A new pegasus mare has moved to Ponyville. Her tastes are unique, her personality a bit on the eccentric side, and her love of the night may even rival that of Princess Luna herself. What will come of this nightwalker in the sun-filled Ponyville?
Moon Struck, a pegasus who has moved from town to town across Equestria controlling the weather of the night, has found herself in Ponyville. Having decided to find a permanent residence, she has elected Ponyville for its central location among the whole country. But her love of the night, and her dislike of being awake or around during the day will cause strange misunderstandings among her new found friends. She is unsure of what to say, and how to act, as she has never had other ponies around her so often, nopony has ever wanted to be her friend before. Through twists and turns she has found herself befriending Discord, the master of chaos, and Princess Luna, pillar of the night. How will she handle the chaos, the dreams, and worst of all, the sun?
Side note: was going to add Sad tag for some parts of the story, because I haven't yet gotten to the more comedic fun as much yet, but since I can't have both tags, I added Drama instead.
It was a day not unlike any other day in the town of Ponyville. The Cakes' had delicious baked goods, young ponies were gathered at Sugar Cube Corner for after school treats, and the sky was clear and bright; no sign of the previous days' thunderstorm remained but a few puddles here and there. Everypony was out and about, the hustling and bustling same as every other day.
Pinkie Pie bounced and hopped through the crowds of ponies, smiling and greeting each pony she passed. "Hi Cranky! Your new toupee is stunnerific! What's the occasion?" Pinkie asked, practically buzzing with joy.
Cranky Doodle was in fact wearing a new, milk-chocolate colored toupee; it was slicked back and tied in a short mane tail at the nape of his neck. He also sported a fancy tux with a pair of lilacs pinned to the front. "Well hello there Pinkie. Today is Matilda's and my anniversary." Cranky replied, giving the biggest smile his drooping face could manage.
Pinkie stopped her bouncing, a confused expression plastered on her face, as she thought back to two months before when she had thrown her two favorite donkey friends a quiet, but super fun and romantic, three year wedding anniversary. Cranky chuckled a bit as he watched Pinkie's expression change from joy, to confusion, to confused joy. "Wait, what? Oooh, are you having a three year, two month anniversary celebration? I can go grab my party wagon and be back in a jiffy, and make invitations, and get music, and..." Pinkie started ranting.
"Pinkie!" Cranky said.
"...and of course we can't forget the most important part of any party..." Pinkie continued rambling, not having heard Cranky call out to her.
"Pinkie!" Cranky shouted louder this time, but Pinkie had already begun her bouncing again, this time circling him and laughing, as she continued her party planning.
"... oh! I know the perfect balloons, and streamers, and flowers we can use. We can have the party at the gazebo in the park..."
"PINKIE!" yelled Cranky, fed up with being ignored. "It's not our three year, two month anniversary," he continued after having finally gotten Pinkie's attention again, "it's our anniversary for when we first met at the Grand Galloping Gala all those years ago." His voice trailed off as he reminisced on the first sight of his beloved Matilda.
"... uh Cranky? Cranky?" Pinkie said into Cranky's long donkey ear. "Ponyville to Cranky, you in there?" she pulled on his ear and yelled.
"Quit that!" Cranky pulled away, startled by the shrill Pinkie voice ringing in his head. "And we aren't having a party either," he finished, fixing his mussed up toupee from Pinkie's ear pulling.
"What?! No party?! How can it be a celebration without a party?!" Pinkie bellowed.
"We plan to have a nice, quiet night together, just the two of us. No parties, no guests. Just me, and Matilda." Cranky sighed dreamily.
"But couldn't I throw you just a small, teensy, quiet..." She started.
"No parties!" Cranky shouted. "Now if you'll excuse me, a certain beautiful jenny is waiting for our wonderful night for two." And with that, Cranky strutted off towards home.
Pinkie sat, sad for a moment at the lost opportunity to party until, "wait, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! The Grand Galloping Gala? It's tonight! Silly me, la la la la la..." Pinkie bounded off towards Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle.
" I am happy to welcome you to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash will be by later to discuss about your weather duties and where you can set up home." Twilight was speaking to a deep midnight blue maned mare that, upon closer inspection, had streaks of a lighter blue that glittered like a star-filled night. Her coat was a pale white that resembled a full moon, with the lower halves of her legs being a silvery gray, like the craters that blemish the moon's pure face. She had a star shaped patch in the same silvery gray above her eyes, peaking from below her slightly curled mane.
" I actually already had some ideas about where to settle in at, but I was actually hoping you could help put in a good word with who I would like to help me build my home. You see, what I am looking for is a bit... outside the norm. Now I know this might be too much to request of you, Princess, but the help would be much appreciated." The unknown mare spoke softly, her lilting voice a sweet lullaby to listening ears.
"Please, just call me Twilight. No need for formalities between new friends Moon Struck. What is your request, I will do what I can, I assure you." Twilight smiled at the mare. "I can suggest some good cloud construction ponies for you. I have a list in alphabetical order of all the pegasi between here and Cloudsdale who come with wonderful recommendations. Or if you prefer, I also have them organized by years of experience, or by the homes they have built." Twilight rambled, pulling scroll after scroll from the shelves nearest her.
"No, no, no. I appreciate the offer Prin... I mean Twilight, but I already have some...pony in mind. You see, the thing is, well uh... I want the help of..." Moon Struck's words trailed off.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part." Twilight stopped scrolls and looked at Moon Struck.
Moon Struck sighed. "I would like to enlist the help of Discord."
"What?!" Twilight yelped. "You can't possibly mean Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony Discord, right?!" She continued to bellow.
