadow listens closely, ears flickering in silent anticipation. “I don’t like to think that there’s anypony in Equestria that’s evil. Or anybody at all. Heck, even manticores in the Everfree Forest aren’t evil. They want to survive, to hunt and eat. But it ain’t evil.”
“But what if there was something?” Shadow pushes, picking up her pace in her excitement. “If not a pony, there must be something in this world that’s evil.”
He shoots her a dark look that makes her suspect that she’s said too much. He seems to know that what attacked her parents wasn’t Equine.
“I expect there is,” he finally tells her, after some drawn out considerations. “But maybe not of this world, if you catch my drift.” There’s a certain type of knowing in his shadowed eyes, one that Shadow cannot yet fully understand. “There’s all sorts in Tartarus for that reason, after all. Now slow up!” Moon Shadow sheepishly screeches to a halt and waits for him to slowly pick his way towards her. Once they’re level she moves again, sticking to his pace this time.
“Nearly there,” he says. “Just around this bend. Sorry about this, I know you’re impatient but arthritis waits for no pony.”
They haven’t even made it to the turn when Shadow’s hair begins to stand on end. Something about this is familiar; unnervingly so. But she feels like she hasn’t seen it properly, or in daylight. It’s as if the memory is faded somehow, greyed and blurred out.
With every step, that feeling only grows stronger.
The street in front of them is exactly like the one before. Tiny red brick houses stand all in a row, with painted doors and manicured gardens. Birds chirp and somewhere a radio plays crackly music. There’s a stallion tending to his roses. He waves cheerily at them before returning to his work. It is a perfectly ordinary suburban street.
But the house in the middle seems somehow different. It as though the paint isn’t bright enough, or there are less blooms on the flowers outside. It is as if the house is lopsided or the bricks are bleeding red. It shouldn’t look or feel any different - but somehow it does. Shadow can feel the hair on the back of her neck rise. This is it. She suddenly, inexplicably realizes. This is the house from my dream.
This is her fillyhood home.
“Is this it?” Shadow manages to ask, her heart pounding furiously in her chest. Black Dagger looks surprised that she knew which house was the right one but nods.
“I’m afraid it is, my lady,” he gravely replies.
Moon Shadow stares up at the house, somewhat stunned. To be here finally and looking at it in person suddenly feels far too big for her to cope with now that the moment is here. It looks like a perfectly normal, two story house but Shadow can’t shake the feeling it gives her.
Shadow takes a step forward, trembling. This was where she spent the first three years of her life. She learnt to walk here. Had her first Hearth's Warming here. Was rocked to sleep in a crib upstairs. She can only imagine what dreams her parents had in this cosy little house, bringing home their first foal to their own little piece of Equestria.
Now it’s all been ruined. Dreams destroyed, parents dead and their little filly all grown up without them.
Shadow chokes back angry tears and feels a strong wing gently wrap around her shoulders.
“There, there,” he calmly soothes her. “Just let it out.”
Moon Shadow quivers for a moment more before bursting into gasping sobs. It occurs to her that this is the only paternal care that has ever been shown to her. There were never any significant male prescences in her life growing up and she never once wanted for it. But now she gratefully leans against him as she weeps and weeps. It seems only fitting, really, as Black Dagger was the one to deliver her from that house towards the path to her new life.
Black Dagger leaves his wing around her until she’s worn herself out.
“Better?” he kindly asks her and she manages a shaky nod. Her head hurts and her eyes are sore but a sort of pressure has been released. It feels good to finally grieve.
“I don’t think we can go inside,” he finally explains, as he removes his wing. Shadow immediately misses the warmth and comfort of it. “As far as I’m aware a family moves in every so often. But eventually it gets to them too and they leave until another tenant is found. No one can bare it for very long. There might be somepony in there now.”
“That’s ok,” Moon Shadow acknowledges, quietly. “This is enough.” He offers her a sympathetic look.
“You want to know the story though, don’t you?” he says. “You didn’t come all this way to not find out what happened.”
“No,” Shadow eventually agrees. She rubs her foreleg over her damp cheeks and red eyes before she turns to watch him carefully. “But even you don’t know what happened.” He may have been a key witness to that night but it’s very unlikely any investigation went very far. Celestia certainly wouldn’t have clued them in. Let them sweep it all under the rug as a mystery and let the trail go cold. What had happened here would quietly pass into history.
He clicks his tongue, looking thoughtful. “That is true.” he hesitates, before addressing her again. He meets her eyes. “To this day I won’t understand what happened that night. I’m not sure I want to. The witnesses we had from that night were spooked something fierce. Barely got a lick of sense out of them,” he comments for a moment, concern crossing his expression.
“They saw something,” Moon Shadow realizes, imaging the scene from that long-ago night. A pony looking out of her window one normal night to see a monster in their mist. Just wide, curved horns and glowing eyes. As Shadow had. “They saw my parents’ murderer.”
“That, they did,” Black Dagger darkly agrees. He turns away from the house and starts walking up the lane. “Come along, my lady. Let’s go sit somewhere quiet, so that I can tell you what I remember. It’s been near nineteen years and that house still gives me the heebie jeebies.”
Shadow offers her foalhood home one last lingering look. It unsettles her that this house will now never know a warm, loving family living in its walls. It should have had her loving family there for the sunny afternoons and cold winter nights and everything in between. Maybe one day it will just fall into disrepair, abandoned and unwanted. But finally she pulls her eyes away and takes off to catch up with Black Dagger.
She has a story to hear.
19 years ago, Mid-winter
Everypony had seen it. But, much to Captain Black Dagger’s frustration, no pony was actually able to describe what ‘it’ was.
“It was just horrifying!” The young mare’s teeth continued to chatter, just not from the cold. They’d been doing that since she was brought over for interview.
The Manehattan air was unusually calm for this time of year. There wasn’t even rain scheduled until Friday. Black Dagger would normally put it down to shock and the like, but the rest of the guard that had accompanied him here tonight had point blank refused to set foot in the innocuous, dark house that stood only a few feet away.
“Yes, miss, but what was it?” Black Dagger asked, not entirely patiently. After all, this was the fourth somewhat hysterical witness tonight. Every single one of them was the same. Spooked beyond belief and unable to look away from that house.
“It’s hard to describe,” she falteringly answers. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Black Dagger nods, wearily. He’s heard all this before from witness after witness. No pony knows exactly what they saw. Every answer vague and unsure.
“Please try, miss,” he encouragingly replies, eyes still locked on the witness. “Three ponies simply do not vanish into thin air with no good reason.”
The mare sniffs and finally nods. She appears tired and scared, fear radiating from her big blue eyes. She can’t be much older than Black Dagger’s own daughter and yet she’s still standing here, in the dead of night, in this suburb of Manehattan, giving her statement to the Captain of the City Guard.
The young mare considers her answer. “It was…large. Much bigger than me.” She eyes the weary captain. “Or you, even.” She continues her description of the beast as best she can. “It had hooves…I could hear them echoing on the cobblestones. Nopony else is up at this time of night normally so you could hear them really loudly. Oh, and there were bells.”
Black Dagger looks up, suddenly hopeful. An actual clue?
“Bells?” he cuts off her rambling, trying to hide his excitement. “You could hear bells?”
The mare nods, eyes flicking up to the house again. It is something she does quite frequently. It’s as if she needs to check and make sure that it is just a house. It’s like everypony here can’t feel the evil trickling out of it.
“Yes. It scared me. Bells…” She shakes her head, changing whatever she meant to say. “No, it was just one bell. Ringing.”
“What kind of bell? A church bell? Did it sound like large bell or a small bell?” Black Dagger asks urgently. He knows this may be futile, but it also all they’ve got. The smallest detail might help solve the case.
His witness wrinkles up her small nose, considering.
“A small bell,” she says finally, having thought carefully about it for a few minutes. “Like one you might wear? It was ringing as he walked.”
“The suspect was male?” Black Dagger confirms.
She nods. “Yes, I’m sure of it.” She hesitates again before adding her last statement. “Also…he wasn’t a pony.”
Black Dagger resists the urge to bash his head into the cobblestones below. That’s the bit she keeps back until now? “What do you mean, he wasn’t a pony?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“He had horns.” She looks surprised by the captain’s frustrated expression. “What? Didn’t I mention that?”
Suppressing a growl, Black Dagger manages to shake his head.
“Well, he did. Big horns. They looked curvy. And he had a short tail. And his eyes!” She flinches back from the memory, as if it could still physically attack her.
Black Dagger waits for her to continue and is rewarded a moment later with new details about the suspect. “They were red eyes! I could see them glowing even from my living room.” Her cerulean ears flicker back, pressed against her head, a reaction she can’t control. “They were such awful eyes…” she adds in a near-whisper.
Black Dagger sees that she is still very shaken up. Although he wants to press her for more details, he knows that in this state, he probably won’t be able to get much more out of her. Witnesses are only so useful up to a point.
“All right, miss,” Black Dagger soothes. “It’s ok now. He can’t hurt you.”
“May I go now?” Her eyes flicker back, yet again, to that empty house. He suspects that even her house across the street won’t be far enough for her for awhile.
“You may. Just know that we may need to talk to you again at some point so I wouldn’t advise leaving town.” He gestures for another guard to escort the young lady home, even though it’s only a short distance. Nonetheless, better safe than sorry. Something evil walks the streets of Manehattan tonight. It already snatched three ponies from their home.
Black Dagger sighs heavily. Somepony is going to have to go inside eventually. He suspects that it’s probably going to have to be him. The guards on watch are shifting anxiously, their usual calm demeanour cracked. Even the few interviewing those ponies that were brought out of their houses by the excitement are nervous. They too, keep watching the house. They probably don’t even know that they’re doing it.
Black Dagger studies it carefully. It’s not just that the house is dark. Instead, it feels as though there will never be light inside it again. The captain continues to stare down the house, his thoughts as dark as it’s unoccupied windows. What happened? How did something like that creature even get inside the city walls?
“Sir!” Silver Strike, a new recruit to the Pegasus division of the guard, trots over to him. His uniform is still a little too big on him, helmet slipping over his eager brown eyes. The new recruits are always keen at first. “Message from Light Wing, sir!”
“Yes?” Earlier, Black Dagger had requested some of the pegasi do a fly over of the city to look out for the intruder. It was quicker than doing it on foot.
Silver Strike appears either uneasy or unhappy with his discoveries.“They didn’t find anything unusual, sir. No sign of the suspect or missing ponies anywhere, sir,” he reports, a distinct downturn to his mouth.
Black Dagger is not particularly surprised by this news. From the witnesses’ statements, this was no ordinary creature. Unidentified enemies do not sneak inside extremely well-guarded city limits to kidnap three perfectly normal ponies. Nor do they hang around after their crime has been committed.
But why though? Why snatch three relatively unimportant ponies from the suburbs of Manehattan, when you risked everything to get inside in the first place? Why not go for the Mayor or the dozens of ancient relics on display in the Museum?
What exactly was his purpose?
“What did you come here for? What treasure were you seeking?” Black Dagger whispers to himself, quietly.
“I find that clues tend to be inside the scene of the crime, not on display at the front door.”
The gentle, musical voice behind him is extremely familiar and yet so completely out of place on this dark little street. He’d know that voice anywhere - as does every single pony in Equestria.
“P-princess!” Silver Strike stutters, dropping to his knees besides Black Dagger.
Black Dagger resists the urge to roll his eyes. Newbie. He’ll get over his star worship eventually.
“Your highness,” Black Dagger acknowledges, bending his knees briefly, as a more restrained show of respect. “I really must advise you to return to the safety of the council hall immediately.”
“Captain, you and I both know that the kidnapper is no longer inside these walls,” she replies softly. “I’m fine. Besides, I feel that I may offer my assistance in this case.”
Black Dagger becomes aware of a disturbance flitting through the crowd. This is bad. He quickly deduces that the princess’ sudden appearance may make the situation seem worse than it is. They don’t want a panic on their hooves.
“Silver Strike!” he commands and the young pegasus snaps to attention, clearly keen to impress the Princess.
“I would like for you to instruct the others that all civilians be escorted back to their homes. Essential personnel only. We’re closing off the area.” Silver Strike nods and salutes, dipping into another quick bow before turning and heading to inform their fellow guards of the new instructions. Black Dagger knows that they will be quick and efficient and once the street is cleared, they can start the process of investigating the house.
He turns back to acknowledge the waiting royalty. “We’re going to do an initial sweep of the house,” he informs the princess. “So far aside from first responders, no pony has been inside. We’ve just ascertained that the three ponies who live there are no longer present and that a suspicious figure was seen on this street around that time.”
Silver Strike looks gob founded that he has addressed the princess so, but Celestia only smiles serenely. It’s almost as though she had expected him to say such a thing.
“As you wish, Captain. In fact, I shall have the best eyes on me, as I will be accompanying you into the house,” she says and the look in her eyes lets the captain know that she will not be argued with. But he does his best.
“Princess, I really must protest…!” Black Dagger starts. It goes against everything in his soul to allow their princess into what is obviously a dangerous environment.
The monarch of Equestria does not generally step inside crime scenes...or so one would think, but it doesn’t seem like this princess plans on stepping back.
She only gives the captain another calm, capable look. “Overruled.”
The princess has a funny sense of humour sometimes.
“Alright,” he finally concedes, knowing he has no choice in this matter. The princess outranks him, after all. “But I insist on another member of the guard to accompany us. We may need an extra pair of eyes.”
She inclines her slender head gracefully in agreement. The night remains still, but Celestia’s mane ripples like the Northern winds in Norheigh.
Black Dagger swiftly dispatches Silver Strike to carry out his former orders and to summon White Lightning as quickly as possible. His second in command, Blue Noon, is still at the outlook post but Black Daggers thinks that the sharp-eyed young unicorn would be best for this task.
“Ready, Princess?” he asks, when they are finally ready.
The street has been cleared, and patrolled in case any reporters or nosy teenagers decide to try and sneak past the tape sectioning off the house. It leaves the street eerily empty, quiet in the early morning gloom.
Black Dagger leads the way, followed by the princess and Lightning. They stop at the door. Heart in his mouth, Black Dagger pushes it. It soundlessly slides open, revealing an empty front room.
“Well, that’s not creepy at all.” Black Dagger mutters to himself and tentatively takes a step in, hooves echoing on the hardwood floors. The sound feels intrusive in the room, breaking up the tentative calm of the scene.
If he thought the house’s aura was bad outside, inside it is almost unbearable. He winces as walks fully into the front room, carefully looking back and forth for any clue or sign of a disturbance.
“What is that?” Lightning whispers, stopping just inside the door. He, too, looks pained, yellow ears pressed back against his head. No doubt the magic is pressing down hard on him.
It’s stifling. Manehattan may not have as many unicorns as Canterlot but they’ve spent enough time around powerful magic to be used to it. However, this is thick and cloying. Just trying to resist the darkness creates a painful sting behind his eyes.
“Magic,” the princess tells them grimly. “Ancient magic.”
She looks almost ancient herself. She is so tall and fierce, wrapped in gold, wings held in tightly against her body. Black Dagger is pretty certain in that moment that if it comes down to it and they are attacked, the princess will be the one to protect them.
“Is it... everywhere?” Lightning asks, creeping around the princess to study the windows.
“Yes,” she replies gravely. “I don’t know what was in this house but it was something very old and very evil. There are not many that could leave such a presence long after they’ve left.”
Black Dagger swallows once, hard. “Do you have any idea who might?”
Lightning has left the windows, having not found anything suspicious, and is now helping Black Dagger search the room. It is simple, but tastefully furnished. Something hurts inside Black Dagger’s chest: this place had once been warm and beloved. A family home, with hoof-sewn cushions and family pictures on the mantel. Now it is tainted.
“There are a few I can think of,” the princess concedes. “But most were sealed away in Tartarus or banished from the kingdom.”
“So that would mean one escaped,” Black Dagger concludes. His frown deepens.“It doesn’t explain why he would come here.”
“Is that even possible?” Lightning interrupts, shocked. All eyes turn to him. “Can one escape from Tartarus?”
“It’s possible.” The Captain informs his officer, after a moment’s pause. “Still, with the seals and spells on the gate and Cerberus guarding it, it’s not easy to accomplish,” Black Dagger finishes. There’s nothing to find in this room so, they press on and move ahead to another room, stepping out into a small hallway. There’s a staircase ahead of them but the corridor itself boasts a few more doors, all of which will have to be checked. They begin with the closest door, which turns out to be a small bathroom. Aside from an overly strong smell of incense, there’s clearly nothing there. The next room however ends up being a small study and all three squeeze inside with some difficulty.
“So if we exclude the ones in Tartarus, who else is there? What about the ones that were banished?” Lightning pushes, asking for more details. He’s checking the large shelves that take up the end of the room, while Dagger investigates the desk area, Judging by all the reference books and stationery, this was somepony’s home office.
The princess is no longer listening. Her usually kind lavender eyes have become very distant. Black Dagger always knew that Celestia wasn’t like him or any other pony. She had not aged all the while he had been captain and he suspected that she never would. He still doesn’t know exactly how old she is but at times like these it was easy to see an ancient, rightful vengeance in her; a fearful warrior bearing the crown alone.
“Princess?” Lightning calls to her, his voice little more than a murmur. They watch the Sun Princess carefully.
Without another word, she moves back through the door – not without some difficulty, as this house was built for much smaller ponies – her multi-hued tail vanishing before the guards realise that they had better follow her.
“What do you think is wrong with her?” Lightning wonders aloud. Dagger nonetheless ignores him and the two trot out the door, following the princess’ path.
For a moment, the two stallions stand in the hallway, disoriented by the eclipsing darkness. Lightning dares to call softly for the princess and, after a heart-stopping moment of silence, she answers.
“I’m up here. Tread quietly.”
The two guards follow the instructions, stepping as quietly as they can up the small staircase. In the upstairs hallway they follow Celestia’s voice again into a dark room. To their immense surprise, they are faced with a child’s nursery.
It would probably be a beautiful room, normally. But the darkness has spread even here. Black Dagger can’t help but shudder at the thought of his two sweet, young fillies in their warm pink bedroom, being exposed to this kind of evil. There’s an overturned night-light, still shining bright shapes onto the walls. A wooden mobile lies trampled on the shag carpet. Black Dagger nudges it reverently with one hoof, flipping it over to examine it closer. The three pony species are carved into it, along with an elegant alicorn figure that appears to be the princess. Somepony carefully carved these figures to hang above their child’s bed and now it’s ruined.
“Judging by the devastation in here, there was definitely a struggle here,” Black Dagger notes. The stillness in the rest of the house was unnerving but to have the origins of a fight here? It makes the captain feel queasy. Who or what could do something like this?
“The couple had a foal. Has a foal,” Lightning corrects himself, shamefaced and shaken. The missing little filly or colt must have been so young. Barely out of foalhood most likely. Perhaps starting to walk and talk. He or she would have been ready for school in just a few years. Dagger feels a twinge of pity for his colleague who is distinctly green looking underneath the daisy yellow fur.
“So they do,” Celestia agrees, walking slowly to the overturned crib. She reaches past it with one hoof, searching under the patterned blankets. There’s a heart-stopping moment before she brings it up again…this time cradling a tiny orange foal in her hooves.
Black Dagger nearly slumps in relief. It’s good to know that after what happened here tonight this little filly survived all of this evil.
“How did she escape?” Lightning asks, looking awed. The princess protectively clutches the filly closer to her chest and the trembling foal nestles up to Celestia’s warmth. She’s brightly coloured, with wild tufts of dark hair. Her eyes are open wide, staring with confusion and fear at the assembled ponies, unsure if they are friends or foe. She must have been terrified, huddled there in the dark, in the wreckage of the room. Wondering where her parents are. Unsure if the monster would come back. So she hid under her blanket, unable to make a sound, waiting to be found.
“We may never know how she came to be so lucky,” answers Celestia, keeping the filly close to her. “In the meanwhile, I think we had better leave and take care of this little one. I’d like the house sealed off, Captain.”
“Right away, Princess,” he agrees, with a swift nod. “What of the perpetrator?”
Celestia looks down at the filly’s forest green eyes, sadly. “Long gone, most likely, Captain,” she says. “I doubt he’s somepony we’ll be able to catch.”
“So that little filly is left without her parents…and he just gets away with it?” Lightning blurts out. Black Dagger resists the urge to kick his officer, even though he understands his junior’s anger.
The princess lifts her head, the filly still cradled in her hooves, to address the second in command. “Far from it,” Celestia replies, calmly. “But it would be a waste of our resources to attempt to send ponies after him. I suspect he’s gone somewhere we can’t follow.” She shakes her head, her eyes back on the filly, as she continues to address the guards. “No. He’ll return someday and then we’ll be ready.”
Lightning’s face is stuck somewhere between professionally dignified and obvious horror. Black Dagger knows because he feels it too. He’s just more practiced at hiding. Murder happens so rarely in Equestria. That two ponies can vanish from their home, leaving behind their young filly, most likely murdered and no retribution for the perpetrator…it seems so very unjust.
But sometimes the Princess knows best.
Lightning is silent, even after they’re back out on the street. After Black Dagger has closed up the board and taped it off (with anti-intruder spells to boot) he finds Lightning sitting on a nearby bench, holding the filly between his hooves.
“Moon Shadow,” Lightning dutifully tells him, as Dagger approaches. “Her name is Moon Shadow, the neighbours said.”
Black Dagger sticks his muzzle in front of the filly to stare at her. So far, she hasn’t made a sound, not a peep. The medic on site had said that it was probably shock or trauma. Aside from being a similar size and colour to a pumpkin, she’s a pretty cute filly. She has big, bright green eyes and tufts of indigo hair that’s just beginning to properly grow out. She sucks mindlessly on her hoof and stares up at the two guards with innocent eyes.
“Who’s a cutsey wootsie little girl then?” Black Dagger asks her and looks up to find Lightning staring at him. Black Dagger awkwardly clears his throat.