"He is exactly who I want. He can give the things I desire in a home that no other pony can. I mean, do you know how hard it is to make a moonbow at night, let alone one that could exist in the day? I want my home shrouded in permanent night. I want a moonbow. I want my home to lack gravity. Normal ponies cannot help with my request. I need Discord and his chaos magic." Moon Struck finished pleadingly. "Please Princess, err Twilight; at least let me know how I can get a hold of him. You don't even need to put in a good word for me, I will make the request myself."
"But why would you want a house shrouded by darkness? Why don't you want the warmth of Celestia's sun?!" Twilight asked, confused.
Before Moon Struck could respond, Pinkie Pie burst through the double doors of the Castle of Friendship's entryway.
"Twilight, can you believe the Grand Galloping Gala is tonight?" Pinkie shouted before shooting confetti across the room and the two unsuspecting mares with her party cannon. "Maud even said she can come with me again this year. I am so excited!" She bounced and fell on top of Twilight. "Oops, sorry Twilight. I just can't wait for the Gala, it's gonna be a super duper amazingly fun party again this year too!" Pinkie giggled as she climbed off Twilight's back.
Twilight stood, shaking confetti from her mane. "Pinkie, I know you're excited for the Gala. I am too. Starlight Glimmer is going to be there, and I finally get to see her again and discuss her travels across Equestria with Trixie, making new friends and learning all sorts of new things. But right now I'm discussing housing arrangements with Moon Struck here."
Pinkie then looked and saw the new mare brushing confetti from her face with her pale white wings, and shaking bits and pieces of the small colored paper from her mane and tail. "Somepony new!" Pinkie squealed. "Hi, I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everypony just calls me Pinkie. Let's be friends!" Pinkie said, rushing up and taking Moon Struck's front hoof in her own hooves and shaking it wildly.
"Um, hi? I'm uh, Moon Struck. Nice to meet you?" Moon Struck said unsure, pulling her hoof back as the pink pony hopped and bobbed around her. "So , what the hay is this Grand Galloping Gala thing?" She asked, slowly stepping further away from the bubbling Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie sucked in a deep breath, shocked. "You've never heard of the Grand Galloping Gala? It's only one of the biggest parties like, ever! Every year it's thrown in Canterlot, and Princess Celestia says hi to all the guests at the entrance, and we get to wear these super pretty dresses that our friend Rarity makes every year, and every year the dress is better than the last, especially since she covers my dresses in deliciously scrumptious looking treats, and she only makes us new ones because wearing the same ones as the previous year is something called a faux pas, but I think the real faux pas is the boring quiet music they play, so this year I got permission from Princess Celestia to sing the pony pokey again too! It's gonna be so much super amazing party fun!" Pinkie shouted, throwing her front hooves into the air, tossing out more confetti from somewhere.
"So it's some kind of... dance party?" Moon Struck questioned, still very confused.
"Well no, not quite..." Twilight started to explain.
"Twilight dear, could I borrow you for just a moment? I just need you to do a quick fitting of your gown for the gala tonight. An idea struck me earlier today when I was in the market for a small change to make your dress absolutely fabulous, so I want to make sure it sits right in the back." Rarity stepped into the entryway through the still open doors. She stepped into a pile of the colorful confetti and took a step back, looking down at it covering the crystalline floor of the castle. "Pinkie, how many times have I told you to clean up after your cannon? Last time you shot confetti on me, it took three days to get all the little pieces out of my tail curls." Rarity complained to the giggling Pinkie, as she sashayed up towards Twilight, Pinkie, and Moon Struck. Rolling her eyes at Pinkie, she looked at the new pegasus mare. "Oh! I do beg your pardon, I did not know that Twilight was in the middle of entertaining a guest. My name is Rarity, I so hope I did not interrupt anything." Rarity finished, with a dazzling smile and flip of her curled purple mane.
"Oh it's no trouble at all. Twilight and Pinkie were just explaining to me what the Grand Galloping Gala thing is. From what Pinkie says, it sounds like some kind of strange dance party." Moon Struck said to Rarity, taking a step to the right, away from the still giggling pink pony who was now building a pile from the confetti.
"A dance party?! Why, the Gala is no such thing as a simple dance party darling! It is one of the biggest events in all of Equestria I dare say. All the finest of Canterlot nobility gather at the Canterlot Castle, where the Princess herself greets all the guests in an eloquent manner befitting one of such royal stature. The highest of fashion is displayed at the Gala, it is truly a most elegant and culturally glamorous event. To think of it as a simple dance part is quite the understatement!" Rarity began, cutting Twilight off from her own explanation.
"Well, this year, Princess Luna is also going to be in attendance, at least for a little while. I heard from Princess Celestia that the two of them have also been keeping contact with Starlight ever since she helped them become closer to each other. So she is also looking forward to meeting Starlight and hearing a bit of her travels before heading off to her duties in the dreamscape." Twilight finished.
"Princess Luna will be there as well? Wow, I almost wish I could go if I could get a chance to meet her. She is the pony I respect most in all of Equestria. She gets to bring about the beautiful nights and help everypony have sweet dreams. Can you imagine having to battle nightmares all alone, with nopony else to talk to every single night? But she bravely walks the land of dreams, ensuring the joy in everypony's heart and mind as they gently sleep her night away." Moon Struck sighed, hanging her head in a modest sorrow.
"Well, I have nopony else to take with me as my plus one. And, although I happen to disagree with the choice, I do know that Discord will also be in attendance this year as well. This would be a good chance for you to talk with him and decide if he is truly who you want to help you with the creation of your dream home, Moon Struck." Twilight said, putting a hoof on Moon Struck's shoulder and smiling.
"You... you really mean it? You will let me come with you to this Grand Galloping Gala thing?" Moon Struck sputtered, hopeful.