“I do have three daughters, you know,” he says, as if that’s an excuse. Even if one of them has already left for college and will soon be making her own way in the world.
“Uh huh,” Lightning says, looking as if he wants to add ‘that’s no excuse for this stallion’s Captain to go to mush at the sight of a foal.’
“Pretty little thing though,” Black Dagger adds, hurriedly, keen to change the subject.
“But so heavy,” Lightning groans, only half joking. “Are all foals this heavy?”
“Some,” Dagger nods. “Give her to me.” Lightning almost automaticallyshakes his head.
“I’m supposed to take her to the orphanage, sir!” he protests. Black Dagger ignores him and scoops Moon Shadow off his legs and carefully lifts her onto his back.
“I’ll take her,” he says gently. “You go home and see your fillyfriend. Be back bright-eyed tomorrow morning.” Lightning hesitates, clearly wanting to do his duty but the evening has been too much for him.
“Alright, sir,” he begrudgingly allows. “Until tomorrow, then, sir?” Black Dagger nods, dismissing his colleague and turns to walk away, when Lightning pipes up from behind him.
“Sir? What’s going to happen to her?” he asks worriedly, pointing towards the sleepy filly on Dagger’s back.
He considers the situation, as well as the small filly lying trustingly on his back. “An orphanage for now,” Black Dagger tells him. “They’ll look after her. The Princess will sort the appropriate paperwork and there’s a nurse and a psychologist coming to see Miss Shadow tomorrow to properly look her over.”
“But…after that?” Lightning pushes and Dagger smiles, despite himself. Maybe Lightning is a bit soft on foals, after all.
“I’m sure she has a family,” he assures Lightning. “A grandparent or aunt who can take her in. The city will find them.”
“Sure,” Lightning eventually agrees, the uncertainty still plain on his features. He hesitates, coughing and then finally bows his head. “Well, goodnight, Captain.”
“Goodnight,” Black Dagger replies, watching White Lightning disappear into the darkness. He looks back at the little filly, half asleep on his back.
“Well then,” he says aloud to Moon Shadow, and she half stirs, confused. “Let’s find you a nice warm bed.”
“That was it?” Shadow asks, bringing the captain back to reality. He looks up, nearly stunned to be brought back to the present. “There were never any leads? Celestia just said to let it go?”
Shehonestly doesn’t know what she expected him to tell her. Still, to hear Celestia stepped inside that house, picked up an orphaned little filly and just let the murderer go? That makes her blood boil.
“None,” Dagger said, scratching his headthoughtfully with one hoof. “We never heard anything about him again.” he pauses, considering. “He’s pretty distinctive, you know. We would’ve known if he’d set hoof back in Equestria. But the Princess was right – he vanished without a trace. We’d have wasted resources trying to find him. Although,” he starts, casting another knowing glance at her. He seems to see right through her. “I suppose that’s not what you wanted to hear.”
Moon Shadow lets out a furious, shaky breath. No, this is not at all what she wanted to hear. It was all very well for Celestia – she’d stepped inside that house to find her precious Sandmare safe. She’d never bothered to consider the two ponies who’d given their lives to protect Shadow. And a few weeks later she’d gotten approval to formally transfer Moon Shadow, whisking her away from her first home forever.
Even if Shadow logically understands that Grogar could never have been caught, it cannot ease the painful ache in her heart. She needs justice for her parents. For the life she almost had. For all the lives destroyed along the way.
“It’s not,” she finally agrees, her voice broken with the knowledge. “But I understand.”
Black Dagger smiles fondly at her. “I used to wonder over the years how you were doing,” he tells her. “I visited you a couple of times when you were at Prim Petal’s.” he takes a breath, letting the situation sink in for Shadow. “After you were adopted, I wasn’t told where you’d gone. Said they couldn’t release those details,” he says, shaking his head. He clearly hated having lost contact with her. It must have been very strange for him receiving her letter. “Canterlot, you said?”
Shadow realises he’s still talking and reaches for a quick reply, still reeling from the consequences of Celestia’s long-ago decisions. “Yes.” she nods, her answer succinct. “I live there with my adopted mother. I work at the castle,” she continues to explain, but her heart isn’t quite in the response. Her heart, her very soul is numb.
A young couple stroll by, reminding Shadow yet again that they are not lost in the middle of an evil forest. Rather, they are still in a perfectly normal, natural neighbourhood. They both turn to watch the couple walk by, clearly lost within each other’s company. The two ponies don’t notice the captain nor Shadow in the slightest. This seems somehow unfair to Shadow, given the circumstances. The companions watch the couple vanish around another corner, leaving the two of them alone yet again.
“At least, you turned out alright,” Black Dagger adds, breaking the awkward silence. She resists the urge to snort. He has no idea.
Something suddenly brightens the older stallion’s eyes and he offers he a keenly intriguing look. “Hey, I think there may be something for you down at the station. Might be buried under a pile of old evidence boxes, but if you’ve got an hour to spare…” Moon Shadow nods, curious and hops down from the bench. She reaches out a leg to help Dagger but he brushes it away.
“Get off, lass. I’m not that old,” he grumbles, easing himself down. Shadow smirks to herself, but withholds her comments. Instead, she only watches as he makes his way off the bench, all by himself. Stubborn old stallion, she thinks to herself, a touch fondly. She hopes dearly that they’ll stay in touch after this. She’d like to meet his wife and daughters under better circumstances.
“So, which way to the station?” she asks him, cheerfully.
Moon Shadow sits in a taxi, a small box cradled in her lap. It had taken most of the afternoon, but they’d finally found the evidence box from nineteen years before. The storeroom was bigger than Shadow’s whole apartment block back home, filled from floor to ceiling with boxes and boxes of old evidence. Most of it hadn’t been of any use to them – a hoofprint mould from the scene, paint scrapings; but a few things had been relinquished to Moon Shadow as their rightful owner.
Nestled inside the box was a small shattered photograph, the broken glass missing now. According to Black Dagger, the remains of her old nursery mobile were also included, as well as an old, damaged nightlight, a small, ragged teddy bear and the faded blanket from her foalhood cot. These were all of very little importance to anyone but Shadow, but they were also all that remain of a time she can no longer remember.
Moon Shadow gently touches the wooden figurines of the broken mobile with one hoof. She studies the unicorn, earth pony and pegasus figures, along with the moon and sun carvings. There’s also a rearing alicorn figure, but Moon Shadow tries hard to not look at it.
The photograph holds nothing important. Her parents weren’t even in it. Instead, it shows a newborn Moon Shadow, fast asleep in her crib. On the back, elegant script read ‘Our little Moon Shadow, born October 21st.’ Moon Shadow stares at the hoof-written script, wondering if her mother or father had written that. Either way, their hoof-writing had been much neater than hers.
Moon Shadow closes the box and leans her head back against the cab wall letting out a heavy sigh. The taxi continues to briskly move down streets, traffic flowing for once at a steady pace. Good, Shadow thinks to herself.She still wants time to eat and be alone for awhile, before she has to go out and work again. She needs to think and reflect on all she’s learned and been through in the short time she’s been here.
Black Dagger had tissues prepared this time, for when she cried over the box in the station. He’d carefully moved the important items to a smaller box for transport and told Moon Shadow to keep in touch. They’d hugged before Moon Shadow hailed a taxi back to her grandparents’ house and watched him as he vanished in the distance.
But now what?
Moon Shadow watches the buildings whip by. She’s nowhere near ready to go back to Canterlot. There’s still so much to do, and so much to find out. At this minute, she doesn’t trust Celestia as far as she can throw her.
Which wouldn’t be very far. Shadow realizes, privately, her eyes on the scenery as it zooms past her. Celestia is kind of long and heavy. Long alicorn legs and big wings. The whole ordeal would be too difficult.
A rut in the ground makes the taxi jump, causing Moon Shadow to spring back to reality and all of the concerns that it provides. All things considered, Shadow is still not so sure of Celestia’s motives. It’s very strange when somepony you’ve loved and admired for so long turns out to be somepony entirely different from who you thought they were. She’s suspicious of Celestia….oh, but how she misses her too.
“Here’s your stop, lady!” the cabbie announces, pulling to a halt in front of her grandparents’ building. Moon Shadow magically lifts her treasured box and hops out, fishing in her saddlebags for the bits.
“Keep the change!” Shadow calls, as she races inside the lobby. She doesn’t bother to watch, as the cab darts around a corner and disappears.
The doorpony only gives her a nod, as she trots across the marble floor to the lift. Admittedly, she looks a bit more like a lady, now that her grandmother has spruced her up. It won’t stick, she thinks with a slight smile, admiring her reflection in the mirror as the lift starts to rise. Still, for now it’s something she could get used to.
The lift opens at her grandparents’ floor, opening right at their front door. She goes to open it, but finds herself grabbing at air instead as the door has already been swung open.
“Miss Duster?” she says in surprise. Her grandparents’ maid stands in front of her, face as expressionless as always. No wonder Lace Bonnet likes her so much. Scary and psychic. “That was impressive. How did you know I was going to be at the door?”
“Welcome back, miss,” she replies formally. “The doorpony rang up to say you had returned.” She takes Shadow’s saddlebags off her, although Shadow refuses to relinquish the box, increasing her grip on her precious childhood mementos. “There’s a guest waiting for you in the lounge.”
“Oh!” says Shadow, thrown. She doesn’t really know anypony in Manehattan and certainly nopony who would make the trip to come see her. “Is it Aunt Crystal?” She turns to walk down the hallway to the main living room. It’s entirely possible her aunt has stopped by to see how her investigation is going. She would prefer to be alone after her long, tiring day, but she’ll make an exception for Crystal.
But the pony sipping tea on the love seat isn’t Crystal Cut. Instead, it is a rose pink mare with pale gold and petal pink hair, tied up in a bun. Her suitcases are still at her feet, but Shadow hardly notices the mess.
Shadow drops her box onto a nearby armchair in shock. Her voice cracks as she calls out the name of her visitor.
The sunlight streams in the open window, making the classroom bright and airy. It warms Celestia’s back as she makes careful notes on the chalkboard. Outside there’s the soft sounds of morning: bird song and the distinct noises of her little ponies going about their day.
The classroom is empty, save for one desk. A petite unicorn scribbles down notes on her piece of parchment, her golden tail hanging off her seat. There’s such an intense look of concentration on her face as the quill swoops in the air. She may not be the first student that Celestia has taken but she’s one of the best. Celestia has such bright hopes for the things that she will do.
Celestia smiles to herself and resumes writing in a careful hoofscript.
She remembers this. Not this exact moment but this feeling of content peace. When everything was right. Nothing more to worry about than having a sister to love, a student to teach and a sun to raise. The little ponies adore her and the villages grow more and more each day. Ponykind is flourishing.
“Now, if you turn to page thirty-four, we have a new topic to discuss,” Celestia says finally, putting down the chalk. Bright Lights looks up at Celestia, obvious awe in her eyes.
“Am I going to learn Transfiguration spells?” asks Bright Lights excitedly. Celestia smiles at her thirst for new spells. She has another student like that now, doesn’t she? A sweet little thing, always greedy for new books and tests…but then the thought is gone, like dust on the wind, and Celestia focuses on Bright Light’s keen face once more.
“Of course. I think it is time. I am so pleased with your progress, little one,” Celestia says and Bright Lights beams under the praise from her beloved mentor. Much to Celestia’s surprise, her student’s image flickers, just for a few moments, like a flame guttering in the wind. Celestia takes a startled breath. Bright Lights looks up, concern in her eyes.
“Are you alright, Princess?” she asks curiously. Celestia puts a hoof to her forehead. She must be imagining things, that’s all. Celestia looks down at her student again and takes comfort in the spotless white coat and glossy golden hair she sees there. She smiles, relaxing. Of course. She’s just seeing things. It’s just Bright Lights.
“I am, my dear. No need to worry,” she says soothingly. “I just felt dizzy for a moment, that is all. Now, back to our studies…”
But it happens again. Celestia turns around only a few minutes later to write the five rules of transfiguration spells on the board and when she looks back, she lets out a yell of shock.
“What is it, Princess?” asks Bright Lights, startled by Celestia’s outburst but seemingly unaware of the blood that is bubbling up in her rosey eyes, streaking down her soft cheeks to drip off her chin onto the desk in front of her. The very sight of those eyes makes Celestia’s own sting in sympathy, as each blink of her student’s eyelashes speckle crimson across her face.
“Bright Lights!” Celestia gasps. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Princess,” says Bright Lights serenely, as the blood leaves red tracks in her white coat. “Are you sure you’re feeling well? You’re acting very strange.”
Celestia feels her fear take hold of her heart and squeeze it tight, freezing her to the spot. Her beloved student is crying red tears and she doesn’t know what to do.This cant be real, she must be hallucinating. She must be. But if she’s not, Bright Lights could die. What does she do?
“No,” whispers Celestia, stricken. “Please, don’t die.” But begging will do nothing. She’s had this dream - and it is surely a dream - before. She can never change the outcome of her nightmares. Her sister turns into a monster and has to be sent away. Sunset vanishes into a mirror, never to be seen again. And Bright Lights...oh, how she failed Bright Lights.
“Of course not, Celestia,” says Bright Lights, and her voice is...strange. Familiar still but somehow empty; void of all emotion and personality, rendering it the mere flow of air over vocal chords and absent of anything that was Bright Lights. “I’m never going to die. You should be happy for me.”
“Please, stop. Let her die. You should have let her die!” screams Celestia, as the fur over Bright Lights’ flank ripples and smokes with a sudden searing heat. The sulphurous stench of singed hair fills Celestia’s nose, making her cough. Burning, Celestia realises vaguely. It’s burning off her cutie mark.
The mark seems to writhe like a snake in the heat, glowing red then white hot as the skin beneath it bubbles; white fur mixing with red blood, then the sickly grey-green of decay and pus.
“No!” she gasps. “Stop!” But her hooves remain rooted to the spot and try as she might, she can’t move a single step to rescue her student. She’s helpless. She realised too late that this is a dream, her dream, one she’s had countless times before over the centuries, but now...Celestia’s realising that something is very different about this time. There’s something else here.
“But I’m not done yet,” says Bright Lights. “All this light, and joy, and sunbeams is making me sick. So I’m going to get rid of it all.” As if to prove her point the cutie mark on her flank flares with renewed vigour, magnesium bright, hissing as it burns itself through the spotless white coat into the skin beneath. The pus-filled residue of the mark fades and blackens, the smell of charred flesh filling the air as Celestia struggles not to gag on the bile that fills her throat.
“Please,” she whimpers, even as her stomach churns and her eyes fill with tears from grief and horror. “Take me instead.”
“I would if I could,” says Bright Lights, smiling to reveal jagged, carnivore teeth, which cut into her lips as the smile stretches. “But there’s too much in you. Too much lightness, too much goodness. I had to take somepony else instead.”
“She didn’t deserve this,” whispers Celestia, feeling wetness on her own cheeks but still unable to move. She is mourning Bright Lights, as she has for over a thousand years. She has imagined this countless times and is always helpless to stop it. Not matter how many dreams she has, not matter how often she tortures herself with guilt, she can never change the past.
The skin on Bright Lights’ flank is peeling, so badly charred that it’s falling to the floor in heavy flakes. But it’s not just her mark, it’s her lustrous mane and tail that’s burning like straw, the skin of her sides and belly cracked and seeping. But Celestia can’t gag, can’t even open her mouth to scream, as Bright Lights remains standing, in a circle of her own ruined flesh.
“No, but you did,” continues Bright Lights. “You didn’t save her. The most powerful one of all and you couldn’t save her.” Celestia hangs her head in shame. No. She couldn’t save Bright Lights. Couldn’t save Luna. She can’t save any pony.
“No, you can’t,” agrees Bright Lights. “You should remember that. No pony is safe. Not even your new little protege can stop us.” There’s a horrifying cracking sound filling the air, growing louder and louder, and it’s devastatingly familiar. Celestia raises her head and what she sees causes her to scream.
“No!” she shrieks desperately. “Stop!” The snap echoes through the room, which is followed by Bright Lights’ mad laughter.
“There!” she crows triumphantly. “There! How can you have a student with no horn? No destiny, no mark and no horn!”
Celestia stares at the jagged edge of what was once a horn on Bright Lights’ head, the broken pieces of which lay on the floor before her like so many lumps of charcoal. The stump where it has broken off is seeping blood and there’s a faint dash of white which Celestia realises is the dome of her student’s skull shining through her ruined forehead. The princess feels her knees give way beneath her.
“Well?” Bright Lights asks, pink spittle dripping from her mouth, rows of pointed teeth glinting in the light. “How is it, Celestia? To be immortal and powerful and good…but knowing that no matter what you do, nothing will change. Little ponies will always die. We will win.” And something in Celestia burns, makes her lift her head and fight back.
“You will not!” she says forcefully. “You couldn’t win last time and you will lose this time.” A brief flash of irritation clenches Bright Lights’ features.
“We may have failed once,” she hisses. “But then you were too late and your Sand Mare was dead anyway.”
“You’ve shown your hoof this time,” smirks Celestia. Last time they came with no warning. And the time before that...well, Celestia didn’t know what kinds of monsters were out there. But now she knows. And she’s been planning for such a long time. “This time I’ll be prepared for you.”
“No matter,” says Bright Lights, mouth stretched into an obscene grin with too many teeth for a pony. “Your sweet little student won’t be.”
Twilight!
And then…
Moon Shadow.
Celestia wakes up to banging on the door.
“Princess! Are you alright?” shouts a guard. She doesn’t have time to answer before a small squad bursts in and swarms around her bed.
“Princess?” one asks her quietly once they’ve seen that only the princess is in her room. “Are you alright?”
Celestia lays back her head, feeling the sweat on her fur all the way from her head to her flank. The dream is vivid in her mind, the blood, the smell of flesh, Bright Lights’ words. She is absolutely not alright.
“Get me Strong Stone,” she says decisively. “And make it fast.”
“Mother?” asks Shadow and tries to resist the urge to run to her mother’s hooves and cry about everything that’s been going on. ”What are you doing here?”
“Celestia sent a message to Ponyville,” says Tea Leaf, putting down her tea cup. “She said you had left Canterlot and the only place she could think of that you might be was here.”
“Are you taking me home?” asks Shadow anxiously, suddenly feeling about six years old again.
“Do you want to go home?” asks Tea Leaf, concern evident in her crystal blue eyes. “Are you ready to go back to Canterlot?”
“No,” Shadow says firmly, trying to at least look like a grown mare who can go where she wants. “I’m not. I still have things to do here.”
“You’re looking for information about your birth parents,” Tea Leaf says calmly. Shadow stares at her, open mouthed.
“How…how did you know?” she asks finally. Tea Leaf chuckles.
“It wasn’t that hard to figure out, pumpkin! You were born in this city, it was fairly easy to deduce that would be the reason you came here,” says Tea Leaf. Shadow gives up on pretending to be an adult and goes to collapse in her mother’s hooves. Tea Leaf strokes her mane gently, while Shadow just breathes in the comforting scent of loose tea leaves and vanilla. No matter where she is, that smell and this embrace will always make her feel like she’s home.
“I wanted to know what had happened to them,” Moon Shadow says quietly. “Why they vanished, if they were killed, why I didn’t die too.”
“Did you find out?” asks Tea Leaf softly. Shadow nods.
“I did. But I kind of wish I hadn’t,” she confesses. Tea Leaf frowns.
“I was never told much about your birth parents,” she says, still stroking Shadow’s indigo curls. “Celestia never told me anything and the orphanage had ‘conveniently’ lost your file. But you barely spoke for the first few weeks and I knew that something horrible had happened. I was grateful that at least you didn’t remember it.”
“Not that it helps me now,” mutters Moon Shadow grumpily. She curls herself up into a tight ball, not even caring that she’s got all four hooves on her grandparents’ crisp white couch. She’s been so tired lately, feeling that she’s carrying all of this weight on her shoulders. Her friends can never know and her relationship with Celestia is fractured. Kimono is dead. But Tea Leaf is here and supporting her, watching her back. She’s not doing this alone.
“Well, what have you done? There has to be a record of you somewhere in this city.” Moon Shadow lifts her head up a fraction so she can look at her mother.
“I went to the orphanage and yes, my file was destroyed, the day I left for Canterlot probably. I found the guard who took me there. I think I’ve had some suspicions confirmed. At least…I know who murdered them.” Tea Leaf’s hoof stills.
“So they are dead,” she says. “I’m so sorry, Moon Shadow.” Shadow shrugs. She’d known it all along. No regular pony could have faced Grogar and won.
“I don’t know how I got out though,” she says. “Mom, he would have been there to kill me. They died because of me.”
“I’m sure they died trying to protect you,” counters Tea Leaf. “I’d have done the same.” Shadow relaxes against her mother’s warmth. For all of the lies and uncertainty in her world, Tea Leaf has never been anything but a reassuring presence in her life.
“So, I think we should go to the town hall and have a look. There must be records about your parents somewhere. Do you know their names?” asks Tea Leaf. Shadow nods. She’d gotten their basic details from Black Dagger.
“Then we’ll go there tomorrow,” says Tea Leaf decisively. “There must be ponies in this city who knew them. Even if they won’t talk about their deaths, surely they must be able to tell you about when they were alive.”
“That would be nice,” Shadow murmurs, suddenly feeling very sleepy. She’s been so focused on what happened all those years ago, she forgot that she knows nothing about the ponies who gave birth to her. What had they done, what were their talents? Did she have other family out there, aunts, uncles or grandparents? Maybe even some cousins.
Tea Leaf smiles and looks at her dozing daughter, while Shadow, for the first time in weeks, drifts into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The clerk is like every other pony in this city – massively unhelpful.
“The birth records you’re looking for are in these cabinets,” the clerk says, pointing to at least three filing cabinets larger than Moon Shadow. The hall of records was a dull, grey building to match the endless dull, grey cabinets it housed. The clerk had looked at them over her glasses with a definite sneer and a considerable lack of interest. Moon Shadow supposes she’d lose all passion for life if she worked in a place with such dingy windows as well.
“Don’t suppose you know which one?” asks Tea Leaf, looking a bit gobsmacked at the sheer size of files they’ll have to tackle.
“No, I do not,” says the clerk snottily. “It’s sorted by month so that should narrow it down. Call if you need any help.” And without saying anything else, she walks off, leaving mother, aunt and daughter to stare at the task before them.
“I don’t think I’d call for her if I was on fire and she had a bucket of water,” mutters Crystal, glaring at the clerk’s departing back. Crystal had come at their request, not even hesitating to hand her shop over to her assistant for a morning to come help them. While Shadow may be here to find out about her birth parents, she’s fully aware that she got lucky with the family that chose her.
“She probably wouldn’t bring it, if it was too much effort,” says Shadow dryly. “Shall we take one each?”
The three mares choose a cabinet and settle down to wade through a whole year’s worth of births for Manehattan. It’s at least half an hour before any of them talk, as they focus on names and dates, trying to find Moon Shadow’s past.
“I don’t think I’m remotely close to the right month,” says Tea Leaf with a sigh. “How about you?”
“Nuh uh,” says Moon Shadow, dropping some papers back into the cabinet. “This is impossible. Why is this system so terrible?”
“I suppose they weren’t as strict on records back then,” says Crystal. “I hate to think what our records are like, Tea Leaf.” Tea Leaf nods.
“They’re probably lost in a black hole,” she says mournfully. “Don’t worry, Shadow, we’ll find them even if we’re here all day.” Crystal discreetly pulls a face.
“Some of us have businesses to run,” she points out. “And I don’t know if Diamond Dazzle will be ok on her own for that long.”
“And we have a train to catch this evening, mom,” Shadow says, moving on to the next drawer.
“I didn’t mean…I was making a point that we would if we could,” Tea Leaf huffs. Crystal shoots her niece a smirk.
“If you say so, sis,” she sings and then stops dead when her eyes catch sight of a name on a sheet of paper.
“Sweet Celestia,” she whispers. “Shadow, I think I’ve got it!” Shadow nearly shuts her hoof in a drawer in her desperation to see it. Tea Leaf scrambles up off the floor and joins them as they huddle around the page.
“It is it,” says Moon Shadow. And there it is in black print – born to Tawny and Inkwell, a filly at Manehattan General. Moon Shadow feels her eyes well up. This is solid proof that they’re her parents. She’s not sure how to feel but judging by the tears falling over her eyelids she’s feeling quite a lot.
“Oh darling, don’t cry!” says Tea Leaf, wrapping a foreleg around her daughter’s neck. “This is a good thing. We can find out more with this. Look, there are birth dates for them listed! That will help us.”
Crystal pulls a quill and a notebook out of her saddlebags and begins copying out details. Moon Shadow rubs at her snotty nose with her foreleg. Crystal, with a grossed out expression, passes her a tissue causing Tea Leaf to shoot her a look.
“You were being disgusting, darling,” says Crystal, eyes narrowed as she concentrates. “There we are!” She rips out the page and passes it to Moon Shadow.
“There must be some other records in here,” says Tea Leaf. “We can probably find your grandparents with these dates.” Crystal stashes the notebook and quill back in her saddlebags and pulls a face.
“I’m going back to the shop in that case. Glad to have helped but I’d better get a move on back to the shop. Dazzle might have burnt the shop down or sold an engagement ring for twenty bits or something.”
Tea Leaf hugs her sister gratefully. “Thanks for coming anyway, Cryssie. We’ll see you next time we visit.”
“Have a good trip home,” Crystal says, before turning to her niece. “And you. Next time you want to run away to Manehattan, come and stay with me! Why you would submit yourself to our parents willingly, I’ll never know. That monstrosity they put you in…”
“Ooh, do you have photos?” asks Tea Leaf, ears perking up.
“I don’t, sadly,” says Crystal while Shadow glowers. “Oh, it was fine. You looked like a…”
“If you say fat little pumpkin, I will end you right here,” threatens Shadow. She is so tired of that comparison. She had some foal weight for Celestia’s sake. It’s like nopony will ever let her live it down.
“Well, it’s not like I could call you a happy little pumpkin,” retorts Crystal. “You had a face like thunder!” She kisses her niece’s cheek as she passes by.
Shadow and Tea Leaf wave at Crystal until she’s out of sight and then Shadow uses her magic to start filing the papers scattered on the floor.
“More birth records?” asks Moon Shadow, shoving in papers where ever they fit. There’s probably going to be a few sticking out of the top when she closes the cabinet. Maybe she should suggest to Celestia that cities need to organise their older records more efficiently. And hint that a certain grumpy clerk should be in charge of Manehattan’s records.
The file in Moon Shadow’s saddlebags is currently the most important thing she owns. In it is a copy of her birth certificate, the names and current addresses of both sets of grandparents, as well as the names of a pony or two who might have worked with her mother. And most important of all…
Shadow pulls the photograph out of her bag again and stares at her parents’ faces. Her mother has a gleaming coat the colour of a milky cappuccino and dark gold hair piled up in a bun. Her father is a rich red unicorn with inky blue hair falling in his eyes. They look young. They look happy.
Shadow presses the photograph against her chest and sighs. Tea Leaf is asleep across from her, sprawled out on two whole seats. She’d fallen asleep almost as soon as the train had started moving. Shadow should sleep too. She’ll have to go to work almost the instant they get back to Canterlot.
Shadow reluctantly puts the photograph back in her saddlebags. She’s looked at it so many times she feels like she’s wearing holes in Tawny’s face.
She might as well try and sleep. She curls around her saddlebags, hooves tucking them tight against her body, even though it’s unlikely any pony would want them. She feels like she’s protecting her parents somehow.
Tea Leaf makes a soft mumbling noise in her sleep and everything is quiet except for the constant clicking of the wheels.
Moon Shadow closes her eyes.
There’s no Kimono this time. She knows that the instant she opens her eyes in the dream world. Dreams with Kimono are jarring but they always feel safe. Familiar. This dream feels like the first time she dreamt, when she appeared on that dark street, surrounded by mist. Malevolent.
Shadow skitters back, igniting her horn automatically. If Grogar is here and Kimono can’t protect her, she’ll have to survive somehow until she gets woken up. How long can she last against another dream mage? An hour? Two? Kimono was killed by him; he’s probably prepared for anything she can throw at him…
But the thing moving in the darkness is too small to be Grogar and lacking any obvious horns. Moon Shadow steels herself and shifts her weight. It might be a trick. She waits, on edge, for her attacker to step forward into the light. But it never comes.
Instead there’s a chuckle.
“Oh, there’s no need for that,” says a silky voice. “I’m not going to attack you.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you,” says Shadow, not changing her stance or letting the fear she feels shows in her voice. She doesn’t want to be one of those Sandmares. She doesn’t want her mother to wake up at Canterlot station to find that her daughter didn’t survive the trip. But the silhouette of a mare merely smirks. No features are discernable in the shadows of the room: just enough to see her form. Four legs, a barrel, a mane and a horn. Shadow grits her teeth. She’s grateful to not encounter Grogar but whoever this mare is, she’s clearly not meant to be taken lightly.
“Now, dear, I know you’re scared,” she says in what is also a purr. “But you have my word this time. No harm will come to you here tonight. This is just a warning.”
“A warning?” asks Shadow apprehensively. The mare circles her, never stepping out of the darkness that fills most of the room. Shadow feels oddly bare and vulnerable standing in the spotlight.
“A warning to save your life,” says the mare. “A one-time only deal. Once you wake up, it’s off the table.”
“Alright,” says Moon Shadow, never taking her eyes off the mare stalking her like a wild animal. She feels like prey, for Celestia’s sake. “Let’s hear it.”
“You can get out now,” says the mare calmly, not at all put off by Shadow’s attitude. Let’s face it, one of them is intimidating here and it’s not Shadow. “With your life. Just leave and go away somewhere. Appleloosa. Back to Manehattan. The Hayseed swamps for all I care. Just far away from here and stop meddling in dreams.”
“I don’t meddle in dreams!” Shadow snaps. She probably shouldn’t be aggravating the mare but she can’t help it. Being Sandmare is more than her job. It’s her calling, her life. Everything revolves around it. “I’m the Sandmare!” The mare chuckles again.
“Oh, yes. The illustrious Sandmare. What a noble profession,” she says sardonically. “But it’s not a very satisfying life, is it? Your friends never see you. You never get to have fun or a normal life. And chances are, you’ll die young. I’m just offering you everything you’ve ever wanted. You could start over! New job, a proper job. You could even find a colt friend. And in return we leave you alone.”
“I’d also leave behind everypony I’ve ever known,” says Shadow stonily. This mare must take her for a complete coward. Leave her mother? Her friends? Everything she’s ever known? No way. That’s exactly what she’s fighting for. “And somehow I don’t think this deal applies to them.”
“Well, no. Not part of the deal,” says the mare. “We could extend it to your mother, I suppose. You both could escape easily enough.”
“And my friends?” asks Shadow. She’s struck with a horrible thought: her friends being terrorized by Grogar. Peaches shaking with fear. North on the ground with both wings broken. Midnight’s eyes as she stares at the demon ram. Canterlot castle desecrated and burning. No, she could never leave them. “What about them? You expect me to leave them to die?”
“No pony said anything about dying,” the visitor says and Moon Shadow can feel that smirk through the darkness rather than see it.
“Ponies will get hurt. I know that much,” says Shadow fiercely. Whoever this mare is, she must work with Grogar. Whatever is happening, there’s not much time left. And Kimono was right, she’s unprepared. They’ve come too soon. They’ve had years of preparation. They’ve launched an attack while she’s still finding her hooves.
“Maybe,” the mare says, with a shrug. “But that’s no matter. Ponies die every day. What’s a few extra?” Shadow grinds her teeth. A few extra…The way she’s making it out, only a handful of ponies will die. But Shadow knows what Grogar can do; she’s felt that bloodlust focused on her. Canterlot would have a massacre on its hooves.
“I can’t believe that you think I’d just leave. Canterlot is my home. It’s my duty to guard it and Equestria!” she shouts, slamming a hoof to the floor. The mare tilts her head and Shadow is unnerved by how familiar this is. Something about this mare bothers her, the idea just there in the back of her mind. But it flitters away before she can grab onto it.
“Oh, that’s so sweet. After all that’s happened to you, you still believe that,” she coos. “Precious little Moon Shadow, you know so little about who you really are. What you really are.”
“What…what do you mean?” Shadow stammers, thrown. The mare laughs and it sounds like the tinkling of bells. It should be a beautiful sound but it feels wrong. It sounds like it’s stolen, completely wrong with this mare wrapped in darkness.
“Celestia really doesn’t tell you that much, does she?” says the mare, sounding amused. “Honestly, and she’s surprised when you keep dying. Poor Celestia has always had a bit of a complex. She tries so hard to protect ponies that she goes too far. Look what happened to Kimono, after all.” Shadow starts at the sound of Kimono’s name.
“Oh, I know about Kimono,” says the mare, seeming to enjoy the look of shock on Moon Shadow’s face. “Sweet little thing. Never stood a chance. Unlike you, she never suspected that Celestia was keeping things from her. She was so surprised when we came for her. How betrayed she looked when we told her everything. It was almost enough to break your heart.”
“I don’t think you have one,” retorts Moon Shadow. Her heartbeat feels like it’s thrumming, loud enough for it to be audible in the room. The mysterious mare is getting to her. Somehow she knows all the right buttons to push. Either she has intel or… she’s been watching me. “You killed her and now you want to hurt even more ponies. Even worse, you think I’ll just step aside and let you!”
“So that’s a no?” asks the mare softly. “I’m letting you live. Just walk away and leave a normal life. Hey, I’ll even let you take a few friends with you, how’s that?”
“I know you’re lying,” Shadow says forcefully. Even without looking this mare in the eyes she knows. Anypony who can laugh about poor, sweet Kimono’s death isn’t somepony she can trust. “You won’t stop at Canterlot. You won’t be happy until you have all of Equestria!”
The mare grins and Shadow glimpses bright, sharp teeth in the darkness before they’re gone again. These aren’t the large tombstone teeth of Grogar. These are razor sharp points. On a clown, it was unnerving. Here, they’re downright terrifying.
“Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” she sighs dramatically. “What a shame. I did like you, Moon Shadow. I was hoping that you'd choose to delay your death, even by a little bit.”
“You keep saying that,” says Moon Shadow testily. “Why? What do you know that I don’t?” The mare grins again, just another flash of teeth.
“Many things,” she says. “But if you want answers, you should ask Celestia.”
“But she won’t tell me anything!” Shadow returns, stamping her foot in frustration.
“Because she’s ashamed,” says the mare. Shadow freezes at her words. Is she helping her? “Don’t look at me like that. Long ago, Celestia made a mistake. There was a great enemy of Equestria that threatened the whole land and Celestia couldn’t defeat her. Instead she had her banished far away but it isn’t permanent.”
“Wait, what?” asks Shadow, dumbfounded. “Not…not Grogar?” The mare chuckles. She finds Shadow stumbling around the dark entertaining.
“Well, at least you know some things,” she says, sounding amused. “No, not Grogar. She came before Grogar…but not before me.”
“Another one?” Shadow says, mind reeling. Grogar, and this horrid creature and now another enemy? One is who is supposedly returning? “What do you mean Celestia couldn’t defeat her? Who couldn’t Celestia defeat? I mean, if she was strong enough to banish her…”
Maybe it’s the mare’s long teeth bared in the flash of light. Maybe it’s the memory of the two tapestries on the wall.
“There was another alicorn,” Moon Shadow says, realising, and the mare makes a hissing noise between her teeth.
“Oh, finally!” she says, sarcastically. “Now she gets it. No wonder so many of you died young if you’re this slow.”
“A Princess of the moon,” Shadow says, trying to remember the dark blue banner, the large ornate throne from the memory Kimono showed her. “She would have been strong. But where was she banished to?”
Shadow can’t see if the mare is rolling her eyes but she suspects as much. So she closes her eyes and thinks.
Princess of the moon. Princess of the night. Then she hears North’s voice in her head, as loud as though her friend was standing right there.
The stars are moving.
“The stars will aid in her escape,” breathes Moon Shadow, in horror. The mare cackles in delight.
“We have a winner!” she cheers. “And oh, look, another thing Celestia skipped out on telling you. How surprising.”
“But that’s a mare’s tale!” cries Shadow. Every foal grows up with the tale of Nightmare Moon. It can’t be real.
“So are you,” coos the mare. “You should know better than anypony that legends are things in history that no pony will believe anymore.” Shadow swallows. Nightmare Moon. The legend, the tale told to little foals on Nightmare Night. How is this possible?
How come Celestia never told her?
“Why are you telling me this?” asks Moon Shadow suddenly. She shouldn’t believe anything this mare tells her but somehow Shadow doesn’t think that this is a lie.
“Because you fumbling around for answers is getting kind of boring,” says the mare, bluntly. “Besides, I figure one of you clueless Sandmares deserves all the answers that the rest of them never got. Now, dear, ta ta. I’m afraid we won’t meet like this again. You’d better prepare yourself, little Sandmare, because a battle is coming. Next time, I won’t be so kind.”
And with that the dream cracks and Shadow wakes up, gasping for air.
“Pulling in at Canterlot Station!” announces the conductor and ponies all around them start gathering up their belongings. Tea Leaf wakes up with a yawn and a slow stretch of her legs. The view outside the window shows that they’re home again, the city illuminated by the setting sun.
Shadow rubs sweat from her eyes and tries to slow her racing heart. Once again she’s faced a monster in a dream and come out alive.
She’s not so sure how long she has before that luck will run out.
Celestia leads the way, horn lighting their path down a dark, stone staircase. Strong Stone is glued to her hind hooves, nervous in the dark. Celestia’s assistant, Ivory Thorn, follows at a more sedate pace, carefully following her princess and the stoneworker down into the depths of the castle.
“Where are we going, Princess?” Strong Stone asks, his voice sounding louder in the gloom.
“Someplace that no pony knows about and that must remain a secret, no matter what you see here,” warns Celestia. “Can I guarantee that you and your crew will keep this a secret?”
“Of course, your highness,” Strong Storm agrees immediately but can’t help the ripple of worry in his gut.
They walk down the staircase for nearly ten minutes until finally they reach solid ground. Celestia illuminates her horn even brighter and turns towards the long dark corridor.
“We have to go down there, don’t we?” mutters Strong Stone to Ivory Thorn.
“Uh huh,” Ivory says, and follows Celestia without hesitation. After a beat, Strong Stone’s hoof steps join theirs.
Strong Stone imagines all sorts of horrible monsters and secrets trapped in this dungeon, deep below the castle. Even the door to get to the staircase was heavily fortified and magically protected. There are no lanterns on the walls and the stale air indicates that no pony has set foot down here in many years. Strong Storm feels the walls closing in the further they walk.
So he’s a bit surprised when they reach the end and find it’s a solid brick wall.
“That’s it?” he asks incredulously and then hurriedly closes his mouth when Ivory Thorn shoots him a look.
“Yes,” says Celestia calmly. “That is why I brought you down here.”
“For a wall?” he says, dumbfounded. “Uhh...why?”
“I want you to knock it down,” says Celestia, never taking her eyes off of the stone wall.
“Knock it down?” he asks. And then makes the mistake of asking another question. “There’s not a pony behind there, is there?” To his shock, Celestia chuckles. Anypony else might have been offended.
“No, my dear pony. But something very important was sealed up years ago. I suspect that soon we will have need of it,” she says gravely.
“So we just have to knock it down?” Strong Stone confirms.
“Yes. But be careful. There are powerful enchantments behind there. I have a few unicorns in my school who would be keen to help you with them, if you so require.”
“Oh, thank you, Princess.” Strong Stone gestures at the wall. “May I?” She nods and Strong Stone steps forward to inspect the large stones.
He feels it before he can even touch one of the slabs. Like the air is moving, rippling underneath his hooves and moving through him. He may be an Earth pony but he knows magic when he feels it.
“Nothing dangerous?” asks Strong Stone warily. “Because I have good ponies I’ve got to look out for…”
“The relic behind those walls is no danger to any pony,” Celestia assures him. “But do take care with the enchantments. Magic can corrode if not stored correctly.”
“Is that’s what’s behind there?” Strong Stone asks, curiously. He can see Ivory Thorn glaring at him from behind Celestia. Maybe he’s asking too many questions. “Magic?”
“Of a sort,” Celestia says quietly. “Will you take the job?” Strong Stone considers. If he gets a few unicorns to deal with the enchantments, there’s no real risk. Besides, the castle will pay handsomely and Canterlot University is not cheap, no matter what his daughter seems to think.
“We have a deal, Princess!” he announces, removing his hoof from the stones. All that magic is giving him jelly legs.
“Glad to hear it,” says Celestia and both Ivory and Strong Stone hear the relief in her voice. “Now shall we return upstairs? It’s a bit creepy down here.” She turns and begins to lead the way back to the castle but stops after only a few steps.
“Oh and one more thing, Strong Stone?” There’s a serious tone in her voice that the builder has never heard before from their princess.
Moon Shadow hurries to the observatory as quickly as she can. She’s late to start work and with shadows and nightmares everywhere she turns these days, she can’t afford to spend too much time away from the dreamworld. Who knows what ponies are facing without her?
But the only time she can see the stars is at night. So she’s risking a lot by bunking off work and instead racing towards the Royal Canterlot Observatory on the edge of the city. She needs to talk to North and urgently. She'd woken up from her dream, terrified and barely able to hide her panic from Tea Leaf. She'd pleaded needing to leave for work immediately and left her mother to head home to sleep by herself.
She pushes her feet a little harder as the gleaming white dome of the Observatory comes into sight. A little breathlessness at the other end will be worth it if she can make up as much time as she can.
Or at least, that’s what she tries to remember when she arrives at the main doors, feeling like her lungs are on fire.
“Miss?” The guard on duty eyes her worriedly; either because he thinks she’s faking and will push past him to steal telescopes and…whatever else it is they keep in observatories, or that he will soon have a dead mare collapsed at the front entrance.
“I’m fine!” Shadow gasps, trying to slow her racing heart. She fires up her horn to pull her ID from her saddlebags. “Honestly. I’m fine. I came from the station…”
“The train station?” The guard asks incredulously as he inspects her ID. “That’s several miles across the city! Did you run here?”
Moon Shadow barely has the energy to give him an obvious ‘duh’ expression.
“Well, uh…Come on through then,” he says hesitantly, returning her ID to her. Moon Shadow takes it and tries to put her tongue back in her mouth.
“Where…” She stops and then tries again with more saliva. “Where is Northern Lights?”
“Shadow?” North asks in confusion, as she sees the tired mare being led by a security guard. “When did you get back from Manehattan? And what are you doing here?”
No wonder she’s surprised. Moon Shadow has never made it to her place of work before and North has never asked, always presuming she’s at night court.
“Just…came to see your work,” Shadow says, with a nervous glance at the guard. He doesn’t seem keen to move anywhere, discreetly watching her. North spots this and rolls her eyes.
“She’s fine, Spot Check,” she says. “She’s from Night Court. She’s a friend of mine.”
He studies Moon Shadow for a second but then obviously figures that a mare stupid enough to run across town instead of taking a cart isn’t that much of a threat. He shrugs and walks away from the two mares.
“Shadow, why are you really here?” North asks, seriously. Shadow is mostly paying attention to the bottle of water on North’s desk.
“Uhhh…” she says. It’s kind of hard to remember with the dryness of her throat aching like there’s sandpaper sliding down it. North sighs, gesturing towards the bottle and Shadow almost snatches it up and gratefully upends it.. North waits impatiently while Shadow drains what’s left in the bottle.