"Well of course, all my friends have their own tickets and their own guests, and I would be more than happy to bring a brand new friend to the Gala. I am the Princess of Friendship after all." Twilight stated.
Moon Struck stood for a moment, then laughed and threw her hooves around Twilight. "Oh thank you thank you thank you," her musical voice cantillated with elation. "To meet my hero and to even have the chance to meet Discord all in the same night? This must be a dream, " she continued, pulling back from Twilight and lightly smacking her left hoof with her right. "Ow! This isn't a daydream, it's real!" Moon Struck pranced in place, her giddiness overflowing to the surrounding ponies who smiled at her joyful display.
"It really isn't that big of a deal, Moon Struck. But speaking of the Gala, what will you wear? We only have a few hours until we have to leave to get there on time after all," Twilight said, interrupting Moon Struck's prancing about the room, with Pinkie Pie following in the same manner. Moon Struck stopped abruptly and looked at Twilight.
"Oh no worries about that. I have the perfect gown that I have yet had a chance to wear. Not really a lot of parties in my line of work after all. Most ponies are asleep by the time I awake for the evening shift anyways." Moon Struck said as Pinkie ran into her hindquarters when she halted.
"Are you sure darling? I might have a dress or two you could try on back at the boutique that I think would look lovely with your complexion. " Rarity gently said, obvious disapproval of the dress Moon Struck supposedly had, even though she had not seen it.
"Well, I suppose I could see what you have. But, I would like it if you would also look at the dress I already have, please." Moon Struck glanced at Rarity thoughtfully.
"Oh that is perfectly alright, why don't you go grab your gown and head back here, then you, Twilight, and I can head on over to the boutique." Rarity smiled. With that, Moon Struck gave one last smile to the three new mare friends she made, although still confused by the pink one, as she trotted out the doors and took flight off into the clouds.
Once at the boutique, Rarity gently pushed the pegasus mare behind a curtain with a deep maroon dress, covered in frills and perfectly shaped sapphires. Once Moon Struck had gotten herself into the tight fitting dress, she stepped out for Rarity, and the already dressed up Twilight, to see.
"How does it feel?" Rarity, wearing her work glasses, asked as she continued to make small movements on Twilight's dress, pinning and marking spots that needed quick stitches.
"Tight," Moon Struck managed to barely breath out. As she let out the air she had been holding in, the dress made a small ripping noise as the wing slits widened, tearing the silken fabric. "Oops," she whispered, blushing furiously at what she had done.
Rarity frowned, stopping what she was doing with Twilight and walking to look at the now damaged ensemble. She could not hide her frown or the slight pout of her lips as she saw just how badly the dress had ripped. A simple stitch could not fix this damage, she thought to herself as she sighed. "Go back in and take the dress off, I will set it off to the side to... fix later. Here, try this one instead," Rarity sighed again, floating a different dress onto Moon Struck's back with her unicorn magic, before walking back to Twilight, trying to hide her unhappiness as best she could.
Once hidden behind the curtain again, Moon Struck smacked herself in the face with her wing, though careful not to rip the dress further. "Wonderful; they become your first friends, invite you to the Gala, and even offer you a new beautiful dress. And what do you do? You destroy the dress and make a fool of yourself. C'mon Moonbait, get it together." She said to herself as she gently pulled off the dress. She took a good look at the now ruined dress, frowning at the tears. "Couldn't even rip on a seam, could it." Placing it back on a hanger, she glanced at the new gown she was given to try. It was a sky blue with pastel yellow trim ballgown. There were layers of tulle in varying shades of white and light grays like the fluffy clouds in the sky, and a high collar jeweled with golden beryl in a sunflower shaped pattern. Moon Struck couldn't help but recoil from the bright and sunny day monstrosity. After already disappointing Rarity with the first dress, she sighed and slipped the dress over her head. This gown had no wing slits, so at least she wouldn't damage it necessarily. The skirt length was longer than the previous one though and she couldn't manage to take a step without her back hoof catching the edge.
"Is everything alright in there, Moon Struck? Do you need some assistance getting the dress on?" Rarity called out to her.
"Everything is fine. I was just... admiring the beautiful design you created." Moon Struck lied.
"Oh isn't it just. I was out for a stroll, a one of a kind hat I had created the day before upon my brow, because although some sun is a wonder for the complexion, too much is just dreadful. Anyways, looking at the beautiful blue sky, I passed by Rose's stall, and she had just the most beautiful sunflowers swaying in the gentle breeze. The idea for the gown just sprouted in my mind, and I immediately set off to gather the materials to bring the magnificence to life." Rarity rambled, having finished the last touch ups to Twilight's dress. "Oh Twilight, you look simply stunning! I knew those changes were a good idea." She said as Twilight turned and looked at herself in the mirrors.
"Its beautiful Rarity. I cannot thank you enough for these wonderful dresses every year." Twilight replied, smiling at her. Moon Struck managed to step out from behind the curtain, trying to hide her slight frown at the idea of the summer styled gown. Twilight saw her face and turned from the mirror to face her completely. "Moon Struck! That dress looks amazing on you!" She said with a nod.
"Oh darling! Simply superb! I knew that dress would compliment your mane. And it accentuates the deep blue of your eyes so well too! I am a genius, aren't I?" Rarity giggled as she pranced over to Moon Struck. "Alright, now give us a twirl, I want to make sure it fits perfectly for you." She finished, magicking over her pins and tape measure. However, as Moon Struck tried to turn around, her hoof caught the edge of the fabric again and she tripped and fell into Rarity.
"Ugh, stupid dress frills," Moon Struck whispered as she tried to untangle herself from the mess she created.
"Stupid?!" Rarity shrieked having heard what Moon Struck had said. "I thought you said the dress was beautifully designed. You... lied to me?" Rarity was fully pouting now, tears welling in her eyes.
"I... I didn't lie! I do think the dress is beautifully designed. It's just, it's not my style of dress. It's too poofy and too bright and... and I'm sorry!" Moon Struck finished untangling herself, then rushed out panicking and scared of how she hurt Rarity.
"Moon Struck, wait!" Twilight called out, but the crying pegasus had already disappeared out the door.
Rarity looked down heartbroken. "Why didn't she just tell me she didn't like that dress? We could have found something she preferred in the rest of the boutique. I mean, it's not like she had her own... Oh, oh dear. What have I done?" Rarity stalled, turning to look on a rack near her, where Moon Struck's original dress sat in a bag, having not even been opened and looked at, or even tried on by Moon Struck for Rarity to truly appreciate. She pulled the gown from the bag and floated it onto one of her pony mannequins.
The dress was a flowing silver, with deep blue accents around the waist and edges, and embroidered with dark green vines with white and blue lilies and pale green leaves along the train of the skirt which was just long enough to reach a touch above the floor when worn, but not so long as to trail and drag. The wing slits were embroidered with twirling vines and small leaves like the edges of the skirt. The collar sat fairly low, but not so low as to be crude or unrefined. It managed to instead give an air of playful elegance. Rarity walked slowly around the mannequin, taking in the whole beauty and glamour of the gown Moon Struck had brought with her, and was taken in by how well made the dress was. As she looked at it she couldn't help but feel even worse. "This dress is perfectly suited to Moon Struck. I can't believe I simply brushed it aside in favor of my own dresses for her. What a selfish thing of me to do. Oh, I need to find her and apologize. She went ahead dressing up without a peep for her wants just to try to make me happy. She must think of me as such a silly filly." Rarity cried as she ran from the boutique to find Moon Struck and say how sorry she was.
"Rarity! Wait for me," Twilight shouted after her, while pulling her own dress off and hanging it up before chasing after Rarity and the long gone Moon Struck.
Moon Struck had run back to Twilight's castle. Once inside she found a room she could take the dress off in and set down gently so as not to ruin another one of Rarity's creations and upset her even further.
"Oh she must simply hate me now. I destroyed the first dress, and couldn't keep my big mouth shut about the second," she glanced down at the blue and yellow flowing piece of sky. "it's not as if this one is all that bad, I just wish it wasn't so bright. If the blue was darker, the yellow a white or silver instead, and the pieces of gemstones replaced with opals or pearls, then I think it would be perfect for me. Of course some of the tulle would need to be removed, maybe shorten it just a touch so I don't trip again, and knock somepony else out." She sighed, " I guess I won't be going to the Gala after all. I mean, how could they ever want to take a nuisance like me with them. I would just ruin the Gala too with my luck. Oh Moonbait, why can't you do anything right?" Moon Struck cried, sitting down, her tail wrapped around her hooves.
"Why did you call yourself Moonbait?" A voice called from the door. Moon Struck turned in time to see Pinkie Pie bouncing towards her. "I thought your name was Moon Struck. Oh oh oh, is it actually Moonbait and you're really a super secret spy trying to sneak into the Grand Galloping Gala so that you can find out Discord's secret identity? Because I can tell you that his only identity is a mystery!" She squealed, laughing.
"Uhm, hi Pinkie. My name is Moon Struck, but well..." Moon Struck sighed, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Moonbait is... it's a nickname sort of. When I was a filly back in Vanhoover, I didn't really have any... friends. Because I didn't like to play out in the sunlight, but instead preferred to run around at night, the other ponies didn't like me. They thought I was weird. When I was out in the day, I had a cloud with a rope tied to it that I would use like an umbrella, to keep the sun off me. In school, all my projects were about the night, and the moon and stars. I even did a project about the Mare in the Moon. That one got me teased even more than my odd play hours. But the thing that got the name was," Moon Struck sighed again, looking away from the now concerned looking pink pony. "I always respected Princess Celestia. She raised the Sun, she raised the Moon. She was the pillar of both night, and day. I was amazed by her magic, and the balance she created. I took a trip with my parents to Canterlot even, to try for an interview with the princess, or at least to be allowed in the archives to further my research on the Mare in the Moon. Well, I did get a chance to talk with Princess Celestia and that was when I found out the truth. She told me the real story of Nightmare Moon. How she was actually her younger sister. And how she was the true Princess of the Night. This news broke my heart; I felt like I had been lied to my whole life. I eventually did accept the reason she did it, and that she was only trying to protect both her sister and all of Equestria, it was just such a shock. I admit, when I did present my project in school, I may have been a little teensy bit rude and insulting towards Princess Celestia. I was a filly, and I was hurt. But after that, the other ponies would purposefully insult the Mare in the Moon around me, and try to goad me into anger by insulting the night. Every time I took the bait. Hence, Moonbait." Moon Struck finished, looking downtrodden.
"Wait, what? Why did Celestia just tell you about Nightmare Moon? She didn't even tell that story to Twilight until after she was turned back into Princess Luna. And if the name Moonbait was an insult to tease you with, why would you refer to yourself with it?" Pinkie sat stumped, confused by the story.
"Heh, well as for the story, I kind of, sort of, maybe just a bit, begged and whined at Princess Celestia, crying and pleading with her to tell me everything she could about the old pony's tale. She had warned me before telling me that it was not a pleasant story, and one she much preferred to keep hidden, but that maybe, just maybe, having one other pony to share this with would help hold her sorrows until the time was right. I hadn't understood what she meant back then, I figured it out when Princess Luna returned though. As for the nickname, I use it as a reminder that no matter what anypony says to me, no matter how they call me, I am stronger than the insults they throw at me. I may be weird to them, but I will stand up for the things I love no matter what them or anypony else says." Moon Struck replied, her lullaby voice strong and proud as she finished her explanation.