“Ah, that’s better,” Shadow says in relief, tossing the bottle into the nearby trash.
“Shadow, I know you ran all the way here for a reason,” North says, irritated. She looks extremely professional with her crisp, white lab coat and a pair of glasses perched on her nose. Her mane is even tied back into a smart looking ponytail. Sometimes Shadow forgets her friend is a very clever scientist. “What is it?”
“The stars!” Shadow says, remembering the reason for her frantic dash across the city now that her thirst has been quenched. “You have to show me the stars.”
North hurriedly looks around to make sure no pony can hear them but her colleagues are all too lost in their own work to have heard moon Shadow.. “You mean to say the ones that were moving?” she hisses.
“You could show me some stationary ones but that won’t really help, now will it?” Shadow replies. North gives her the same look she always gives Shadow when she’s extremely unamused by sarcasm.
“Come over here,” North whispers, urging Shadow over to her desk. Shadow slips into the swivel chair and gleefully spins on it while North rushes to gather some papers from a locked cabinet.
“You keep it locked away?” Shadow asks, as her spin comes slowly to a halt. North raises an eyebrow at her.
“Obviously. Either I’m mad or this is an actual major development…either way, I don’t want other ponies seeing it,” North says, placing the stack on the desk in front of Shadow.
“Now do you see this?” North says, placing a hoof on the top paper. Shadow stares at it but it just looks like a usual chart of the night sky. Lots of black, lots of stars. Not a lot else.
“What exactly am I meant to be seeing?” Shadow asks, after a few minutes of staring at little blobs. North grits her teeth but then shifts the top sheet aside, so it’s lying beside the one underneath.
“Ok, look at both of these. Do you see any differences?” Shadow looks again. It takes her another few minutes of squinting and careful studying but she eventually notices a minor difference.
“This one!” she says, prodding at the paper. “This star has moved.” North nods, apparently pleased.
“Yes, but not just that one.” North moves the papers around, pulling out three different charts and laying them in front of Shadow. “This one, this one and this one have also moved. Four stars in total. All moving their way across the sky.”
“But why these four stars?” Shadow asks curiously. “What are they moving towards?” There doesn’t seem to be any order to it. Four stars moving in different directions across the sky. And why just four? That’s not very many: surely it’s not cause for concern.
North frowns. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, I can’t tell yet. They only started moving last week. I’d wait to see what, but by then it might already be too late.”
Shadow looks at the charts, tracking the progress of four stars across the sky. Would that be all it took? Four stars, high up in the heavens, bent on letting a tyrant loose from her prison? She carefully moves all four sheets into some sort of order and then changes their positions, again and again.
“What are you doing?” North asks, curiously. “Making a puzzle?”
“Maybe,” Shadow mutters, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “Which direction is this star moving?”
“East,” North says, leaning over to help. “No, that one is upside down. And that one, that’s no good.” Shadow sits back as North adjusts the papers.
“Ok, so this one is going this way?” she checks. “And all the others have moved in a particular way. If we presume they’re going to keep heading in the same directions, and not veer off course at any point, where will they end up?”
North frowns and trots off to a large map on the wall, picking up a box of pins on the way. To Shadow it just looks like more stars but North seems to understand it perfectly, carefully finding the four stars and placing pins in them.
“This is the sky above Equestria,” North says, gesturing to the large chart. “And these are the four stars. It looks like they each started from a corner of the Everfree Forest.”
“Do they have any relevance at all?” Shadow asks. She knows that the constellations were long ago made by Celestia and each one had a name and a story. The most famous ones are as well known by children as the Easter bushwoolie or their favourite fairy tales. They even do astronomy courses in schools nowadays, teaching foals the basics of stargazing, the history of the night sky and even a little bit of navigating by stars.
“Not as far as I can tell,” North says, shrugging. “They’re just stars. They’re brighter than most but that’s nothing special.”
“So…what are they heading towards?” Shadow persists. She wants to know what the stars are doing. If they are going to release Nightmare Moon, maybe she can stop them if she knows how they’re going to release her.
“Well…the only thing they could be heading towards is the moon,” North says. “But that’s impossible. Stars are actual bodies in the night sky. If they moved towards the moon, there would be a collision. It makes no sense…Shadow?”
Shadow is staring at the wall, summoning every bit of knowledge that she has ever heard about stars or Nightmare Moon. Trying to make some sort of sense out of this. It has to be connected. Stars can’t move independently of Celestia. And Moon Shadow really doesn’t think that this is unrelated to everything happening in the dreamworld right now. She’s not one for coincidences, especially not in her job.
It doesn’t make sense...unless those stars aren’t normal stars at all.
They’re brighter than normal stars, North said. Of course that could mean anything but Shadow knows this means something more. What if they’re magic instead? Magic meant for a specific purpose. That’s why they can ignore Celestia. The princess moves inanimate bodies across the sky. But sometimes magic will do exactly what it wants to.
No, it’s more than that, Shadow realises. There was another alicorn, one who moved the night sky. It makes sense that the stars are loyal to her, their true princess.
“I was thinking that maybe I should tell somepony,” she whispers, eyes flicking to her fellow astronomers as though one of them might be listening. But everypony just calmly strolls back and forth across the observatory, with no idea that the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance.
“No!” yelps Shadow. “I mean…don’t, not just yet. Please,” she begs when she sees North’ face. “Just for a little bit. I have an idea but I have to check it out first. Just trust me.”
North looks torn, staring at Shadow’s pleading eyes. But she huffs and relents.
“Alright,” she says reluctantly. “Just a little bit longer. I can’t take this anymore, Moon Shadow!” Shadow gratefully throws her forelegs around her friend.
“Thanks,” she says. “I swear you’ll only have to put up with this a few more days.”
“Alright. But shouldn’t you be at work?” North says, turning to look at a clock on her desk. “It’s gone eleven already…Moon Shadow?”
There was just an indigo tail vanishing out of the door when North turned back around. The security guard didn’t even blink as Moon Shadow barrelled out of the main doors and took off back towards the castle.
Shadow’s night continues to be one of the busiest she’s ever had. There are more nightmares than usual and she barely has a chance to breathe before she has to hop to the next dream. By the time Celestia raises the sun, Shadow’s about ready to collapse.
She stumbles in the door on lead hooves and Tea Leaf catches her just before she falls on her rump inside the kitchen door.
“Bed!” instructs Tea Leaf. “Now!” Shadow protests but Tea Leaf has Earth pony strength on her side and easily manoeuvres her stubborn daughter into her room and under the covers.
“But!” Shadow says in protest before she finds Icarus dropped onto her barrel. She squeaks as he digs his claws into her fur. He glares back at her, unbothered.
“Icarus, make sure she stays!” commands Tea Leaf. “I’ll be back after work. You sleep. Good bye, darling!” Tea Leaf vanishes, closing the door behind her. Icarus pads around on Shadow’s chest before settling down.
“Traitor,” mutters Shadow. Icarus only flicks his tail at her.
Shadow lays back, heart thumping, as she waits for the front door to close. She doesn’t dare sleep, not with the memory of that toothy mare fresh in her mind. She’s already exhausted but she has no guarantee that when she falls asleep it’ll be Kimono greeting her, instead of a hungry grin.
Tea Leaf potters about in the front hall, collecting her saddlebags and closing windows. Shadow hears the open and shut of the door and then waits a few more minutes, just in case Tea Leaf is tricking her. But when there’s still no sound from anywhere in the apartment, Shadow levitates a complaining Icarus to the pillow and slides out from her bed.
A few minutes later she’s out the door and on her way to the library. She has research to do and she has the best resources in Equestria available to her, just a few minutes walk down the street.
The library is already bustling as Moon Shadow arrives. There’s reading hour for foals from the nursery and a book club for the elderly runs here once a week as well. That’s not even including the tourists, the students, the school groups, the young mothers with children and ponies in search of their next good book. Moon Shadow weaves her way through to the front doors and deeply inhales the comforting library smell as she steps through.
“Morning, Amber,” Shadow says, briskly trotting past the front desk. Amber’s eyes widen slightly at the sight of her but she manages a weak ‘Good morning.’ Moon Shadow doesn’t notice the librarian’s unusual response, too intent on her mission.
Shadow heads through the stacks, in search of any mare tale books she can find. There must be something useful about Nightmare Moon in one of these books, that doesn’t mention her eating candy instead of foals. Even if it is just a legend, there has to be some truth in it somewhere.
She starts in the foals’ section, bypassing the Harry Trotter and Canterlot Towers books, so she can gather any books that might hold a mention to a thousand year old tyrant trapped in the moon that’s actually horribly true. A couple of young fillies gawp at her as she whips by but Shadow ignores them. She can’t look that awful.
From there she heads to History and Culture. After that, she browses the Magic section and the stack of books she’s carrying is up to at least a dozen. A few library patrons stare, gobsmacked, as she levitates her collection over to an empty table and sits down in a chair, clearly intent on reading them one by one.
It doesn’t take her long to disregard the foals’ books and Mother Bumpkin’s collection of mare tales and legends is soon tossed aside as well.
Nothing. She’s got nothing. So much for the wide, vast resources of Canterlot Library.
Groaning she drops her head onto the table and resists the urge to fall asleep right then and there. She must be tired if the hard wooden desk feels comfortable.
She’s about to get up to replace all of her books when a shadow falls over her.
“Here again?” Midnight Tale asks in amusement. She looks much the same as the last time Shadow encountered her in this very library. Her wild, thick mane is tied back with an actual clip this time and as usual, there’s a smudge of ink on her cheek. Shadow’s still not sure how Midnight ends up with so much ink on her face.
“Mids!” Shadow squeaks, bolting upright. “Yeah, I’m...reading.” Midnight raises an eyebrow, a move that she has long perfected.
“What are you doing?” asks Midnight, eyeing the piles of books around Moon Shadow. “Shouldn’t you be in bed? Asleep?”
“Just some research,” fibs Shadow. “Magic research. Nothing major.”
Midnight picks up ‘Mare tales and bedtime stories for good fillies and colts’ and raises an eyebrow.
“It’s relevant, I swear,” says Moon Shadow, after a beat. Midnight looks at her and then shrugs, replacing the book on the pile. She’s clearly too used to Shadow’s odd habits if she's not going to question it.
“If you say so,” she says. “Do you need any help? I’m pretty good at researching. You know, for my books and all.” Moon Shadow hesitates. She’s wary of bringing Midnight in and making her even more curious of Shadow’s more questionable activities than she already is. But on the other hoof, she’s stuck and if she can’t ask Midnight, then there’s no pony to help her. And Shadow is really, really tired of doing all this alone.
“Ok,” Shadow relents. “I’m looking for stuff about stars and things, as well, if you can find a dummy’s guide or something. And do you know anything about Nightmare Moon?” Midnight stifles a giggle.
“Nightmare Moon? Exactly what kind of research are you doing there, Shadow?” she says, prodding at a tower of books with a hoof. Shadow whisks them away before she can knock them over.
“It’s not related,” Shadow lies. “It’s a lot of different things.” Midnight grins and then nods.
“Ok, ok, I’ll look,” she says, looking thoughtful. “Stars and Nightmare Moon?”
“And a map,” Shadow says, remembering. “An old one of Equestria. If they have one.”
“If they have one,” Midnight snorts. “In one of the largest and best libraries in Equestria. I’ll look. Like a hundred years old?”
“More like a thousand?” says Moon Shadow and tries not to buckle under Midnight’s questioning look.
“Fine,” Midnight says, trotting off in the direction of the Science section. “I’ll see what I can do.”
It doesn’t take her long to return with a small selection of books on her back and a large map clutched between her teeth.
“Will this do, your ladyship?” Midnight asks loftily, after she’s spat out the map onto the desk.
“Isn’t that like, really old?” Shadow asks, concerned for the fading scroll on the table.
“Probably,” says Midnight, pulling a variety of disgusted faces. “It tastes ghastly.”
Shadow rolls her eyes and magically lifts the pile of books onto the table. ‘A beginner’s guide to constellations’ is the first one she sees, followed by ‘Studying the night sky.’ There’s another book, which looks way too scientific and wordy for Shadow to understand and underneath that…
Midnight grabs it before she can, looking smug.
“Where did you get that?” Shadow asks, staring at the beautiful bound book Midnight has in her hooves.
“This is ‘Predictions and Prophecies,” says Midnight. “And it’s in the selection of Celestia’s own books. I don’t know who wrote it, there’s no author’s name attached to it…” Moon Shadow grabs it out of Midnight’s grasp and levitates it over to her side of the desk to hurriedly scan through the pages. She doesn’t have to look far.
“Find anything good?” Midnight asks, taking the empty chair next to her friend. Shadow doesn’t answer, too busy reading the text under an image of two alicorns; one pink and one blue.
Like Midnight had said, there’s no author attached to the book. But for something this old and of this nature Shadow can take a guess at who wrote it. At some point, somepony who would have been in great pain and drowning in grief and guilt may have chosen to write it all down. Nopony would know. After time it would pass into history. Then a myth. It probably got twisted along the way, Shadow thinks. It wouldn’t be hard. Somepony telling their grandkids a story their grandparents had told them about a dark pony of the night and before you know it hundreds of years later, it’s a holiday and a full on fairy tale.
But this clears one thing up at least as Shadow scans the page. Why Nightmare Moon was only banished. Sisters, Shadow thinks. Sisters who had once worked together to keep Equestria in harmony. One for the day and one for the night.
No wonder Celestia had been unable to kill her.
Moon Shadow hurriedly reads on, eyes flicking over the pictures. There’s not a lot new here that can help her. Great evil banished, Equestria ruled in peace once more, blah blah blah. She wouldn’t be concerned if it weren’t for the mare’s ominous warning in her dream. But she’d implied that Nightmare Moon is coming back. And that her return signals a whole mess of other stuff returning with her. She’s about to close the book and give up when her eyes catch a small footnote at the bottom.
Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about night-time eternal. The longest day of the year? Moon Shadow looks again but the small black type isn’t lying to her. Her tired eyes aren’t tricking her either. It still says the longest day of the thousandth year.
Last time Moon Shadow checked the longest day of the year is the Summer Sun celebration.
Which happens to be roughly thirty two days away.
Thirty two days to total destruction.
This is not good. “Are you okay?” Midnight asks, seeing Shadow’s stricken face.
“Fine!” says Moon Shadow in a not fine, too high pitched voice. She’s trying to deal with the fact that it was casually shoved down the bottom as a bucking footnote. “Extremely. Could you please pass me one of those constellation books, please?”
Midnight does so, moving ‘A beginner’s guide’ across the table. “Can’t you ask Northern Lights about stars? I mean, it is her job.”
“I’m just doing some studying on my own. I went to the observatory the other night and I got curious,” Shadow says, sifting through pages. Sweet Celestia, for a beginner’s guide this thing is lengthy.
“Wow, you actually went there?” Midnight says, in amazement. They’d never tell North as much but they occasionally stop listening when she talks about the more technical parts of her job. “How come?”
“I was passing by,” says Shadow absently. “I think I’ll check this out.” Midnight stares as Shadow gathers up all of the rejected books and shoves them onto a nearby cart.
“Okay…” she says slowly. “Are you coming for brunch tomorrow? If you’re not still doing this whole ‘not sleeping, undead vampony’ bit by then.”
“What?” Shadow says in surprise. “What do you mean?” Midnight raises a single eyebrow once again
“Have you seen yourself lately?” she asks, sceptically and pulls a small hoof mirror from her saddlebags.
Moon Shadow gets one look at the haggard, unkempt mare in the mirror and shrieks loudly enough that every librarian in the vicinity winces simultaneously.
It’s been five days since they arrived home from Manehattan and Shadow still can’t fall asleep.
She’s tried. Every day, when she arrives home from the dream world, she drinks her hot chocolate and moves Icarus over and climbs under the sheets. She closes her eyes, ready to drift off, when the image of those razor sharp teeth comes screaming back into her head.
She can’t. She can’t risk it. If the mare is good on her promise Shadow will have no chance in the dream world if it comes down to a fight. Whoever – whatever – the mare is, it’s something old. Something ancient.
So for the fifth morning in a row, Moon Shadow wearily throws back the covers and slides out of bed. Icarus merely stretches and curls up deeper into the duvet, paying no attention to his exhausted mistress. Her legs wobble as if they resent holding her up. She’s struggling, she knows this. She has to sleep, everypony has to sleep. But all she can do is cat nap in bursts. It’s not enough.
“What a useless guard cat you are,” Shadow says, jealousy looking at her peaceful familiar.
The house is silent: Tea Leaf has left for work. She and Pumpkin’s mother, Cranberry Joy, have been gleefully collaborating on a new selection of iced teas. Tea Leaf is probably experimenting in the castle kitchens right now.
Moon Shadow heads unsteadily to the kitchen for a drink of water. She’s at a loss for what to do. She’s not used to having this much free time. She sleeps soundly most of the day and then tries to cram in as much activity as she can before she has to head out to work again. All of her friends are at work – save North, who is also asleep – and it’s not like she can really disturb any of them.
To be honest there’s not much like she feels she can do. The world is ending: she could read or watch a play or go shopping but there’s the catch. The world is ending. She should be using that time to research or do something useful so that all of the ponies drinking lattes and shopping can still do all of those things.
Moon Shadow slumps her head down on the sideboard. She’s truly at a loss.
“OK, enough moping,” she says out loud, mentally shaking herself. Now is no time to get bogged down in doubt. “Time to go for a walk.”
Might as well enjoy the sun before a tyrant shrouds the world in darkness forever.
But funnily enough, Moon Shadow’s worries melt away in the sunshine. It’s another beautiful day in Canterlot and her spirit rises as she trots towards the main square. Not surprisingly, it’s bustling, full of tourists and every day business ponies. A mare rocks her newborn foal outside of a cafe while she chats to her friends. A young stallion throws a ball for his dog, who races after it yelping with excitement every time. A bleary eyed gentleman with a briefcase stands in a long line for coffee.
‘Coffee!’ Moon Shadow thinks with glee. Yes, a large latte with oat milk and nutmeg would be perfect right now. And some breakfast. She can’t think on an empty stomach after all.
But she doesn’t get as far as the Sugar Rose cafe or even to the kiosk on the corner. A mare puts herself firmly in Shadow’s path, dark eyes blazing with anger.
“Ocean Soul?” Moon Shadow asks, although there’s no mistaking this mare. Even in this bright sunshine, Ocean’s mouth is twisted down in a scowl. Her expression makes Shadow want to run and hide and she’s fought countless dream monsters. She can’t imagine what Ocean Soul is so furious about.
“Shadow,” she says, without even a greeting. “Why haven’t you used that book I gave you?”
Shadow’s mouth drops open, surprised that the scowl was meant for her. How does Ocean even know that Shadow had shoved that book to the very back of her bookshelf and left it there?
“I haven’t had time,” Shadow says, the lie sounding false even to her. Ocean’s frown only deepens, if that’s even possible. With her dark coat and wild black hair, she looks ready to start calling curses down from the sky.
“If you’re going to lie, can you at least do it with a bit of creativity?” Ocean says, ears flicking with badly hidden frustration. “Everypony knows that ‘I didn’t have time’ means ‘I didn’t want to make time.’ You had time, Shadow, you just thought it was worthless without even looking.”
“But I have looked!” Shadow protests. “I know what’s in that book! We all read it as foals and believe me, I know better than anypony what that book says. It’s all lies and myths!”
Ocean stares at her and Moon Shadow feels incredibly uncomfortable. She’s never known a pony with such a piercing gaze before: it almost feels like Ocean is reading her mind.
Ocean suddenly sighs heavily. “Not all myths are lies,” she says in an unusually gentle voice. “Myths have to come from somewhere. They usually come from fact, no matter how small. Even if after a few thousand years, the truth gets warped from retellings and embellishment.”
Shadow’s head is far too fuzzy from exhaustion to even try and decipher whatever cryptic thing that Ocean is trying to tell her. The sun is too bright in her eyes and warm on her back. Maybe she can lie down in the middle of the street and fall asleep in the glaring midday sun.
“So...you’re saying that I have to read the book?” Shadow says grumpily. Across the street Deep Knead slides a fresh tray of cheese rolls into the window display of the bakery. The smell is already reaching Shadow’s nostrils and her stomach gurgles loudly. Insomnia is turning out to be quite bad for Shadow’s weight - without sleep, she fills up her time by eating instead.
“You have to read the book,” Ocean says, just a little bit too sharply. “I told you, that it’s meant for you. It can help!”
“But I….” Shadow starts and then catches Ocean’s expression. The other mare won’t budge. Shadow can see the resolution in her eyes.
“I don’t understand,” she says instead, tears springing to her eyes. She’d only wanted to escape for a little while. Just to sit in the sun and drink her coffee and not worry about her problems. Not worry about the tiredness that weighs down every bone or the fear of the creatures in the dark. The pressure of trying to fight oncoming evil alone. She doesn’t even get a few minutes. “I need help with so many things but that’s the book you give me? It’s not going to help me! And I need help!” Ocean stands and stares at her silently throughout this little outburst. When she speaks again it’s surprisingly gentle, without any of her usual snark or force.
“I know.” she says quietly. She takes a step forward and presses a hoof over Shadow’s heart, who’s too startled to stop her. “I know. I can feel it. I felt it when you walked in my shop. It was ringing in my head, your soul was crying out for help so badly. But my talent has never been wrong before. I know you think it’s useless but trust me when I say that the book will help you. Maybe it won’t help with most of your problems but I think it might help you understand.”
“Understand?” Shadow says, sniffling. She’s not doing too good of a job of holding back her tears, as one spills over and runs down her cheek. Ocean removes her hoof and smiles wryly.
“Like I said, myths and legends have to come from somewhere, don’t they?” she asks as Shadow rubs at her cheek. “You might find an answer you didn’t even know that you were looking for.”
She turns, giving Shadow one more small smile, before she trots away. Shadow watches her go, the long inky tail vanishing out of sight around a corner. Back to the quiet of her shop, no doubt.
Shadow blinks the final tears from her eyes and walks forward, with less bounce in her step than before. She definitely needs that coffee now.
She shouldn’t have snapped. Ocean was only trying to look out for her. If her soul had been burdened when she visited Sacred Page, how bad must it be now? Back then she’d only been haunted by a mysterious voice and a terrifying ram in a dream that she shouldn’t have had. Now everything is so much worse. Maybe that’s why Ocean Soul had stopped her in the street to insist she read the book.
But what can she mean? Shadow wonders, as the Sugar Rose comes into sight. She’s no longer in the mood to loiter so she’ll just get her breakfast and go home. Answers she didn’t even know that she was looking for. She has too many answers she is looking for. How can she defeat Grogar, how can she save the world when her enemies keep appearing out of the shadows…
Shadow stops in the street, startling the mare behind her. She swerves around Shadow, grumbling all the while but Shadow barely sees her. She’s staring open mouthed, as the incredible, outrageous idea that just came into her head. What was it that Ocean had said? All myths come from fact somewhere. She’d presumed Ocean had been talking about her entry, that stupid story about the glitter and the lullabies and other general puke. But what if she hadn’t? What if the answer had been in front of her all along? What does it mean if the answer had been waiting on her bookshelves?
It means she’s not the only one in the mare tales book.
The library is quiet this time of morning. Everypony is at work, or at school so there are only a few librarians working quietly or older ponies in a circle on some comfy sofas, discussing the latest book from their book club. Moon Shadow tries to avoid any many ponies as she can, aware this time at least that she looks a fright. No sleep is making her look pale, her mane and tail are drooping no matter how much she washes them and her eyes are red-rimmed.
A small filly gives her a horrified look when Shadow sneaks into the foals’ section to grab a copy of Mother Bumpkin’s book. Shadow resists the urge to scowl at her and instead sneaks away quietly with the book to another, emptier part of the library.
Shadow drops the book onto a table and slides into a seat, shaking off the deja vu. It was less than a week the last time that she’d come to the library, desperately seeking knowledge from books. She’d had the mare tales book in front of her then, she remembers, but she’d dismissed it almost immediately. Maybe she shouldn’t have. Maybe things would make more sense now if she had taken the time to look through it, like Ocean had told her to from the start.
But even so, Shadow has to summon all her courage to open the book.
There’s no index, so Shadow is forced to look through every page, every single entry and story. There are hoof-drawn illustrations for each dark mare tale, all carefully drawn by Mother Bumpkin herself. The Easter Bushwoolie hides eggs as brightly coloured as the creature himself, in flowerpots and hedges for little foals to find. Nightmare Moon bares teeth as sharp as a manticore’s on her page and - ugh - the Sandmare smiles simperingly as several fillies all stare up adoringly at her. Shadow scrunches up her face in disgust. She’d smile smugly like that too if she had beautiful stardust-filled curls like that mare.
Shuddering, Shadow moves on. The next couple of pages are equally unuseful but the page after that makes Shadow stop cold.
The illustration is completely wrong of course. Mother Bumpkin could not know to draw the shine of deadly teeth, that wicked smile, all only just hidden in dark shadows. The picture on the page is more like a dark shadow with the faintest glint of yellow eyes visible amongst the gloom.
The Bogey Mare, Shadow reads and feels her stomach drop out beneath her.
The Bogey Mare. Everypony has heard of the Bogey Mare. It’s not a very common mare tale but parents will sometimes use it to control their wayward children. ‘If you don’t settle down and go to bed, the Bogey Mare will come to you in the night,’ they warn. ‘She’ll slide under your bed and wait for you to fall asleep, before filling your head with nightmares.’
This is the mare Shadow has seen. This is the mare that helped Grogar escape.
‘Of all of the horrifying legends, the Bogey Mare is perhaps the most terrifying,’ Moon Shadow reads. ‘No pony knows how she came to be, but scores of tales have been told of a mare that lurks in the shadows, determined to bring nightmares to all she encounters.’
‘No kidding,’ Shadow thinks wryly. She hasn’t been able to sleep since she saw the mare, unable to forget the malice and bloodlust that she exuded.
There isn’t much else to read in the surprisingly short entry. Shadow checks but there is only a single page devoted to the Bogey Mare.
Moon Shadow scowls. She can put a name to the mare now but that’s it. The book doesn’t say where she came from, her weakness or how to defeat her. Just the fact that she’s a bloodthirsty entity of evil...oh, wait, Shadow already knew that.
Shadow slams the book shut, with an air of vicious satisfaction, before she ponders about what to do.
Midnight Tale isn’t here to lend a hoof this time round but that doesn’t mean Shadow can’t do some research on her own. There must be more information here somewhere. There are quite a few mare tale books in a library of this size and there might also be a professor years back who did a study on mythological creatures and the likelihood of their existence in Equestria. Professor Sharp Mind, she thinks his name was.
Moon Shadow pulls herself to her feet...and promptly falls back into her chair.
Right. Okay. So caffeine and sugar probably isn’t the best thing to fuel her when she’s running on no sleep. She slumps onto the table for a moment, considering her options. Dashing all over Canterlot in quest of a professor who once worked at the university is probably a bad idea. She needs to conserve energy for whatever the dream world has in store for her tonight.
Of course, there is a way for her to get the answers she needs without using too much energy. It’s just not an option she relishes. Sighing, she pulls herself up again on steadier hooves this time and reshelves all of her books. Unfortunately the option she likes least is also the most efficient and practical. How annoying.
With a feeling of dread sitting in her chest she trots out of the library doors and makes her way to Canterlot castle.
The castle courtyard is bustling when she arrives. She gets waved through the gates as usual, although the stallion on duty gave her a worried look as she did so. There’s a surprising amount of ponies going to and fro, probably preparations for the summer sun celebration. Work for one of the biggest events in Canterlot starts months in advance, to account for all the ponies flooding into their capital to see the princess raise the sun. Celestia will be busy, she thinks worriedly, serving to avoid a unicorn carrying potted flowers. Maybe this was a bad idea.
She's so tired that she doesn't see the stallion walking towards her until it's too late. He clips her shoulder with his own and the force knocks her off balance. Shadow teeters dangerously on two hooves for a second before managing to regain her footing, letting out a small sigh of relief as she does so. She's avoided yet another fall but her shoulder still stings.
"Are you alright?" the stallions asks her. When she raises her head to look at him, his expression changes. "Oh hey, it's you!"
"Me?" Shadow turns to look behind her but there's no pony there. He's definitely talking to her.
The stallion stands about a head taller than Moon Shadow, with well built muscles to compliment a snowy rock cutie mark. His long chocolate mane billows behind him, scraggy and unkempt. Despite the midsummer heat, he’s wrapped in a thick grey winter scarf. And his eyes… they’re too wide. Jumpy. Unnerving. Shadow wonders briefly if the guard knows such a wild creature is on the castle grounds.
"I'm sorry," says Moon Shadow, because she's trying to be polite. It's extremely hard as she's exhausted and her life is falling apart and a very strange stallion is talking to her like he knows her. "But who are you exactly?"
"Of course!" he says, looking surprised. "I should have said. I'm Silver Boulder. Helping with some construction work around the castle. Not my usual job of course, but wendigo hunting doesn’t pay the bills you know..."
This conversation is getting weirder by the second. Moon Shadow struggles to recall her Ancient Creatures of Equestria class from school. Aren't wendigos those scary things that create ice and snow due to disharmony? Are there even any in Equestria anymore? And who does this guy think he is, going around fighting extinct monsters?
"Great," Shadow says wearily, deciding to drop the whole 'wendigo' thing. "That doesn't really explain much. Who are you to me, I mean. You seem to know me."
"That's true!" Silver Boulder says cheerfully. "I do. But you don't know me. That's ok. That's how it's supposed to work." Without meaning to, Shadow's tail starts to flick furiously with irritation.
"What's supposed to work?" she asks, through gritted teeth.
"Oh you know, you, me, the whole deal," Boulder says, looking over his shoulder. A workpony in a yellow hat stands on the other side of the courtyard, directing several other stallions and very similar carts full of rubble, like the one Boulder is pulling. Yellow Hat looks like he's in charge. Come to think of it, Shadow wasn't aware of any construction happening in the castle. She's been a bit tired lately but surely she would have noticed. Where is all that rubble coming from?
"No, I don't know." Flick, flick, flick. She's not getting anywhere. Maybe he's crazy. Maybe he's mistaken her for somepony else. Although, nopony ever has before...
"Well, you probably don't.." he still doesn't seem to be taking her seriously. He was watching out for Yellow Hat - as he's probably supposed to be working and not chatting to her - and now he seems to be watching a bird on a turret.
"I'm sorry, are you here to do construction on the castle?" He snickers, finally turning to face her properly.
"No...well, you'll find out what we're doing soon enough," he says. "But I meant I only know you in regards to your destiny. The big D. Final battle, action girl, end of days and all that jazz."
Ice cold water appears to be trickling down Shadow's spine or at least, that's how it feels. He can't be saying what she thinks he is. To others it would be vague enough that it doesn't mean anything. Every pony has a destiny of sorts, a raison d'etre as they say in Prance. Finding their cutie mark, fulfilling their destiny - it's drummed into you the minute you're old enough to walk. But somehow Shadow doesn't think this is what he means. And he's saying it to a pony who has been told her whole life she does have a destiny. Quite a significant one, in fact. He could probably go and say the same thing to Twilight Sparkle and she'd have no idea what he's saying. But Twilight isn't meant to know she has a destiny. Or Destiny. Whichever.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Shadow says coldly and tries to move past him. Unfortunately with the cart he just blocks her.
"You do," he insists. He looks over his shoulder to check nopony is around and then lowers his voice. "But it's ok. I won't tell anypony. Promise." He backs away with the cart and winks.
"Don't worry!" he calls over his shoulder, as he trots away. A mare has to leap out of the way as he barrels towards the gate."You'll do great, Moony!"
Shadow can only stare as he and the cart vanish out of sight. She's not sure if she's too tired or enraged or confused to respond, the entire encounter a haze in her mind. Finally something makes its way through the fog.
"DID YOU JUST CALL ME MOONY?!"
Celestia isn’t there.
“How can she not be here?” Shadow demands. Ivory Thorn merely blinks slowly and returns to her pile of papers.
“It means she’s not here?” she says bluntly. “Do you need me to rephrase it?” Shadow grinds her teeth.
“I mean…” she says slowly, as Ivory makes a note on a page with her quill. “She’s always here. She’s usually in meetings or planning committees or other boring tasks. Was there a foal she had to kiss or hospital wing she needed to open or something?” Ivory’s mouth twitches slightly.
“Very sorry but there was no foal kissing on the princess’ agenda today,” she says. “And I should know, as I write her agenda.”
“Well, do you know where she is then if you’re clearly the master of the agenda?” Shadow says, tail flicking once more. She doesn’t often encounter Celestia’s personal assistant which is probably good. She’s as annoying as Orchid Belle.
“I do!” Ivory sings out and then no more. Shadow flicks her ears back, trying to restrain the urge to rip all of the paperwork out of Ivory’s hooves.
“Great,” she says, with a forced smile. “And where might that be?” Ivory smirks and bundles up all of her papers, tapping them against the table to keep them neat, before she holds them aloft in her magic.
“Classified, I’m afraid,” she says with a smirk. “Even to you, Lady Moon Shadow. Now I advise that you go home. Perhaps you should return this evening if you need to speak with the princess.” And without waiting for a response, she stalks off and vanishes out the door.
Shadow stands there for a moment, slightly stunned and more irritated than before. Today is not working out for her.
Not a lot else to do but to call it quits. Yawning, she heads for the exit that Ivory just took. She could do with a rest at home and a good meal before she goes out again.
The sun is still blazing in the sky as she leaves the palace. She doesn’t spot any construction ponies this time around, although she keeps her eyes peeled. She has no desire to walk into one, especially somepony that confusing.
“Destiny,” Shadow mumbles, as she hits the main street that will take her home. “It’s done me a whole lot of good having a destiny, alright.”
Climbing the stairs to her apartment is hard and she groans with relief when she arrives at her floor. She hopes that Tea Leaf is home and can make her a delicious smoothie to perk her up a bit. She opens the door and kicks it shut behind her.
“Mom?” she calls, sliding off her saddlebags and dropping them on the floor. She quickly thinks better of it and hangs them on the hook. Tea Leaf hates Shadow dumping her stuff in the front hall.
“I'm here,” Tea Leaf responds from the kitchen. Shadow frowns. Her mother sounds odd. Maybe she had a bad day too.
But the cause for Tea Leaf’s stilted tones becomes apparent when Shadow crosses the threshold to the kitchen and sees how is sitting in her seat at the table.
“Princess Celestia?”
“Hello, Shadow,” Celestia says. There’s a still steaming cup in front of her so she can’t have been here long. The princess looks far too large to be in their small kitchen, her legs pulled in awkwardly on Shadow’s usual chair. Tea Leaf is standing by the counter, stirring a pot of something sweet. Her posture suggests she’s anything but pleased.
“What are you doing here?” Shadow asks suspiciously. She hasn’t seen Celestia since their fight before she left for Manehattan. Why has Celestia come here now? “I went to the castle but you weren’t there.” Celestia coughs, looking embarrassed.
“I was,” she explains. “But I’m afraid that my lunch was...interrupted.” She casts a very obvious glance at Tea Leaf and Shadow gawps at her mother.
“Mom!” she says, scandalised. “You brought her here?” Tea Leaf sniffs and turns off the stove.
“I did,” she says. “Do you think I’m stupid, pumpkin?”
“I...no?” Shadow says, thrown. She steps around Celestia to drop into the spare chair. Her hooves suddenly feel like they won’t support her anymore. Today has been too much.
“Hmm,” Tea Leaf snorts. “Not sure about that.” She pours the saucepan’s contents into a mug and passes it to Shadow. “Drink that. It’ll do you some good.” Shadow drinks immediately and then gags.
“Ugh, mom!” she complains. “What is that?” Has her mother lost her talent entirely? But Tea Leaf only smirks.
“It’ll keep you awake, that’s for sure,” she comments. “Better than coffee anyway.”
“Why haven’t you been sleeping, Shadow?” Celestia asks in her gentle, motherly voice. Shadow stares down at her mug of foul tasting liquid.
“So this is an intervention,” she quips. Tea Leaf sighs and comes to embrace her daughter.
“Sweetie, I know,” she says, stroking Shadow’s mane. “You haven’t slept properly since Manehattan. I know going there was hard for you but I didn’t know it was this hard.” Shadow shakes her head.
“It wasn’t that,” she mutters. “It has nothing to do with my parents or Prim Petal or my home...yes, I know about all of them by the way,” she says to a stunned Celestia.
“You certainly did you homework,” Celestia admits. “Is Prim still alive?”
“And kicking,” Shadow says, daring another sip of her brew. Ugh. Still bitter. “She told me everything. About Black Dagger and the night he brought me. About you asking her to destroy my file.” Behind her she senses Tea Leaf stiffen.
“So it was you,” Tea Leaf says, in a low voice. “I always suspected.”
“I had to,” Celestia says mournfully. “I couldn’t have anypony trying to find her. It was mostly kept out of the press but still ponies knew what happened to your parents that night, Shadow. Ponies who were there told their loved ones and a reporter snuck past the barrier...it was impossible to keep it completely quiet. I knew there would be a risk of somepony trying to track you down for a lurid story before you were even old enough for school. So I had it destroyed and you moved out of Manehattan as quickly as possible.”
Shadow nods. She can’t deny the logic. Murder is such a rare crime in Equestria that anypony would have chomped at the bit for such a gruesome story. But even so, it’s her life. And Celestia made that decision without her. Nopony should make decision about somepony else’s life.
“Let’s take a walk,” Celestia says, unfolding her long legs from the chair. “I have something to show you.” Shadow hesitates but finds herself being nudged out of her seat too by her mother.
“Go,” she whispers in Shadow’s ear. “I think you two need to talk.” Shadow nods and jumps down. She gives her mother a quick squeeze before following Celestia out the door.
The walk down the stairs is silent and uncomfortable. Shadow’s still a little unsure of the mare beside her but she has to give this a shot. She can’t do this alone and Celestia knows a lot more about the enemies they’re about to face.
They reach the main street and Shadow falls in step beside Celestia, struggling to keep up with those long steps when she’s so tired.
“I am sorry, truly,” says Celestia, in that perfect, regal voice of hers. “I know I’ve kept a lot from you…” Moon Shadow manages to glare at her through bloodshot eyes.
“At least you admit it,” she snaps. “But what are you going to do about it?” Celestia looks pained and closes her eyes briefly.
“I probably deserve that,” she says humorlessly. They’re heading towards the castle, but they don’t seem to be going in the direction of the main entrance. Instead Celestia leads them down a small side road. It’s a dead end with a wall that Shadow recognises as the wall that surrounds the castle. However, there’s a small locked gate that becomes apparent as they get closer. It unlocks with a glow of Celestia’s horn and it swings open to admit them.
“You deserve a lot more,” says Shadow snippily. “But I’m too tired.” Celestia doesn’t say another word, instead leading Shadow down a small path, flanked by flowering trees. Admittedly Shadow doesn’t spend a great deal of time in the royal gardens, but she’s never seen this particular route before.
“Where are we going?” she asks, as they turn a corner and approach two large hedges. There’s a small archway in between them, clearly meant as entry for visiting ponies. Shadow almost opens her mouth again when they pass through the gap and she can now see where Celestia has brought her.
“Oh,” says Shadow, chastened. Celestia only looks sorrowful as she leads Moon Shadow through rows of gleaming white graves, a route she has clearly taken many times before.
“This is the Canterlot Memorial Garden,” Celestia says. A few rows over, a pink Earth pony quietly tends to the gravestones, trimming grass and watering pots of flowers. She looks up to see Celestia pass by and gracefully curtseys to her before returning to her work. “And it is often where heroes of Equestria are buried.”
“I didn’t know this was here,” says Shadow, bewildered. Celestia shakes her head.
“Few ponies do. We try to keep it that way, to let them rest in peace. Only families of the deceased know this exists and they come to visit their loved ones when they can. But we try and keep the general public away. I hate to say this but a few of my subjects would visit here for less than proper and decent reasons.” They’re walking away from the main section of graves, over to a smaller plot at the back of the memorial garden. It’s sectioned off by a small white fence, which are covered by rose bushes. Celestia pushes open the gate and gestures Shadow through.
“Once, a long time before you were even born, I let a little filly yell at me for ten minutes straight. I could have argued with her, tried to explain that sometimes ponies die, that I tried my best and there was nothing I could do…but the truth is, I let her because I knew I deserved it. I had let her sister die, despite my best efforts, and nothing could bring her back again. I’d made a promise to look after her and I failed. I made a similar promise to look after you,” says Celestia, turning to look Moon Shadow in the eye. But Shadow hurriedly looks away.
“You couldn’t have made that promise to anypony,” she mutters. “My parents were dead by the time you found me.”
“That’s true,” says Celestia regretfully. “I try to find the new Sandmare as quickly as she is born but that’s not always easy to do. But regardless I made that promise to myself and to Tea Leaf.”
“She tore you a new one, huh?” Shadow comments and for the first time since they’d left the palace, the corners of Celestia’s mouth twitch upwards.
“Indeed, she did,” Celestia agrees, stopping in front of a grave surrounded by lavender.
Shadow stares down at Kimono’s name etched in stone and tries not to think of the clever, kind mare she knows as a corpse underneath her feet.
“This is your predecessor, Kimono,” says Celestia and Shadow looks up at her in shock. All the times Kimono has visited her, she never once mentioned that she had been the Sandmare before Moon Shadow.
“She was born to a Neighponese family nearly fifty years ago now,” Celestia says, unaware of her ward’s conflict. “I was lucky enough to find her quite young. She was guarded carefully and when she was old enough to learn magic, she was brought here. It was quite hard on her. Her family was very close and I know she was homesick, no matter how she tried to hide it from me.”
Moon Shadow can’t take her eyes off the neatly polished headstone. It bears Kimono’s name, dates, a symbol of her cutie mark and the words inscribed into the stone ‘Beloved daughter of Equestria.’
“A lantern?” Shadow says, pointing at the beautifully carved lantern underneath Kimono’s name. She’d wondered about the lantern since she’d seen it in the Sandmare’s journal, as it was quite different from the cutie marks most Sandmares bore.
“Yes, though I always thought it should have been bells, not lanterns,” Celestia says warmly. Shadow looks up at her mentor; Celestia had really loved Kimono. Was this what it had been like for her? Had she loved them all and had to watch them fade away?
“She was fascinated by them. In Neighponese culture, bells are known to ward off evil. She used a method created by another Sandmare to infuse magic into the bells, to give them extra power when they rang. The day she succeeded was the day that her cutie mark appeared. She always wore at least two in her mane. I used to say that I could hear her wherever she was in the castle!” Celestia laughs but her eyes are glassy. Moon Shadow turns her head away.
“How did she die?” she asks, eyes focused on the small border of flowers around Kimono’s grave.
“She was murdered,” Celestia says, voice trembling. “I was too late. By the time I realised it had all been a trick she was gone. We found her body outside of Canterlot a few hours later, after Grogar was defeated.”
“But he came back,” says Shadow. “He came to find me.” Celestia inclines her head slightly.
“Yes. I suppose he thought that if he killed you while you were still a foal, the Sandmare born after you would be too young and nowhere near prepared enough to fight when the time came. But somehow he failed, although it cost you your parents.”
“Grogar,” says Moon Shadow. “What is he?” Celestia lifts her head to the sky, her mane rippling like a wave as she does so. Shadow realises that here the sounds of Canterlot are barely audible. Carts in the street, ponies shouting their wares at market, foals playing at the Academy…none of it exists here. It’s the perfect place for ponies to rest after giving their lives for Equestria.