"Wow, you are super duper courageous. I don't know if I could go through all that bullying alone, but you did it and came out stronger in the end! You are one amazing pony!" Pinkie giggled.
"Thanks Pinkie. I just hope that I can fix the mess I made this time." Moon Struck sighed again.
"Anywho, why would you think Twilight would take back her invitation to the Gala? It's not like you did something super unforgivable or something, right?" Pinkie asked.
"Uh well, I sort of tore one of Rarity's dresses, fell on top of her, and called this dress stupid after telling her how much I loved it; then I basically stole the dress when I ran out of the shop after having been caught in my lie. I didn't really lie though; I mean, I do like the dress and I do think it is really pretty for other ponies, just not for myself. But I didn't want to hurt her feelings telling her I didn't like the dress she picked out for me, especially after I had ripped up the first dress I tried on, and I know that one will be really hard to fix since the tears aren't even along a seam. She might even have to completely remake the dress with how I destroyed it!" Moon Struck wailed, throwing herself completely on the floor, covering her face with her hooves. "Oh she must hate me now. So why would Twilight ever want to bring somepony like me to the Grand Galloping Gala as her guest?" She groaned.
"Well, why don't you just bring her dress back and apologize to her?" Pinkie said, as if that was the obvious thing to do.
"But what if she won't talk to me? What if she shuts me out or sneers at me? What if... what if she won't forgive me?" Moon Struck whispered, eyes tearing up again.
"Rarity isn't like that. If you just tell her what you really think, I just know she will forgive you in a hoofbeat. You just have to use that same super duper amazing courage you used against your filly-hood bullies, and go straight up to Rarity and apologize. After all, that is what any friend would do when they make a mistake, and everypony makes mistakes. I make mistakes all the time, hee hee hee" Pinkie giggled and snorted, "one time I even made a bunch of Pinkie Pie clones, and they trampled all over Ponyville. I, that is the lots of me, ruined Apple Jack's barn raising, messed up Rainbow Dash's relaxation time, hurricaned through Rarity's boutique, and even trashed Fluttershy's critter picnic. When I saw the trouble the lots of me had caused everypony, I was so sad. I couldn't even tell if I was the real me anymore. Twilight gave a real hard test of watching paint dry to find the real me, and send the duplicates back to the mirror pond. It was hard, but I just had to get my friends back, I just had to! And after all that mess, I apologized to everypony for everything I did and helped clean up all my many-me messes, and everypony forgave me for it. So I say you just go up to Rarity, give her dress back, and tell her exactly what you told me. I just know she will forgive you and even help you find a dress you will truly love." Pinkie bubbled, pulling Moon Struck from the floor and pulling her into a big squeezing hug. "Trust me, just be honest with her."
Moon Struck smiled halfheartedly at Pinkie Pie and looked back the dress sitting next to her. With a final sigh, "You're right Pinkie. Friendships can't be built on lies. I need to tell her my true feelings about the dress. Maybe I can even get her to at least look at the dress I had already picked for myself, and if that one won't work, maybe she can at least use that as a guide towards something that will work." Moon Struck picked up the sky dress and tossed it up on her back. She gave Pinkie one last hug, "thanks Pinkie. I wasn't too sure of your super hyper personality at first, but you really know how to put a smile on a sad pony's face. I am glad I met you." She said, pulling away.
"I'm glad I met you too, Moonbait!" Pinkie chortled, before bouncing out of the room.
With that, Moon Struck set off towards Rarity's boutique again, to both apologize, and be honest with her new friend. When she arrived at the boutique, though, nopony was there. Stepping inside, she saw her dress up on the mannequin and was confused. "Why is that up there, I left it inside its' dress bag when I left I thought." She said, bewildered. She got Rarity's dress set back on a hanger and hung up properly before walking up to her own dress and admiring it. It was just as beautiful as when she had found it in a small corner shop in Las Pegasus. Unlike the other dress shops she had found there that were filled to the brim with overly ostentatious gowns, covered in too many sequins and frills, this shop had been much more simple and much more suited to her tastes. The dress wasn't too expensive, nor was it too cheap. But she had only one chance while there to wear it before she moved again. She couldn't bear to part with it, knowing that the likeliness of wearing it again was slim at best, for how could somepony with no friends like her ever get to go to something that would let her dress up?
"Moon Struck! I am so glad I found you. I just simply had to apologize for my atrocious behavior earlier. I was being simply selfish, not letting you wear the beautiful gown you already owned. Would you ever forgive a silly pony such as myself?" Rarity had walked into the boutique, surprised to see the pony she had been searching for standing in the middle of the room.
"I actually came back to apologize for the mess I made and for not being completely honest with you. I was being a terrible friend after we had only just become friends even. I'm sorry I ripped your dress, and stole the other one. Although, I did bring it back with me to," Moon Struck said, gesturing to the dress rack where it was hanging. "I just couldn't bear to tell you that it didn't suit my tastes after I had destroyed the first one. I looked at it and saw that it couldn't be fixed with just a simple stitch and I was just so upset that I had ruined something you must have worked extremely hard on. And then when I saw the second dress you had picked for me, I did think it was pretty and very well made, but well... I don't like those kind of bright and sunny colors. I'm not even usually awake during the day. Today was an exception because I just got to Ponyville and needed to give my greetings to Princess, err I mean, to Twilight, and find out who I needed to talk to about my new job here and where I could find that pony, as well as finding out who to talk with about housing arrangements. After I had finished those tasks, my plan was actually to find somewhere to stay for the day and get some much needed sleep before my night duties. But then Twilight said I could go to the Gala and meet Discord, and even meet Princess Luna, and I was just so excited I couldn't help myself. What I am trying to say is, I'm sorry for not telling you what I really thought of the dress." Moon Struck stared at the floor as she finished rambling, afraid to look up and see Rarity's disapproving look.