“He was a ram,” Celestia says, hesitantly. “I don’t know what led him down a path of destruction and murder, but he soon made a name for himself as a feared necromancer. He eventually planned to take over Equestria with an undead army, which thankfully was foiled.”
“By a Sandmare,” Shadow says and Celestia looks at her sharply.
“Yes,” she says. “Yes, by Glory.” Shadow recalls the name from the journal. Glory had been one of the few Sandmares to succeed at having a normal life. She’d married and had three beautiful foals. However she’d died soon after, leaving her third newborn filly motherless. Glory’s entries were always lively, her vivacious personality leaping off the page. But her very last entry had been rambling, confused. The madness always got to them, in the end.
Slowly losing her mind and dying young. It’s not something Moon Shadow is looking forward to.
“She was very clever, before she died,” Celestia says, as if she’d read Shadow’s mind. “Very bright. Her special talent was leadership. She noticed the signs long before I did and came to me with a plan. Without her, Equestria might have suffered needlessly.”
“So he was locked away for nearly five hundred years before he escaped to kill Kimono,” Shadow says. “How did he get out?”
“He had help,” Celestia says bitterly. Shadow knows at once who had helped him. The very creature currently haunting her every waking hour, the very one she came to ask Celestia about. A monster of nightmares, dating back as far as ponylore goes. Maybe even further.
“I’m aware,” Shadow says solemnly. She catches Celestia eye and shrugs ruefully. “I’m not sleeping for a reason. I had a visitor in my dream on the train back from Manehattan.” Celestia’s expression grows horrified.
“You...you saw her?” she says faintly, looking more scared than Shadow has ever seen her.
“The bogey mare?” Shadow asks, just to confirm and watches as Celestia’s eyes grow even more terrified. That right there worries her more than anything. Celestia had only spoken of utter rage at the mention of Grogar. She’d clearly thought nothing of going to fight a demon ram in defense of Canterlot and Kimono. She’d beaten him too, able to cast him back to Tambelon for a time. But this mare has her scared.
“I thought she was gone…” Celestia says in a quiet voice. “I thought…” Shadow looks worriedly at her mentor, fearing that Celestia will collapse right here.
“Gone?” Shadow asks, curious despite herself. “Why would she be gone?” Celestia pulls herself up once more and stares skyward towards the castle spires. But her eyes seem distant, seeing something that Shadow can not.
“The bogey mare thrives on darkness and fear,” she explains. “She’s existed as long as...well, we’re not sure. Even in the earliest records they talk about a mare of shadows. Much like the wendigos, in the early days she thrived. But then Equestria was founded and harmony filled the land. It drained her of her power significantly. She hasn’t been spotted for quite some time. I thought that she was too weak to cause trouble.”
“Or…” Shadow says, speaking aloud for both of them. “She was biding her time and waiting to strike.” They both look at Kimono’s grave in stunned silence, thinking of all the implications that might mean.
“You definitely saw her in your dream?” Celestia asks in hushed tones. Shadow doesn’t blame her for asking again, for wanting to be sure. The last thing they need is that sort of malevolence and blood lust let loose on Equestria. But Shadow nods firmly.
“I’m sure,” she insists. “All I saw was a mare shrouded in darkness but I know. The only bit of her I could see was these razor sharp teeth.” A dark look comes over Celestia’s face.
“I fear that you may be right and she has indeed returned,” she says gravely. She turns to look at Shadow. “I’m sorry, Shadow, but this news must be dealt with immediately. I must return to the castle. Please go home and try to rest until you leave for the dreamworld.”
“Okay,” Shadow says, thrown. She has no idea what actions Celestia could be taking to deal with a force of evil that possibly outdates ponykind. But it’s comforting that Celestia has some sort of plan. It’s more than Shadow has anyway. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“Just go about your day as normal,” Celestia says. “And try not to worry. Yes, I know that may be hard,” she says when she sees Shadow’s skeptical face. “I will send for you. But please, Shadow, do whatever you must to protect yourself. The dreamworld may be even more dangerous than we feared.”
“Understatement,” Shadow mutters and then is surprised as Celestia pulls her into a hug. She freezes for a moment, unsure how to react. This mare has still lied to her, deceived her...but in the end she embraces Celestia in return. It’s more important that they work together.
“Take care,” Celestia says before taking a few steps and bounding into the sky. Shadow watches those incredible white wings catch the wind with awe as Celestia soars towards the spires.
“Well, I’ll just…walk home then,” Shadow says to no one in particular.
Celestia had sent the message almost half an hour before and waiting for a response was giving her anxiety.
She would have gotten it instantaneously. Surely it can’t take her this long to write out a response? A yes or no, anything would ease the feeling of anticipation. But she can’t say no. For Shadow’s sake, for Equestria, it’s crucial that she agrees.
Oh but Celestia doesn’t blame her for not wanting to return. The last time she was in Canterlot was over twenty years ago, watching her sister be buried.
Celestia turns, intending to pace once more across her chambers when she feels the crackle of magic in the air. A scroll unceremoniously drops onto her head out of a flash of light. Celestia snatches it off the floor and tugs off the ribbon, eyes scanning the page before she’s even properly unrolled it.
Dear Princess,
I’ll admit that I was surprised to receive a letter from yourself after so long. I was also not best pleased as we did not part on good terms, all those years ago. However, you are right and Equestria appears to be in great danger. I will come to Canterlot at once.
But you must know, this is not for you but for my sister and her successor. I will not let another Sandmare go into battle unprepared.
Sincerely,
Wisteria.
Well. That was the best she could have hoped for, Celestia thinks, lowering the scroll. She’d half expected screaming, cursing, outright refusal...but Wisteria has agreed to come. Maybe they can prepare Shadow in time. Preparations for Twilight aren’t quite so hard. But Twilight’s destiny was planned years ago, perfectly scouting the location and the right ponies to bring down Twilight’s walls. She never quite suspected that anypony else would interfere with Luna’s return. But she should have. It was unlikely that Grogar and the Bogey mare would stay quiet forever. She rolls up the scroll and places it in a drawer before pulling her paper and ink to her once more. She has another letter that she needs to write.
Moon Shadow groans and lets her head fall on the table. They’re in the Jolly Orange Café for brunch and it’s far too noisy for a Sandmare who can’t sleep. She’s fairly sure most of her blood has turned to caffeine at this point, the only reason that she’s still going. She was half certain that her cat spoke to her this morning before she realised that she’s now so tired she’s on the verge of hallucinating. But she has heard nothing from Celestia since the princess had vanished from the cemetery yesterday. And that worries her far more than she’d ever say.
“I think we should get Moon Shadow some coffee,” says North, eyeing the top of Shadow’s head. Despite also being nocturnal, the pegasus looks bright-eyed and pretty. Shadow only manages another groan, this time in agreement.
“What’s up with you?” Midnight asks, perusing the menu. The chaos around them is pretty standard for midday; Canterlot nannies and their charges, young society ladies chatting loudly at the next table, an elderly mare sipping her tea. The noise doesn’t seem to bother anyone but Shadow. “You’re acting more and more like Icarus every day.”
“Can’t sleep,” Shadow mumbles into the tabletop. Oh, and she also has a problem of trying to save Equestria from power hungry tyrants, who also are pretty keen on killing her. You know, normal stuff.
Well, Grogar and the Mare are. She has no idea about Nightmare Moon. But hey, she probably has her own agenda. Eternal night and all that.
“Oh?” says North, leaning over to place a hoof on Shadow’s forehead. She’s not sure why - she’s tired, not sick. “Why’s that?”
“Just…can’t,” says Shadow, pathetically as North removes her hoof with a frown. “Had a few bad dreams and now I can’t doze off properly.”
“Maybe you should see a doctor,” suggests Midnight. Not an entirely unreasonable suggestion, as her mother is a nurse at Canterlot Royal Hospital. “Get something to help you sleep. I always thought sleeping during the day must be pretty hard anyway. I don’t know how you do it.” Shadow shrugs weakly. She’s been on a nocturnal schedule for so long that she’s pretty certain at this point she wouldn’t ever be able to sleep at night. She’s even not sure she’d want to. It has it’s disadvantages but she’ll never get tired of looking up at a clear sky full of stars or watching the sun rise over the castle.
Suddenly she picks up her ears. Oh. Idea.
“Drugs!” she says, excitedly and then realises she just shouted ‘drugs’ very loudly in a busy café. The mare at the table next to her has already turned to shoot her a nasty look.
“Uh, I mean…” she says, sheepishly lowering her voice. “I could get some herbal remedy or something that could give me dreamless sleep, couldn’t I?” Midnight snorts in amusement.
“Why herbal? Get the good stuff,” she says, plopping her menu down onto the table. North turns to frown at her.
“Herbal really would be better. I have some other things you could do to help you sleep better, Moon Shadow,” she offers and Midnight rolls her eyes. Thankfully, Pumpkin pops up before they can start bickering.
“Hi guys!” she chirrups. “What can I get you?” All three mutely stare at her in a waitress’ apron.
“Uh…is this another disguise, Pumpkin?” North asks, finally. Pumpkin shakes her head and snickers.
“No. Lychee has exams and another waitress called in sick so I’m filling in. Now, what do you want?” she asks, flourishing a quill and notepad as though she’s been doing it all her life. Which she probably has. Pumpkin probably walked across the cafe floor for her first steps.
“I’ll have blueberry pancakes and the Very Berry smoothie,” says Midnight. “And can I get butter and syrup on the pancakes?”
“I’ll have…the dandelion yogurt and a fruit salad. And an herbal tea, please.” Midnight rolls her eyes yet again at North’s healthy choice of brunch but thankfully, North doesn’t see.
“We have Raspberry, Pear, Elderberry, Lavender and the House Specials!” says Pumpkin, waving a hoof at the board near the door. All three heads swivel to look and then back again.
“Pumpkin, Lychee and Peaches?” snorts Midnight. “That’s not all one tea is it?” This time it’s Pumpkin who rolls her eyes.
“No, they’re herbal teas named after us. Duh,” she says, as if it were obvious and perfectly normal to create speciality teas after your three daughters. Maybe it is if your parents have spent their whole lives in the restaurant business.
“I’ll have the Peach tea,” North decides. Pumpkin chews the end of her quill.
“You know, the Spiced Pumpkin tea is better,” she says, hopefully. North gives her a sceptical look.
“You just want her to get it because it’s named after you,” says Moon Shadow bluntly, still resting her chin on the table.
“It is better, I swear!” protests Pumpkin. All three friends simultaneously pull a face. Pumpkin is good for many things but not in tea.
“It’s Spiced Pumpkin herbal tea,” says Midnight, with an arched brow. “Really?”
Pumpkin relents and writes down peach tea. “Okay, Shadow, what can I get you?”
“Coffee,” Shadow moans, ears flat back against her head. “Lots and lots of coffee.”
“That’s not food,” scolds Midnight, forehead creasing in concern. “You’ll feel better with some food.”
“I’m too tired for food,” grumbles Moon Shadow. North whisks the abandoned menu - Shadow hadn’t bothered to even look at it - away from her and scans it quickly.
“She’ll have Cranberry Joy’s Pink special,” North decides. Moon Shadow raises an eyebrow.
“What is that?” she asks, only a little bit afraid. Cranberry Joy, Pumpkin’s mother makes delicious drinks but sometimes her creations can verge on a little too outrageous. It’s no wonder that she and Tea Leaf are friends
“Everything’s pink?” Midnight hazards a guess.
“It’s toast with raspberry jam, strawberry yoghurt, Mom’s special wake up cocktail, (non-alcoholic) and pink waffles with pink syrup and whipped cream!” says Pumpkin, all in one breath. Midnight looks back down at Moon Shadow and grins.
“What I just said. Pink,” she says, gleefully.
“Do I want to know what’s in the syrup?” Moon Shadow asks, finally lifting her eyes up to Pumpkin’s face. The orange mare hesitates.
“Uh…no. It’s got a lot of sugar in though!” she says and North groans.
“Well, that’ll make everything better,” she says, sarcastically. “On top of exhaustion, let’s give her a sugar crash!” Midnight pokes Moon Shadow in the ribs with a hoof.
“It might get her moving a bit quicker,” she teases and follows Shadow when she tries to wriggle away.
“Get off!” growls Shadow, not in the slightest bit in the mood for teasing. Another pony across the café waves urgently to get Pumpkin’s attention.
“Waitress!” she calls desperately. “My foal tipped her applesauce on the floor!” The three at the table immediately give Pumpkin a sympathetic look.
“Oops,” says Pumpkin blithely. “Oh well. Coming! I gotta go get a mop. I’ll bring your drinks by in a bit.” With that, she trots off to clean up the floor and probably stick a foal in the sink. Presumably, the little filly isn’t usually green judging by the way her mom is panicking.
“It won’t get stuck in her mane,” Midnight says calmly, watching Pumpkin deftly swoop the foal out of her highchair. “Trust me; Stronghold tipped his bowl over his head when he was a colt. Came right out with warm water.”
“I suppose she’s used to foals,” North says thoughtfully. “She does have two younger sisters. We’re only children after all.”
“What’s your excuse, Mids?” Moon Shadow asks, slyly looking at her best friend. “You have a baby brother.” Midnight rolls her eyes again, a well-practiced move.
“He’s only three years younger than me,” she says, with the slightest shudder. “I didn’t really have much time with him as a foal. I definitely don’t have much experience with foals now.”
They all turn to watch the filly throw the sauce that was in her hair directly into her mother’s face.
“Thank Celestia,” comments Midnight, speaking aloud for all of them.
Moon Shadow slumps onto the table again. She’s not hugely into the idea of foals, no matter how often Tea Leaf hints at grandfoals. They’re sticky and smelly and noisy. Besides, how would she raise it? She can’t go out to the dreamworld with a foal strapped to her back. Sandmares usually are childless for a reason. And poor Glory died suddenly, leaving her three children without a mother.
Sighing, Moon Shadow turns her head and looks straight at a broad chest.
A very broad chest. Wow.
There’s an Earth stallion serving drinks to the table next to theirs. He’s broad shouldered, with a thick grey coat and dark brown hair that is verging on a bit too long. He must be new: waitresses are always leaving because they got an acting gig or a role in the ballet corps. It’s no Big Apple or Las Pegasus but Canterlot is well known for its theatre and dancing.
He places down the last cup and smiles, turning to go back to the kitchen. Moon Shadow tries to not fall out of her seat following his rump all the way.
She turns back to find both her friends smirking at her.
“What are you doing?” Midnight asks in a sing-song voice.
“Nothing,” says Moon Shadow, trying to keep her cheeks from showing her embarrassment. The evil grins on her friends’ faces only increase in size and amusement.
“It didn’t look like a whole lot of nothing,” says Midnight. “What do you think, North?”
“So not ‘nothing’,” agrees North. The pegasus likes to pretend that she’s above their usual childish teasing but there’s a devious glint in her green eyes. “Somepony was leering.” Moon Shadow’s face flushes all the way up to her ears.
“I was not!” she splutters. “That sounds awful! I might have been looking…” Midnight gives an explosive snort of laughter, one so violent that her glasses threaten to fall off the top of her head.
“That was far from looking,” she giggles. “Geez, when have you ever looked at a stallion like that?”
Moon Shadow resists the urge to slam her head on the table. Maybe if she does it hard enough, she’ll pass out and avoid this humiliation.
“I was only looking,” she growls. “It’s not a crime.” Midnight and North share a knowing look over her head.
“If you say so,” Midnight says gleefully. Luckily for Shadow, Cranberry Joy, Pumpkin’s mother, arrives with their drinks and disrupts their conversation.
“Hello, girls!” she says cheerfully, carefully lowering the tray down onto the table. “How are we all today?”
“Tired,” Shadow snarls. Luckily, Cranberry is Tea Leaf’s best friend and not at all put off by Shadow’s prickly demeanor.
“I bet my wake up cocktail can fix that!” Cranberry says, placing a tall glass of something very pink in front of Shadow.
“You may die if you drink that,” North says flatly, looking concerned at all the sugar the drink may contain. But Shadow has already pulled the cocktail towards her and inhaling it as fast as she can through the glittery swizzle straw.
“Definitely going to die,” North says darkly, pulling her own tea towards her. Shadow licks cream off her muzzle and sighs contentedly.
“It was delicious, that’s all I care about,” she says and then mournfully looks at her empty glass. “Can I order another?”
“How about some tea with your meal?” Cranberry says, eyebrows furrowed with concern. “Your mother may have a few words to say if I fill you up with sugar.”
“I am an adult,” Shadow mumbles defiantly, in case a few ponies had forgotten. Midnight pats her gently on the head.
“I know, dear,” she says, in bemusement. Behind them the foal throws her bowl of applesauce at the window and they watch in silence as it slides down the glass.
“Uh…” Pumpkin says nervously, looking down at the soiled rag she has in her hooves and then at the applesauce dripping down the window. “I may need a mop?”
Brunch has been delicious in the end. It didn’t make up for her lack of sleep but it certainly helped. Even helping wipe up leftover applesauce under the delighted eyes of a stroppy foal can’t dampen her spirits.
The sun is still high in the sky but she hopes that maybe she can manage a short nap before work. She has the name of a local apothecary from Midnight, that may be able to supply her with a short term sleep remedy. And as it promises to be mostly herbal, North had been placated too. Just a quick mouthful or two and then she can slip into a much needed, dreamless sleep, free of horrifying teeth and terrifying mares. It won’t take her long to reach the apothecary and then dash home so she enjoys the leisurely stroll. Summer is starting to take hold, with flowers blooming everywhere and everypony filled with the sort of good cheer that comes from long, warm days and all the good things that it brings. The Sugar Rose cafe will start selling their ice cream milkshakes again. The local pool will stay open late for evening swimming. There will be plays and open air theatre and concerts.
And once again the heavy weight settles on Shadow’s shoulders. She can’t help it. It fades so briefly these days before it returns, darker than before. Because she has to fight to ensure all of those lovely summer things go on as normal. So violinists can perform in their first big concert and foals can practice jumping off the driving board. So she and her friends can go to the park on a warm afternoon and only get up to get ice cream from the cart.
Often she envies Twilight Sparkle. Twilight has no idea right now of the destiny she has and as far as she can tell, she won’t for a good while. Not nearly until the event is upon them. And surely that will be scary in itself. ‘Oh hey, we’ve got like a day until a scary tyrant comes down from the moon to enslave us all, it’s up to you to stop it!’ Celestia is putting a lot of faith in Twilight and that her student will take up the challenge. A lot of ponies wouldn’t be able to. But Shadow doesn’t have any doubts about Twilight. The mare is bright and confident in her abilities. Nightmare Moon doesn’t stand a chance.
So long as Shadow can hold up her end of the bargain. It’s no good Twilight defeating Nightmare Moon if Grogar and the bogey mare follow her to reign terror.
“Miss?” A young stallion is suddenly right in front of her face, looking at her with concern. “Are you alright?” His marefriend is standing behind him, as though she’s wary of the strange mare in the street. To her surprise, Shadow realises that she’d stopped walking, standing frozen in the road.
“Yes,” Shadow says, a blush rising in her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I was lost in thought.”
“You looked awful,” the mare says bluntly, now that she knows Shadow isn’t some strange maniac. “You were all pale and grey and your eyes…” She gives a shudder. Her coltfriend shoots her a warning look before turning back to Shadow.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he presses, face soft with polite concern. “You really don’t look so well. Do you need us to get someone?”
“I’m fine,” Shadow says, embarrassed that she’s causing a scene. A few ponies have slowed down to discreetly watch them, wondering if something interesting is going on. “Really. I’m only going to Bridle Street...” But then to her horror the world spins beneath her. The stallion’s face morphs to one of outright worry.
“You are not fine,” he says firmly. “We can take you to Bridle Street. Where are you going?” There’s a funny taste in Shadow’s mouth and the sun that had felt very pleasant before now feels too warm on her back. She wonders if all of that sugar when she was so tired was such a good idea after all.
The stallion asks her again and this time his marefriend steps up and rests a steadying hoof on Shadow’s shoulder. But Shadow now can’t remember the name of the apothecary so she gives them the only other place she knows on Bridle Street. But then her knees go from beneath her and the last thing she sees is the mare shouting for help as the stallion tries to catch her. But it’s no good and at last, Shadow slips into deep, quiet oblivion.
The train station is dark when the final train pulls in. The driver stretches with a sigh of relief. It’s been a long, hard journey from Los Pegasus, their previous stop. He presses the button that will allow him to speak to the weary train passengers.
“Mares and gentlecolts,” he announces. “We have reached our final stop. Please take all of your belongings with you and we hope you enjoyed this Equestria Express train to Canterlot Central station. Have a very good night and we hope you’ll travel with us soon.”
The few who have made the long trip from Los Pegasus and beyond begin to stir themselves. A business pony home from a work trip rubs his eyes and begins pulling down his bags from the rack. A few mares look worse for wear after their long party weekend. One still has a bright pink streamer in her mane. Slowly the passengers gather their belongings and spill out onto the platform, widely yawning.
A lone mare lingers behind the rest. She tugs her bag onto her back and looks out of the window. Her fellow passengers have exited the station, looking for a late night cab to take them home. She can’t help but hesitate. It’s been years since she set hoof in Canterlot. Has she made the right decision?
A station employee wanders into the car and starts when he sees her.
“Are you alright, miss?” he asks, surprised to see somepony still on the train. He was only doing a final sweep for left behind luggage or other belongings. Everypony else has departed quickly, desperate for their warm beds, but this mare is staring out of the window with a haunted look in her bright green eyes.
“I’m fine,” she says in a low, clear voice. “Do you know how far the castle is from here? I’m afraid I can’t quite remember how to get there.”
“Oh! Well, I suppose it’s about fifteen minutes from here, if you walk,” he says. “Are you sure you don’t want directions to a nice hotel? The castle will be mostly closed at this time of night.”
“It’s alright,” she says, stepping away from the window and giving an enigmatic smile. “I’m expected there.”
“Oh,” the stallion says again. “I’m sure you can try to hail a cab. Might be safer for a young mare this time of night. Gosh, invited to stay at the castle! Have you come far?”
“From Neighpon,” she says briefly. “For work. Is the main street best to flag down a cab?”
“It is, although if nopony is left, take the sign for Rosemont Crescent. There’s usually a few cabs lingering outside of the tavern there.” She thanks him politely and squeezes past him to get to the door. The night air on the platform is fresh but she merely shakes herself and sets off. The cool temperature will help keep her awake. She packed not long after she posted her reply to Celestia and it’s been a good few days of travelling. She walked to the train station from her rural home and then it’s been stops and changes and waiting for delayed trains. She’s eaten hayburgers from train cafes and oatbars on cab rides. But now she’s finally here.
She’d be lying if she said there weren’t nerves in her stomach. Those same nerves are urging her to find a hotel room to sleep in so she can catch a train home tomorrow. Anything to take her away from this place. It’s been over two decades since she set hoof in the capital. Two decades since she clung her to her mother’s leg, watching her sister be buried. She went home with her parents to Neighpon after the funeral and has never once thought about returning.
But she’s not selfish enough to ignore the plight of a young mare. So Wisteria raises her head and sets off for the castle.
Moon Shadow sleeps, unaware of time passing by or the worries of those around her. Sometimes she hears voices, sounding far away, little more than distant noise. Other times, she hears voices of her loved ones right over her head. She swears she can hear her mother’s voice, talking to her in a soothing tone. She can hear Celestia arguing with someone. There’s a mare talking in a soft voice that she doesn’t recognise.
Then the world falls away and she wakes up in a new one.
“Where am I, Kimono?” Moon Shadow asks, knowing full well where she is by now. She’s been dragged through too many Kimono-induced dreams to not recognise them. This time she’s in the castle, in a hallway in the south wing. Growing up around the castle means that she knows just about every inch of it.
“Canterlot,” Kimono replies immediately, sounding more distant than before.
“I know that,” replies Shadow, a little sharply. “Why am I here, Kimono? There’s only so much you can tell me.”
“But infinite things to show you,” says Kimono, calmly. “However, I’m afraid I don’t have the time. I can only show you the most vital things that you need to know.” Moon Shadow knows better than to waste time arguing the inevitable in Kimono’s voice. If there’s something she needs to see, they’d better move. Her sleep was likely drug-induced and it must have worn off enough for Kimono to get through. It makes Shadow wonder what else might get through and if so, how much time they have.
“Then let’s go,” Moon Shadow says, briskly walking off down the hall. But this time, Kimono doesn’t speak to direct her.
“Aren’t you going to tell me where to go?” Moon Shadow asks, at the end of the corridor where there’s a junction. Right will take her to the entrance hall. Left will eventually lead her to the kitchens.
“Hear what?” she asks, turning her head this way and that. But she doesn’t hear anything. The castle is strangely silent. Even when Shadow arrives after dawn for her meetings, these halls are never this still.
“Listen,” Kimono instructs, voice ringing with meaning. Clearly, she wants Shadow to use more than her ears. “Can’t you hear it?”
So Moon Shadow does as she asks, standing completely still and calming her breathing. For a minute, she concentrates on the beating of her heart, the soothing, constant thrumming. Finally, when that is so calm she can barely even hear her heartbeats anymore, does she notice another sound out of the silence.
“A bell?” Shadow asks, opening her eyes. There’s the faint sound of a bell, echoing within the stone walls. It’s deep, full, the sound of a large, solitary bell.
“Follow it,” says Kimono. For a moment, Shadow is frozen, indecisive. She can’t follow the sound: it seems to be all around her. Does she go left or right? Will this journey lead her deeper into the castle or out of Canterlot? Kimono is challenging her. She wants Shadow to be able to do this on her own.
This reeks of Celestia-style training again.
But Shadow stops and waits. And again, just breathes and listens. Tries to channel her inner-Sandmare. Celestia is always waffling on about using her instincts. Maybe now is the time to use them for something more than escaping cannibal clowns.
And her feet almost move by themselves, drawn to the ringing in the depths of the castle.
Kimono stays silent as they wind through grand rooms, make their way down corridors and end up at a very long set of stairs. Shadow stares into the darkness but she can tell the ringing is coming from down there. So that’s where she’s going to have to go.
The stairs are old. Really old. Over time the castle has been constantly renovated, kept modern and new as Equestria has moved forward. But these stairs are like the ones Shadow encountered in the old castle: large, uneven stone slabs that are perilous to walk down. But Shadow lights her horn and takes it one step at a time, as quickly as she dares.
She doesn’t know how long she descends. In the darkness and silence, with only her breathing and the echoing gong of a bell to keep her from going insane, it feels like hours. There’s no measure of time here, no pony to talk to – not even Kimono says a word.
Just when her legs feel like they’re going numb from exhaustion and the endless rhythm of ‘feel, step, step, feel, step, step’, her hooves make a different sound as they land on much thicker stone. Just to be sure she’s not going to plummet off the edge, Moon Shadow moves her horn’s glow in front of her. Rather than a perilous drop, there’s just a long corridor of cracked, dark stone. The air tastes old and stagnant, musty on her tongue when she breathes in. There’s not a lot of air flow down here. They’re too deep for fresh air or light here.
Taking a deep breath, with still no sound from her ghostly companion, Moon Shadow puts all four hooves firmly on the ground and determinedly follows the corridor all the way to the end.
It initially looks like a dead end, a large stone wall in front of her. But as Shadow moves closer she can see the gaping hole in the dark stone slabs. Any debris there was has been taken away, leaving only an uneven opening. But beyond the hole is dark, with whatever lies within untouched by Shadow’s light. Shadow touches a section of the wall with a hoof, thinking carefully. She encountered that strange stallion with slabs of stone only a few days ago. He was transporting them away from the castle. And at the time she’d thought it was odd as she hadn’t known about any construction happening. But clearly it had, right under her nose. Somepony had ordered this wall to be brought down. But why? And why now?
Kimono still hasn’t offered any help so Shadow takes another steadying breath and steps through the gap.
The cavern is huge. Moon Shadow never would have guessed that this is what would greet her once she’d taken a step into what seemed like endless darkness; a vast space with uneven floors and still, stale air.
Almost stale. As Moon Shadow cautiously steps further in, she can feel small breezes that must be coming from gaps and cracks in the walls. Walls that are continuous, solid stone: only a small section near where Shadow came in was made of large slabs and cement. Only when she takes a good look at the walls does she realise why they went so far down.
“This room was built out of the mountain!” she exclaims, brightening her horn as far as it can go. It doesn’t fill the whole cavern but it’s enough for Shadow to gauge the size of the space she’s in. It’s as long as the Castle ballroom and twice as wide. The roof is so high above her head she reckons that you could fit the Canterlot observatory in here and still have a few feet to spare.
“That’s right,” says Kimono, making Shadow jump. She’d almost forgotten the other Sandmare was there, Kimono has been quiet for so long. “Celestia had this room built back when the Castle was still in construction. We’re not quite as low down as the Crystal Caves though.”
Shadow takes a few tentative steps forward, hooves clacking on the rough floor. For a place that’s been long abandoned, it’s dry and clean and, with the exception of a few cracks in the walls, safe.
“Uh, this place wasn’t used to hold a pony-eating monster, was it?” Shadow checks, suddenly nervous. She may be asleep but she’s not up for running for her life, yet again. “Because that seems really impractical when Tartarus is a lot more secure…” Kimono chuckles.
“No. It was used to seal something up but nothing that is a danger to you, I promise.”
“But what was…?” Shadow starts to ask before Kimono cuts her off.
“Just keep walking. You’ll see it.” There’s an edge to Kimono’s voice now, something brimming with excitement. The binding spell is probably keeping her from saying anything more so Shadow quickly steps forward, searching.
It’s hard trying to find something when she doesn’t know what she’s looking for. All she can do is step over chunks of rock and keep her eyes open as she searches with her light.
But then the light passes over something that isn’t a mere chunk of rock.
“Can you feel it?” Kimono asks softly, almost reverently.
Shadow is barely listening. She’s staring at the bell, the dark, rusted metal and all of the delicate carvings underneath layers of dirt and grime. Something in this bell is drawing her in, singing to her. Magic, she thinks, pressing a hoof gently against the cold surface. The bell has been made with magic. And strong magic too. Even all these years later, the energy in the bell is sending sparks along Shadow’s skin, and tremors up her spine.
“What?” Shadow says in amazement. She moves around the bell in a circle, admiring it from all sides. It doesn’t look complete though – the ringer is missing and it looks unpolished somehow. Rough. “How…?”
“Celestia had it sealed up here, long ago,” Kimono says, as Shadow continues to admire the bell. “It wasn’t completed by it’s original maker before she died.”
Shadow stops in her tracks, now certain of what this bell is...and does. This is Glory’s great bell, the one that banished Grogar and Tambelon to a dark corner of the dreamworld where he couldn’t hurt anyone. But it’s old and unfinished. It doesn’t look like the grand magical bell capable of defeating the necromancer.
“Glory’s,” she says aloud, to say what Kimono can’t. “But this one looks unfinished. How could she have defeated Grogar with this?”
“She didn’t,” Kimono says and then falls quiet, gripped by the curse that prevents her from telling Shadow what she needs to know. But it doesn’t matter. Shadow already understands.
“She was making another one,” Shadow says, slowly. Clever Glory. Not happy that Grogar’s banishment was permanent, she was preparing another in case he returned. “Just in case. She was right. But where’s the first one?”
“Lost,” Kimono says vaguely. “No one is quite sure of where it went after the battle. That’s why Glory was making another.”
“Can we use it?” Shadow says, touching the bell once more. It’s like an addiction; the ripples of magic that flow over her when she comes into contact with it. It feels like warmth and comfort, a magical aura that is somehow familiar. It calls to something inside of her, as though the bell wants or needs her there.
“Hmm,” Kimono says thoughtfully. “You’ll find out soon enough.” Shadow merely rolls her eyes. She suspects that particular piece was more ‘do it yourself’ rather than the curse keeping Kimono’s mouth tied.
“Alright, alright,” Shadow grumbles. “But why didn’t she finish it?”
“She died before she could,” Kimono sounds mournful. “She tried...but it caught up with her in the end, like all Sandmares. She lived longer than any of us...Imagine what she could have done if she’d lived a full life!”
Shadow swallows, wishing more than anything than some other pony was in her place. This incredible creation of dark and dream magic in front of her intimidates her as much as it awes her. Glory did something amazing in making it, and the one that came before.
Maybe it would have been better if somepony else was the Sandmare. Better if Glory was the sandmare. She faced Grogar before, without drowning under any fears or doubts she might have had. She hadn’t let it because she must have known that ponies would suffer if she did. But Shadow isn’t that brave or that strong. Not even that clever. Glory was the mare with the sharp eyes and quick mind. She’d had a plan and stopped Grogar dead in his tracks. All Shadow has is a smart mouth and a decent knowledge of spells.
And she says ‘decent’ because she’s never grasped the most crucial of sandmare spells.
“You can do this, Shadow,” Kimono says softly, as though she can read Shadow’s mind.
“What if I can’t?” Shadow says, allowing the smallest of cracks in her armor. Much like in the street in front of Ocean Soul, she lets her worries spill over. She’s so tired of carrying this all by herself. “Everypony is counting on me. Celestia thinks I can do this but...I just don’t know if I can. I’m not Glory.”
“No,” Kimono says firmly. “You are Moon Shadow. That’s just as good. I know you feel too young and unprepared but you’re not entirely doing this alone. You’ll have help and you are more than strong enough for this.” Shadow shakes her head.
“It should have been you,” she insists. If things were different, Kimono would be the perfect age to fight. Strong, experienced, with the right gift to face Grogar, and a wise, calm nature. “It should have been. Celestia told me about your gift and the bells...you’d be perfect for this!”
“Grogar knew it too,” Kimono says, sounding distant, as she always does when discussing her death. “That’s why he killed me. But there is no Sandmare who can’t cope with this, Shadow. You and I and Glory and Galaxy were all chosen. Dancing Butterflies and Cosmos and Wind Whistler...every Sandmare was chosen for this for a reason. You were chosen because you can succeed where I failed.”
Shadow drops her gaze down to the floor. She doesn’t know why Celestia and Kimono seem to believe in her so much. Sure, every Sandmare was probably capable of their destiny. But this particular destiny seems too huge. Watch after the ponies’ dreams...well, that’s one thing. Stopping ancient evil and protecting Equestria seems something meant for somepony greater. Not her.
“I believe in you, Shadow,” Kimono says firmly. “I’ve watched you for years. I wouldn’t tell you you can do this, unless I was absolutely sure.”
Shadow lifts her head, intending to ask Kimono what she means, when the world and the cave around them ripples.
“It looks like our time is up,” Kimono says, ruefully. “Be strong, Shadow! Don’t be afraid. We will never leave you alone.”
And with that, her sister Sandmare, the cave and the bell all fade away and Shadow opens her eyes in the bright light of the castle infirmary.
When Shadow opens her eyes, the first thing that she sees is her mother’s worried face crowded over her own. The moment Tea Leaf sees her daughter’s eyes open she gives a loud sob and buries her face against Shadow’s cheek.
“Mom?” Shadow asks weakly but her voice comes out croaky. It sounds as though she hasn’t used it for days. She blinks against the harsh lights above her head. She’s definitely in the castle infirmary, tucked up in the crisp white sheets of the beds there. This is not her first time here; growing up around the castle meant that she had many trips here as a filly.
She turns her head a fraction, so she can see past the bits of her mother’s mane stuck in her face, and sees the other ponies standing nearby.
“Princess?” Shadow asks, hoping she might get more reason out of somepony else. “What happened?”
“You fainted,” says the nurse briskly. Shadow winces. Oh no. It’s Nurse Needles. “Don’t make that face at me, young lady! Honestly, I had to patch up enough bruises and scrapes when you were a filly and now I’m still not rid of you!”
Shadow scowls. The grumpy old mare has her grey mane pulled up into a tight bun and her nurses’ outfit is as perfectly pressed and stark white as Shadow remembers. She’d rather been hoping that Nurse Needles had retired by now. No such luck.
“Several good Samaritans assisted you,” Celestia says calmly, even though there’s a tension in her brow that’s not often seen. “Luckily, you were able to tell them the name of your friend’s shop before you passed out. Ocean Soul knew to bring you to the castle.”
It’s slowly coming back to Shadow. Of course. She’d collapsed on Bridle Street. She’d been going to the apothecary, which actually wasn’t far from Sacred Page. She vaguely remembers the concerned faces in front of her before she fell, the clamour of shouting. She was lucky that Ocean knew where to take her.
Tea Leaf finally pulls her head up and sniffles. Her eyes are red from weeping and Shadow can see how pale and tired her mother looks.
“What were you doing?” Tea Leaf bursts out, face`creased in anger. “How could you be so stupid? You should have told one of us!”
“I’m sorry,” Shadow tries, ashamed and confused. She doesn’t know what she’s done to upset her mother and worry Celestia so. Because even the princess has a tight line to her mouth and the relief in her eyes is obvious. She scared them both...badly.
“You’ve been asleep for a while,” Celestia explains, seeing Shadow’s face. “Shadow, you collapsed a few days ago.” Shadow gawps at her but she sees no joke in any of their faces. No wonder Nurse Needles looks so pinchy, if she’s had Shadow under her care for a few days.
“A few days?” she yelps, Celestia’s words finally sinking in. She can’t have lost a few days! There’s no time! Grogar is coming and she already doesn’t have enough time as it is.
“Exhaustion, some dehydration and magical burn out,” Nurse Needles says bluntly. “If you don’t sleep or recharge properly and keep using magic...well, you can see for yourself what happened.”
Shadow struggles to pull herself up. Her mother rushes to fluff up the pillows behind her, which only makes Shadow’s guilt worse. She doesn’t deserve fluffed pillows after what she’s put them through.
There’s a faint tug and a sting on her right foreleg and she turns to see a large IV drip behind her mother. The other end is unfortunately in her limb. Wincing, she looks away again. She was never very good with needles.
“You’ll need that for a while,” Nurse Needles says sternly. “You need to re-hydrate properly. Not coffee or whatever it is you young kids are drinking these days!” She looks as though she could go on but Celestia rests a hoof on her shoulder, causing the nurse to swallow whatever it was she might have been about to say.
“May we have a moment alone with Shadow?” she says, and Nurse Needles frowns. But she’s unable to deny the princess completely.
“A few moments,” she allows. “But then I must check her. She’s been asleep for two days!” Celestia steps forward once the nurse has left and tugs the dividing curtain around the three of them.
“Now,” Celestia says, with an edge to her tone. “The truth this time, please, Shadow.”
So Shadow with some reluctance and a large glass of water to help her throat, tells her mother and Celesta everything. The visit from the bogey mare - all of it. Her being unable to sleep, the fear...and then with a trembling voice she tells Celestia about Kimono.
“You...you’ve seen her?” Celestia asks, breathlessly. She looks truly thrown by the news that Shadow has been visited by the former Sandmare. It must make it worse with how Celestia had loved Kimono and lost her. It was one thing to have a friend die but to have her brutally murdered before her time was another. Kimono’s death must weigh on Celestia like lead.
“Not seen,” Shadow amends. “But heard. She only speaks to me. She never has a body. I don’t think she’s strong enough for her body to come through from...wherever she is.”
“She’s dead?” Tea Leaf checks. She’s stopped crying but Shadow’s story has only made her look more weary. “This mare, isn’t she dead?”
“She is,” Celestia says solemnly, a dark expression passing over her face like a cloud. “I found her body myself. She’s buried in the memorial garden in the castle gardens.”
“But then how is she coming to Shadow?” Tea Leaf pushes, a different kind of concern ringing in her tone now. Magic occasionally confuses her mother. As an Earth pony, Tea Leaf only knows the kind she can pull through her hooves. The kind that makes fruit ripen, or that knows when something is perfectly baked. Love, cherish, nurture. That’s the kind of magic Tea Leaf knows. Not this: the wild, uncertain magic that fizzles like electricity in a storm and requires every bit of strength and control that you have, just so you can avoid being a lightning rod.
“How do we know that this isn’t a trick? Grogar trying to lead Shadow astray or hurt her somehow?” Tea Leaf continues, with the faintest hint of hysteria.
The dread in Celestia’s eyes suggests that she’s already thought of this but that doesn’t dim the glimmer of hope. Hope that Kimono is coming to Shadow, hope that maybe she can make things right. The smallest chance that she can apologise for failing her.
“What do you think, Shadow?” Celestia asks gently. Shadow swallows, aware of what she’s about to be asked. “Do you think it could possibly be a trick?”
Shadow looks down at her hooves as she thinks. Honestly, she’s never once thought that Kimono wasn’t who she said she was. Nothing she’s ever said or done has made Shadow think she was in danger from her or even caused her to suspect the other sandmare. And that first dream she had…well, who knows what would have happened had Kimono not shown up to save her from Grogar. In her gut, she knows what she believes.
“I think she’s real,” Shadow says finally. “I don’t know how she’s in my dreams or what Grogar is doing to her but she’s saved me and helped me too many times for me to believe that she’s not trying to help us.”
Celestia visibly breathes a sigh of relief. If Shadow had thought Kimono was only a cruel trick, designed by Grogar to break them, it would have hurt Celestia deeply.
“Well, tread with caution and do let us know should something make you suspect things aren’t right,” Celestia advises. She looks over her shoulder, as though she expects Nurse Needles to come through it at any moment. They’ve had more than enough time and the nurse will probably want to pounce on Shadow to poke and prod at her.
“We should leave you for today,” Celestia says. Tea Leaf’s mouth turns down into a terrifying look that Shadow is used to seeing on her mother’s face when she misbehaved as a filly. The tears have dried from her face and the worry is gone now that Shadow is alright. However it left another emotion entirely, born out of the fear that her daughter will suffer a fate much, much worse than a fainting spell.
“We should,” Tea Leaf says, with a dangerous edge to her voice. “If I might have a word with you though, Princess?”
“Of course,” Celestia says demurely. Shadow winces. She briefly pities Celestia facing Tea Leaf’s wrath but not enough to stop it. Her mother has always known what being a Sandmare involved. But this was not on the job description.
Her mother embraces her goodbye, mindful of the needle stuck into Shadow’s leg and vanishes out of the white curtain, only to be replaced by a grim-faced Nurse Needles. Shadow gulps and tries to restrain the urge to call her mommy back. She’s a grown mare after all.
“I want her found now!” screams Celestia, as loud as she can without using the Royal Canterlot Voice. If she thought it would help, if it could find her, she would, but her little ponies are already searching as best they can.
The Royal Guard is stretched thin as it is, dispatched into six separate teams to search Canterlot and then the surrounding area. Celestia had even commissioned the weather team to do flyovers before the wind had gotten to be too much.
“We must find her,” Celestia says, fretfully. She knows it's happening again, that it’s time. But oh, she’s not ready. She’s never ready. “Is there anypony else…?” Her assistant, Sunshine Parade, shakes her head. Her soft pink and orange streaked curls have come undone from the delicate ponytail she’d worn earlier, loosened by stress and the long hours that they’ve been waiting.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” she says. “But the weather is preventing any pony else joining the search. Only the guard and her family are still out searching.”
Celestia wants to scream in frustration but instead she resumes her pacing of the throne room. It’s all her fault. She should have seen the signs, she should have known. No, she did know. The magic that Sandmares wield is volatile, powerful and dangerous. It shortens their life spans and drains their sanity. Just because Glory has lived longer than other Sandmares, it doesn’t mean she’s exempt from the effect on her mind.
Celestia does nothing but pace for the next hour, listening to the wind pick up. Glory has vanished in the middle of a giant storm and by the time any pony realised she was gone, it was too late to stop it. They need the rain and the weather ponies held off on the winds for as long as they could. As it is, they have already postponed the thunder and lightning.