But Rarity wasn't disappointed; she was smiling, touched at how kind Moon Struck had been trying to be to her. "Moon Struck, I am so sorry. I had been pushing the things I liked onto you, without once asking your opinion. I didn't even look at the dress you had brought with you until I had already messed everything up myself. If I had simply just thought of you first, and not myself, then we both wouldn't have made such foolish mistakes. I hope you can forgive me, as I forgive you for trying so hard to be a good friend." Rarity said, walking up to Moon Struck and placing a hoof on her shoulder still smiling. Moon Struck looked up and smiled back.
"You know, Pinkie pie was right about you. You are a lot more forgiving than I gave you credit for. I'm sorry for ever doubting you. I just, I'm kind of new to this whole friendship thing. But thank you for giving me the chance to learn." Moon Struck said.
"Alright, now that we have all that dress nonsense cleared up, why don't you head on into the back and get a nap. We wouldn't want you to have horrid bags under your eyes for the Gala tonight, would we?" Rarity said, pushing Moon Struck towards her bedroom.
"But what about a dress for tonight? I still need one." Moon Struck stopped, looking back at Rarity.
"Of course you don't darling, you have the perfect dress right here," Rarity motioned with one hoof to the silvery blue dress that Moon Struck had originally brought with. "Now go take a rest in my room, I will wake you up later to get ready. You can keep the curtains closed and I promise they will block out the sunlight so as not to keep you awake. Oh, and don't mind Opalescence, just... don't try to pick her up. She is a bit particular about that sort of thing." And with that, Rarity finished pushing Moon Struck off to bed.
As Moon Struck lay down in the unfamiliar room, darkened by the closed curtains, the cat Opal curled up on one side of the bed, she couldn't help thinking how lucky she was that her first friends were such kind and caring ponies. Drifting on to sleep, she smiled, finally having found a place she was truly happy to call home.
"Rise and shine, sugar cube!" An unfamiliar voice stirred Moon Struck from her nap. The sudden wake up call caused her to roll off the bed in confusion, much to the unhappiness of Opal who returned the favor by sinking her claws straight into Moon Struck's hindquarters.
"Ouch!" She yelped, jumping up to the ceiling, the blanket, and Opal, falling to the floor in a pile of fluff and fur.
"Are ya okay? That looked like a mighty painful fall, what with the claws and all," The unfamiliar mare continued. Now that Moon Struck was no longer tangled in blankets, she floated back down to the floor and looked at the new mare standing by the doorway. The mare was a golden color, with a light yellow mane pulled, and wearing a rather well worn looking cowpony hat. The earth pony was looking at Moon Struck, concern obvious in her bright green eyes.
"Oh, I'm alright. Not the first time I've fallen out of bed when waking up. Although usually its a cloud I fall out of, so I just fall into air, not a floor," Moon Struck said, brushing herself off with her wings. "Also there's not usually claws involved, but there's a first for everything I suppose. Uhm, who are you anyway?" She finished, staring at the earth pony.
"The name's Apple Jack; Rarity sent me in here to wake ya up. Something about getting ya all dolled up for the Gala. Though I don't see what the fuss is all about, we got plenty of time before we need to leave. But that is just how Rarity gets when fashion is in the picture. Come on out when yer ready, I got some nice apple butter flapjacks for ya to eat before ya get in that dress. Goodness knows Rarity would just about faint if I fed ya after ya get yer gown on." With that, Apple Jack winked, and left the room.
Moon Struck had to suppress a giggle at that last bit. Her stomach grumbled and she was glad that somepony had thought to get her something to eat when she awoke; she hadn't eaten since the night before and her hunger was starting to get the best of her. After getting the blankets all picked up and the bed fixed up to look all nice and made up again, Moon Struck headed out of the room and out towards the main area of the boutique.
Stepping out she saw Apple Jack setting up some flapjacks on a small table for her, Pinkie Pie was already bouncing around in a fluffy light blue dress that somehow looked oddly like cotton candy, but also kind of like cake frosting. It was decorated with little balloons and sparkled as Pinkie bounced underneath the different lights in the room. Rarity was also already in her gown for the evening, a simple but very elegant deep emerald gown with amethyst gemstones glittering along the skirts' hem. Twilight was just walking from behind the curtain in her gown from earlier, a burgundy simple gown, with shooting stars curling around her waist. There were also two other ponies that Moon Struck didn't recognize, and Twilight's dragon friend Spike who she had only met briefly back at the Castle of Friendship.
"Good evening Moon Struck, I hope you were able to enjoy your nap. We tried to let you get as much sleep as possible, but it was starting to get late and I wanted to make sure you had something to eat before we had to head out," Twilight said, seeing Moon Struck as she turned from the curtained area she had exited.
"Thanks, I am so hungry I could eat a haystack. Those smell delicious by the way Apple Jack," Moon Struck said, trotting over to the table with a plate stacked high with flapjacks smothered in apple butter. Sniffing the air over the food, she couldn't stop her mouth from watering at the wonderful scent. Without another moments hesitation, Moon Struck took a big bite of the scrumptious breakfast platter in front of her. "Mmm I didn't think they could possibly taste better than they smelled, but I was so so so wrong," She spoke between bites of food, trying hard to not eat too fast.