She fears that when Sunshine Parade races back into the throne room to announce that Glory has been found, it’s already too late.
Celestia rushes to the infirmary as quickly as she can, Sunshine Parade close on her heels. When she enters the infirmary there are medical ponies rushing about everywhere – no pony even notices the princess come in.
A guard sees her and hurries up to her. “Princess! We found her in a ditch outside of Canterlot twenty minutes ago.”
“How is she?” asks Celestia anxiously. The guard shakes his head. His name is Silver Strike, she thinks.
“Not well, I’m afraid. She was very weak when we found her. She looks like she’s taken a fall,” Silver Strike says carefully and Celestia knows immediately that he’s not telling her the harsh truth that she already suspects. Glory must be in bad shape for that many ponies rushing around.
“Will they let me see her?” Celestia asks, unable to keep back the impatience in her voice. There’s a bed surrounded by a curtain, no doubt containing Celestia’s friend. She wants to see Glory, needs to see her...but she knows the answer before the guard even shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, your highness. They’re trying their best to save her. But her prognosis is…it’s not good.” His face is tense, unhappy at having to give such terrible news to his monarch. They’d all hoped Glory would be found, alive and well, but as time passed and the storm began to rage, ponies stopped searching for Glory and they started searching for a body.
Celestia breathes deeply, trying to stop the well of tears threatening to rise up. The castle has some of the best physicians and healer ponies around. Glory will be fine. If she repeats it enough, it might come true.
But she knew this was coming. Luna is immortal – stepping into the dream world never took such a physical toll on her. These ponies are mortal unicorns. The magic shortens their life spans; Celestia has known this ever since Galaxy died long before her time. Glory has held on longer than most Sandmares ever do but Celestia fears that time has finally run out.
“Why did she leave in such a bad storm?” whispers Sunshine Parade, ears flicking in distress. “She must have known it was dangerous!”
“She had a foal recently,” says Celestia, never taking her eyes off the hospital bed. “I’m afraid she’s been suffering from depression ever since.” The guard nods.
“My wife had that, after our little one,” he says sympathetically. “Can be mighty hard to deal with, without help.”
But she had help, Celestia wants to yell. She had me. She should have come to me. But she can’t say any of that because Glory didn’t ask for help and Celestia hadn’t noticed. So Celestia’s brave friend had suffered alone, unable to tell anypony.
Celestia should have noticed. Noticed that something was different, that Glory was missing her spark, the strong leadership that everypony looked up to. But Celestia had dismissed it as a part of what all Sandmares go through. Even that is her fault.
Even ones like Glory, who have friends and family and three beautiful little foals, suffer from those feelings. Loneliness. Confusion. Hopelessness.
Somehow when the Sandmares were created with Luna’s powers, a remnant of Luna’s feelings remained. The Sandmares have no idea that these feelings aren’t truly their own.
And Celestia is too much of a coward to tell them the truth.
They wait for at least half an hour, while the storm continues to batter the castle windows. Sunshine Parade and Silver Strike wait by their Princess, as she stays frozen a few feet from Glory’s bed.
But finally, the end comes.
A doctor walks up to Celestia, his face grave. “Princess? She’s asking for you. You should make it quick…she hasn’t got much time.” Celestia bears this news as best she can. Glory needs her: this is no time for tears.
A nurse pulls back the curtain for Celestia and the goddess nearly gasps as she sees the tiny, battered figure in the bed.
Glory cracks open her eyes, just enough for Celestia to see a glimmer of indigo underneath her lashes.
“Princess?” she croaks. Celestia rushes forward to stand where Glory can see her.
“I’m here,” she says soothingly. “It’s all right, I’m here now.” Glory holds out a trembling hoof for Celestia to take. The mare is cold and far too thin. Her ribs are visible underneath her powder blue coat, the glittering white hair limp and stuck to Glory’s neck.
“The bell,” says Glory, her voice barely above a whisper. “What about the bell?”
“It’s alright,” says Celestia, trying to stop the desperate break in her voice. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I never finished it!” Glory insists. Her breathing is raspy, chest struggling to rise and fall. Glory has barely minutes left on this planet.
“That doesn’t matter!” says Celestia forcefully, voice rising in the quiet of the ward. She wants to drop her head onto Glory’s chest and weep but she can’t. “Glory, what have you done? You should have come to me…you could have…”
Glory only smiles sadly and Celestia knows in that moment exactly how badly she’s failed.
It doesn’t take long before Glory’s hoof is limp in Celestia’s. Celestia stares at Glory’s lifeless eyes until the nurse pulls a sheet over the body and Glory is gone from sight.
“Princess?” asks Sunshine, timidly. Celestia turns her head to see her assistant, Silver Strike and the doctor all looking at her. Sunshine looks scared, the guard and doctor stoic, waiting for orders. It’s enough to remind her of where she is and that this is no place to mourn.
“I’m fine,” Celestia assures them, voice steady. It takes everything she has but she manages to pull her head upright, once again trying to project an aura of a calm, confident ruler. “I will need to discuss the funeral arrangements with Glory’s family. Of course, we must offer any financial support they may need. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my rooms.”
Celestia maintains a steady, graceful walk until the doors to the infirmary close behind her. Then she has to teleport to her chambers before she completely breaks down.
When Shadow wakes up the next morning, there’s a mare beside her bed. Shadow can only blink in confusion, unsure if she’s still dreaming. But the mare stays, solid and real. She hasn’t said anything, just watching Shadow quietly with her dark green eyes. Something about the mare seems familiar but Shadow can’t quite put her hoof on it.
But then the mare moves her head and there’s the faintest jingle from her indigo mane. Shadow looks up to see several small bells resting behind her ear.
“Kimono?” Shadow asks, now entirely sure that she’s dreaming. But the mare simply smiles sadly.
“Now I know you really have been seeing my sister,” she says, quietly. “Celestia warned me you’d been visited by her...but I didn’t really believe.”
Shadow can’t help but gawp at the violet mare before her. Kimono’s sister! She can’t help but flick her eyes over her guest, wondering what similarities there are between the two. She should have asked Celestia for a picture of her predecessor. The only identifying piece of information she had for Kimono was the small bells that Celestia had said she’d worn.
“You’re...you’re her sister?” she says, breathlessly. She struggles to pull herself up into a sitting position. The other unicorn inclines her head.
“I’m Wisteria,” she says. “I was only ten when my sister died. I’m sure Celestia has told you.” Shadow recalls standing at Kimono’s grave, the haunted look on her mentor’s face as she’d recalled Kimono’s death. Celestia had explained about letting a small filly shout at her...this quiet, dignified mare had done that? Wisteria catches her look and chuckles.
“I get that expression a lot when I say I shouted at the princess,” she says ruefully. “But I did and I don’t regret it. I was a late surprise to my parents. Kimono had already long been taken to live at the palace for her training but she came to visit us whenever she could. I adored my sister and when I was old enough, my parents explained why she didn’t live with us. It was a big secret to keep but in my eyes, it only made Kimono more amazing. I thought I had the best sister in the world.”
“You did,” Shadow says, softly. She can see how hard telling this story is on Wisteria. There’s the faintest shimmer to her eyes, the raspiness of her voice hinting to tears. Finding out that your sister is the Sandmare and idolising her as some incredible, powerful figure...but in the end, Kimono was like all Sandmares. Only mortal.
“And then we got the news,” Wisteria continues. “We had a messenger come to our house...that was the worst day of my life, when the guard turned up on our doorstep and told us Kimono was dead. We went to the castle and watched her be buried, watched the casket be buried. Celestia refused to let us see her...whatever was left of her. She never told us the full details of how she died but I can guess.”
“Grogar would have…” Shadow lets her voice trail off. She doesn’t need to say it. Wisteria must have already imagined it a thousand times. But the older mare nods.
“Torn her apart,” she says flatly. “Yes, I know. I’m glad I never saw her like that. My last memory of her was her alive and smiling. I was furious at Celestia for so long but now I know that she made the right decision. I couldn’t bear remembering my sister as a body.”
She falls silent, bowing her head. Shadow looks down at her hooves, trying to give the mare as much privacy as possible. She doesn’t need to look to know that tears are dripping steadily down Wisteria’s face and onto the crisp hospital sheets.
How much had it taken for her to come here? And why? What could possibly have brought this mare back to Canterlot after twenty years? From the sounds of it, Wisteria had only ever been here once, for Kimono’s funeral. She doesn’t blame the poor mare for not wanting to return.
“What did she look like?” Shadow asks, unable to help herself. But she’s desperate to know more about the mare that has been trying so desperately to help her. They have so little time in her dreams and all of that is spent giving Shadow the information she needs for the upcoming battle.
Wisteria sniffles and rubs a foreleg across her damp eyes. “She was beautiful,” she recalls. “I used to think my sister was some sort of goddess. She was elegant and kind. She had a wonderful smile. We have similar eyes, I’ve been told. Family always commented on our green eyes! But she was a light pink and her horn was longer.” Shadow nods slowly, trying to picture Kimono in her mind.
“But,” Wisteria says. “I didn’t come here for Kimono. I came here for you.”
“For me?” Shadow asks, in surprise. But Wisteria merely smiles.
“I’m sure the princess will tell you soon enough,” she says, mysteriously. She looks over her shoulder, through the gap in the curtains of Shadow’s bed. “Actually, it looks like you’ll find out now.”
And sure enough, Ivory Thorn clatters through the curtains and gestures at Shadow to get out of bed.
“You’ve been summoned,” she says briskly. With a curious look thrown back at Wisteria, Shadow eases herself out of bed.
“Will I see you again soon?” she asks. She has so many more questions about Kimono that she longs to ask
“Very soon,” Wisteria promises, unfolding herself from the stiff bedside chair. “And don’t worry, we’ll be able to talk all about Kimono. I want to hear about my sister...even if she’s only alive in a dream.” With that, she vanishes back through the white curtains, leaving Ivory and Shadow alone.
“Come on, up,” Ivory instructs, levitating a robe onto Shadow’s bed. “Put this on. We only have a short amount of time before Nurse Needles wants you back in this bed.”
“Where are we going?” Shadow asks curiously, carefully easing herself out of bed. Luckily she’s not attached to an IV anymore but she’s still very stiff from lying in bed for several days. She manages to slip the robe on without too much difficulty, using her magic to tie it under her barrel. Ivory tugs open the curtains and gestures for Shadow to step through.
“Where do you think?” she says with a smirk.
The journey to Celestia’s rooms are mostly silent, as Shadow struggles to keep up with Ivory’s brisk pace. The mare walks like Celestia’s assistant should - that is to say, at a million miles an hour, as one who frequently follows a long-legged goddess might.
Ivory doesn’t follow Shadow in, only holding open the door and ushering her through. When the door has closed behind her, Shadow turns to see Celestia’s usual breakfast nook, which is slightly more occupied than normal.
“Shadow!” Celestia says, warmly. The princess is perched on her cushion, cup of tea on the table in front of her. However, she’s accompanied by two strangers. A unicorn mare and an Earth stallion sit by her, both watching her with an intense focus. Shadow wilts a little as she steps up to the table and the empty cushion waiting for her.
“This is her?” asks the mare, looking giddy with excitement. She’s a rich purple, with tones of red, and wild dark purple curls that fall around her face. She’s tiny and delicate, the kind of elegant frame that most unicorns have. She looks like she’s about to vibrate off her cushion with enthusiasm, grinning widely at Moon Shadow
Her companion, on the other hoof, towers over her. He’s an Earth pony, with a deep blue coat and white mane and tail. He’s all muscles and sinew, built up in a way that Canterlot Nobles aren’t. He must do actual work for a living, Shadow surmises. Unlike the mare he’s quiet and still, eyes flickering over Shadow with concealed interest.
“This is Moon Shadow,” Celestia says softly. “Shadow, come meet our guests.” With a nervy eye on the mare, Shadow carefully settles down on a cushion. It doesn’t help. The mare’s eyes follow her with badly suppressed glee.
Celestia sets down her tea cup and looks at all three of them in turn.
“Moon Shadow, I’d like for you to meet two very important ponies,” she says. “They’re going to help you rebuild the bell to use against Grogar.” Moon Shadow shoots her mentor a startled glance. When exactly did they start talking about Sandmare business in front of other ponies? Celestia notices Shadow’s wide eyed look and chuckles.
“Don’t worry, Moon Shadow. These two ponies are fully aware of Sandmares and their role in Equestria. After all, they are descended from one,” Celestia says, with a knowing smile.
Moon Shadow stares at the ponies across from her with something that feels like shock and…warmth? Sandmares go throughout their lives alone – another isn’t born until after her predecessor dies. Shadow’s connection to Kimono partly stems for them both having to bear the burden alone, never having another pony truly understand what they go through. But these two are descended from a Sandmare – they might have stories and information that wasn’t written in the journals. Shadow wonders which Sandmare it was. Galaxy had a foal, a very long time ago. So did Sparkler and Magic Star.
“This is Crystal Carillon,” Celestia says, gesturing at the purple mare. Carillon waves a hoof excitedly, which Shadow awkwardly returns. “And this is her brother, Cobalt Bell.” Cobalt merely nods at Shadow. Clearly, he has a more laid back temperament than his sister.
“Good to meet you,” says Shadow impatiently. “I’m sorry, I have to know. Which Sandmare was your ancestor?”
Celestia coughs to get Shadow’s attention. ”That is why you are here, Shadow. I could have requested any bell makers in Equestria to help you with your task – there are many talented ones and some of them a great deal closer than Fillydelphia. But I asked these two because they have intimate knowledge of the bell you’re going to be working with.” Shadow openly gawps at the pair, hardly able to believe her ears.
“Wait,” she says, stunned. “So they’re Glory’s great, great, great grandfoals?”
“They are,” Celestia says, with some amusement at Shadow’s shock. “And because of that, they are also fully aware of Sandmares and the role you are about to play. Their family has always been very open with each other about what Glory was. After all, she was an inspiration to not just other Sandmares but the rest of her line, who are extremely proud to have come from such a brave and clever mare.”
Moon Shadow sits back on her haunches in shock. Descended from Glory…the mare who put Grogar away the first time! The mare alone who noticed the vanishing bodies, the increasing signs of dark magic making its way into Equestria. The mare who singlehoofedly constructed a plan and went to Celestia, determined that Grogar’s undead army never set foot on Equine soil. The mare who used her family’s bell founding knowledge to make a bell with magic, both dark and dream, and mixed it with stone taken from Tambelon itself in order to create a bell that would ring out soundly, for all to hear…and banish Tambelon back to the darkness, making it a prison for Grogar.
“It’s so good to finally meet another Sandmare!” Crystal Carillon bursts out, like it’s been a struggle to keep it in. “We’ve always wondered about the other Sandmares, the ones that came after Glory but obviously Celestia couldn’t tell us. But now we get to meet you! And work with you on our ancestor’s unfinished bell!” Her eyes widen with happiness, a grin stretched from ear to ear. Cobalt puts a hoof on his sister’s shoulder. Carillon instantly settles back, letting out a breath like her brother has just told her it’s ok to calm down.
“Excuse my sister,” he says, in a deep, throaty voice. “She’s easily excitable. But it means a lot to us to finally meet you, miss.”
“Oh, just call me Shadow,” Moon Shadow says, in embarrassment. She’s not quite sure how she feels about these ponies staring at her with awe and excitement. Even with the title of lady, ponies aren’t all that pleased to meet her. They take one look at her dirty hooves and the mane falling in her eyes and her oversized rear and decide that clearly this isn’t a mare worth knowing. But even Cobalt is giving her this look that she isn’t sure she deserves.
“I’m sorry to add extra work onto you, Moon Shadow,” Celestia says, her violet eyes grave. “I am cutting down your hours in the dreamworld for the time being; otherwise we will never be done in time for the Summer Sun celebration.”
“But what about the nightmares?” Shadow protests. No doubt as they get closer and Grogar grows stronger, the terrifying nightmares will increase. It’s been a hard enough battle to keep them in check and now she’s been unconscious for two days, unable to do her duties... “There are still shadows out there!” Celestia holds up a golden clad hoof.
“I know. It pains me to do so but in the meantime I’m afraid it’s what we must do. There’s simply not enough time in the day – or night in your case – to have lessons with Wisteria, mend the bell, sleep, eat and patrol the dreamworld. The nightmares are a minor concern for the time being, as are the shadows. There’s never been any sign of them attacking any pony other than you. I am certain that they are just scouts to deliver information back to Grogar.”
“Wisteria...Wisteria is going to teach me?” Shadow asks, gobsmacked. That explains Wisteria’s sudden return, perhaps the only thing that could have persuaded her. A chance to protect another Sandmare.
Celestia nods, the same mournful expression appearing on her beautiful face again. “She will. I’m afraid that she is still resentful of me and I’m afraid that I don’t blame her. However, she doesn’t wish you any harm and will do everything in her power to prevent what happened to Kimono from happening to any other pony. So yes, she will teach you.”
Moon Shadow claps her hooves on the table in her excitement. She’s going to learn defensive magic, like Kimono! Maybe Wisteria even knows how to replicate making her sister’s tiny bells. Shadow could make some and give them to her mother and friends. As many ponies as she can. With what’s coming, it might mean the difference between life and death.
“When do we start?” Shadow asks, eagerly. Carillon beams at her.
“Right away!” she says. “We rushed right down from Fillydelphia on the next train when we heard you needed our help. We don’t have a whole lot of time and bell founding is hard work.”
“Is that what you do?” asks Shadow curiously. “Make bells?” Crystal Carillon nods proudly.
“Special bells!” she says. “Bells like Glory made! Cobalt makes the bell and the ringer and I design them and infuse them with magic. So really, we’re the best ponies for this job.”
“You’re in the best hooves,” Celestia agrees, with a gentle dip of her head. Both Carillon and her brother look pleased with this praise from the princess. “Glory’s family has bell founding knowledge that goes back almost as far as the creation of the three tribes. Carillon and Cobalt have almost revolutionized the process by imbuing the bells with magic.”
“It was really Glory’s idea, originally,” Cobalt says. “But Carillon thought that we could do something similar. It was a bit of trial and error but now we have a process even more efficient than Glory’s method.”
“What do you put in the bells?” Shadow asks, looking at Carillon. This mare might not look like much but she must be talented if she can imbue solid objects with magic, a fairly tricky procedure for any normal unicorn.
“Oh, anything really,” Carillon says breezily, as though a complex magical procedure is nothing. “Protection spells, spells for joy...there’s a bell that rings near the Fillydelphia hospital that sends out a calm, peaceful feeling when it rings. It soothes a lot of the patients there.”
“That’s...that’s incredible,” marvels Moon Shadow, and Carillon’s rosy fur deepens in a blush.
“Indeed,” Celestia agrees and Moon Shadow can tell from her tone of voice that this conversation is over. “Moon Shadow should return to bed for the time being and we can start training tomorrow afternoon. I’ll have someone show you two to your quarters. Are you quite comfortable with staying in the castle for the time being?”
Carillon looks like she might faint from excitement and Cobalt merely nods in agreement. Working with these two is going to be interesting, with their personalities being so drastically different. But they clearly work well together and are both strong, competent ponies.With them working on the bell and Wisteria helping train her, Shadow feels more optimistic than she did before. Maybe they stand a chance against Grogar.
“Wonderful,” says Celestia, before turning to Moon Shadow. “Now, back to bed with you. I will come visit you later, before you go to the dreamworld. I’m sure there are some things you wish to discuss with me.”
Doesn’t she just. Shadow’s brain is overflowing with questions, all desperate to be asked. But before she can say anything Celestia rings a bell and a maid trots through the main doors. Clearly Moon Shadow will be escorted back to the infirmary and put to bed with herbal tea and a water bottle.
Shadow sighs and pulls herself to her feet. She smiles at Cobalt and Crystal Carillon, who return it with that overwhelming level of enthusiasm.
“I guess I’ll see you both tomorrow then?” she says, just to confirm. Maybe she won’t be strong enough to cast spells tomorrow but she can’t wait in a hospital bed and do nothing. Even if the twins show her their plans for the bell, she can feel like she’s doing something.
Both of them nod, Cobalt once and Carillon so fast it looks as though her head is blurring.
“We’ll begin your training as soon as you’ve had sufficient rest,” Celestia says, confirming Shadow’s suspicions that she won’t be allowed near a spell until Nurse Needles has given her the all-clear. Even though she knows that she needs more rest and fluids before she’s strong enough to take on a full schedule of training, learning and fighting, Shadow can’t help but feel restless. Just only a few days ago, she felt as though she was drowning under the pressures of saving the world by herself. Now a huge weight has been lifted.
“Thank you, Princess,” Shadow says hesitantly, looking up at the mare that a few weeks ago she wasn’t sure she could trust. “I’ve been feeling so alone and helpless. But now…” Shadow is cut off by Celestia wordlessly pulling her into a hug.
“I know,” Celestia says solemnly. “And I’m sorry. In the past Sandmares have always faced their battles alone. But this is a far greater battle than you should have to face by yourself. You have our full support.” Shadow pulls back and rubs at her face, to try and hide the glassiness of her eyes. She’s not about to cry in front of everypony.
“Now, you should get some rest,” Celestia says, gesturing to the door. As if on cue, Ivory Thorn opens it, looking expectant. Apparently, she’s Shadow’s chaperone all the way back down to the hospital wing. Honestly, Shadow should be insulted. What, do they think she’s going to bunk off and...okay, maybe that’s a fair presumption.
Ivory Thorn turns to Shadow with a wicked grin, as soon as the door has clicked shut behind them. “Back to the infirmary we go!” she says, looking far too cheerful. “I’ve heard strained peas are on the menu tonight!”
Shadow groans and wonders if it’s too late to make a run for it. Judging by how quickly Ivory catches her in her magic, yes, far far too late.