"Ya might want to slow down there a bit, sugar cube. Wouldn't want ya getting an upset stomach before the Gala after all," Apple Jack smiled at her.
Moon Struck polished off the whole plate of flapjacks all the same, and before she could help it, she let out a rather loud belch. "...Oops," she blushed furiously, pressing her wing in front of her mouth. Everyone laughed, and although she was sure no pony was laughing at her, she was still extremely embarrassed.
"Hey Moon Struck, I'm Rainbow Dash. You can just call me Rainbow if you want. So, I heard from Twi that you are going to be taking over the night duties for the weather out here; it's great of you to do that, but it is a tough job. We had a rotation schedule for it set up, but no pony out here likes working alone at night. It gets kinda dull after a little while. Some ponies even fall asleep on the job sometimes, and the last time it happened, a couple stubborn thunderclouds were getting too heavy and turning into thunder clapping fog instead." Rainbow Dash said, having flown up next to Moon Struck.
"Wasn't it you who fell asleep on the job that time, Rainbow?" Apple Jack asked, rolling her eyes at the blue pegasus.
"Well, yeah, but I couldn't help it! I was tired after Wonderbolt training, expecting to go home when Cloud Chaser told me that Flitter couldn't take over night duties because she had sprained her wing. And nopony else was available that last minute to take over." Rainbow retorted, hooves crossed.
"Now now girls, why don't we all just calm down. Can't you see you're upsetting Moon Struck here?" A yellow pegasus mare said, flying between Rainbow and Apple Jack.
"Oh come on Fluttershy! She doesn't look upset! And Apple Jack started it anyways," Rainbow huffed.
"Now wait just a gosh darned minute there, Rainbow. I didn't start nothin' and you know that!" Apple Jack started.
"Girls! Now is not the time. Come on over here Moon Struck, let's get you into your dress." Twilight shouted before turning and pulling Moon Struck with her back to the changing area. "Sorry about them, they can get a bit carried away. Both are a bit stubborn over the silliest things at times, honestly," Twilight sighed, handing Moon Struck her dress and gently pushing her behind the curtain to get dressed.
"I really didn't mind, it was kind of funny actually. It shows how close of friends they are that they can argue like that. It means they can be completely themselves, and completely truthful with each other, and not worry about their friendship falling apart. It really amazes me. I've never had that kind of friendship before... well, actually I've never had any kind of friendship until now really. My parents and I were always moving around while I was growing up. I never really stayed anywhere long enough to make friends, and any of the other ponies I met always thought I was weird because I preferred to play at night. After I learned about Nightmare Moon from Princess Celestia when I did my report on the night, I liked to spend the nights talking to the moon, pretending I was talking to Princess Luna, and letting her know that somepony out here loved her nights more than the sun filled days. I sometimes wonder if my words ever reached her..." Moon Struck sighed wistfully.
"Wait, what? Princess Celestia told you about Princess Luna before she escaped from the moon as Nightmare Moon? She never told me, even though I was her pupil! Why did she tell you and not me?" Twilight ranted, pacing back and forth with her wings spread in exasperation.
"Well, I was just a little filly, and honestly I had just bugged her over and over and over to tell me everything she could about my favorite fairy tale, the Mare in the Moon. I had figured at the time, since Princess Celestia is immortal and had already lived for so long, maybe she had been around when the old pony's tale had been created. She didn't want to tell me at first, but I begged and pleaded with her, so finally she had gave in to my whining. I regretted it after she told me the sad tale of her beloved sister, and how she had to banish her away to the moon. Even now, the sorrow filled face of regret and guilt stays in my mind as Princess Celestia looked to the moon that evening all those years ago..." Moon Struck whispered, coming from behind the curtain, dressed in her gown. Instead of looking beautiful and happy for the Gala, she looked downtrodden and lost.
The look of sorrow on her face brought Twilight back to herself. "I'm sure Princess Celestia had her reasons for telling you and not me, but cheer up, it all worked out in the end right? Princess Luna returned and Nightmare Moon is gone." Twilight said, trying to cheer up Moon Struck. "Although, I will definitely be talking to Princess Celestia about this later." She finished saying, mostly to herself.
"Oh you look simply stunning darling, you really will have to introduce me to the pony who crafted that gorgeous ensemble sometime. I would love to talk fashion with her and she ideas." Rarity squealed with delight at the idea of talking fashion with somepony else who understood what she was talking about for a change.
"Uhm, thanks I guess," Moon Struck said, still a little sad.
"Well, at least you will have a chance to talk to Princess Luna at the Gala tonight, and Discord is definitely going to be there, so I am sure you will get plenty of time to talk with him about your request as well. Maybe Fluttershy can help introduce you to him since he is a lot less... chaotic when talking with her." Twilight said, wrapping her wing around Moon Struck.
"You want to meet Discord? I could introduce you to him. I am sure he will be happy to have somepony looking forward to meeting him. But what is the request you have for him?" Fluttershy asked as she walked up next to Moon Struck.
"Well, I was hoping he could help with the building of my new home. The things I want are a bit to unconventional for normal builder ponies, and I was hoping he would help me out with his chaos magic." Moon Struck said with a shrug of her wings.
"Wait, hold on a second. You want Discord to use his chaos magic to build your home?!" Rainbow practically shouted.
"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted sternly at her.
"It's okay Princess, err I mean Twilight, sorry." Moon Struck said to Twilight. Then looking at Rainbow, "Yes, I want Discord to help me. I am looking specifically for the kind of magic that can make my home exist in a permanent night. That alone would require powerful, and strange magic, which is why Discord would be the perfect pony for the job. I also really would like to become friends with him. After all, where is the fun in life without a little... chaos?" Moon Struck chuckled, finally brightening up a bit more. Before Rainbow could say something else on the subject, a pegasus stallion guard stuck his head in the doorway.
"Your Majesty Twilight, the carriage is ready to take you and your friends to Canterlot now." The stallion addressed Twilight with a slight bow of the head.
"Thank you, we will be out in just a moment." Twilight responded to the guard.
"Wait, where are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo?" Apple Jack asked as she stepped from behind the curtain, now dressed up in her sunset colored gown.
"Maud took them up to Canterlot earlier today, something about donuts I think?" Pinkie smiled, bouncing out from the back of the boutique.
"Pinkie, what were you doing back there?" Rarity questioned the bouncing pink pony.
"Oh, I was just finishing up the rest of the flapjacks Apple Jack brought over for Moonbait. Hope you don't mind," Pinkie said to Moon Struck, giggling.
Moon Struck just shook her head and smiled. "Come on, let's get going before the guard thinks we are kidnapping the Princess," Moon Struck winked. With that they all filed out to the grand carriage waiting outside for them, with four pegasus guards set to pull it.
"Why did Pinkie call you Moonbat?" Apple Jack asked as they climbed into the carriage.
"Not Moonbat, Moonbait! Ha ha ha, you called her Moonbat; what a super silly name." Pinkie chortled.
"Moonbait is a nickname some bullies gave to me when I was young, so I refer to myself as Moonbait to remind myself that I am stronger than some insult by somepony who doesn't understand me." Moon Struck explained.
"Wow, that must have been hard on you as a filly." Twilight looked at Moon Struck.
"It was a long time ago, I've gotten over it. Plus, I always kind of liked the nickname anyways. I think it suits me," Moon Struck smiled.
"We are going to take off now, if you are ready Princess Twilight." The same pegasus guard spoke back to them in the carriage.
"Alright, we are ready to go. You may proceed," Twilight replied. With that the guards started to trot, picking up speed until they took off into the air, pulling the carriage behind them.
Once they arrived at Canterlot Castle, Moon Struck was quite glad to be able to get out of the carriage. She felt so dizzy, she wondered if maybe she would have been better off flying here herself. Especially since Pinkie spent most of the ride giggling about baiting moon bats. Looking up at the Castle, Moon Struck forgot how big it really was. It had been years since she had been back here, it was too hard thinking of the lie Princess Celestia had been telling the whole country for so long. Even though Princess Luna was back, Moon Struck still held a heavy heart towards Princess Celestia.
As they all walked up the steps into the castle, the guards bowing to Twilight as they passed, Moon Struck started to feel really out of place amidst the crowd of elegant looking ponies on every side of her. Many of them turned at Twilight's approach and bowed, a slight bow returned by Twilight each time. As their turn to the front of the stairwell approached, Moon Struck could see Princess Celestia at the top of the stairs, greeting each and every pony who passed. Seeing Princess Celestia so soon after arriving, Moon Struck began to balk at having to greet her.
"It's just, I'm not sure I am ready to see Princess Celestia again. Some part of me still... doesn't forgive her. I know it's childish, and has nothing to do with me, but I feel like she denied the night, and by doing that, I felt like I was being denied as well. I thought after all these years the feeling would pass like a memory left to yesterday, but seeing her here, now, I realize that some part of me still aches with sorrow looking up at her." Moon Struck said, taking a step back, knocking into Apple Jack. "Oops, sorry Apple Jack."
"Come on, sugarbait, the Princess is nothin' to be afraid of. And if ya don't go up to greet her, how are ya gonna get in to see Princess Luna, or Discord for that matter? We will be here with ya the whole way, so lets just go, one step at a time, okay?" Apple Jack said reassuringly, giving Moon Struck a slight nudge forwards. With a deep breath in, then out, Moon Struck raised her head and walked up the steps behind Twilight.
"Twilight, how wonderful it is to see you tonight. Would you care to greet the guests with me again this year?" Princess Celestia said, embracing Twilight in a quick hug as she greeted her.
"I would be more than happy to, Princess Celestia. But first, I would like you to meet my newest friend, Moon Struck. She told me of a meeting she had with you many years ago." Twilight said, returning the embrace before turning and gesturing to Moon Struck behind her.
Moon Struck looked up, slightly scared by the Princess standing before her. The respect and awe she felt as a filly was now replaced by a heaviness, like a stone was placed on her back, preventing her from spreading her wings and taking flight that she so desperately wished to take at that moment.
"Hello there Moon Struck. I hope we can talk later, I would love to hear about how you and Twilight came to meet if you wouldn't mind." Princess Celestia said, having noticed the slight shudder Moon Struck gave when her name was spoken.
"Uhm, of course, Your Hi-Highness. If we s-should... uh, have the time, I would be more than.. err... happy to tell you about how I m-met Twilight." Moon Struck stuttered out. With a last nod of the head, Moon Struck rushed past Princess Celestia and Twilight into the main ball room for the Gala. Sighing, she spotted the punch bowl and wandered over to parch her suddenly dry mouth. As she went to take a sip from the cup, it poured down her front.
"Ha ha ha ha ha, punch in a dribble glass! Classic prank!" Rainbow laughed, flying up next to Moon Struck. From somewhere nearby, another laugh could be heard.
"Classic indeed my dear little Dashie. It's a real shame you hadn't happened to pick that one though," Discord materialized behind Rainbow and Moon Struck just as Moon Struck was setting the glass back on the table and grabbing a new one. "Now where is my dear sweet Fluttershy at? I've been waiting all night for her," he continued, looking around, and pushing down on Rainbow's head to see if Fluttershy was in front of her.
"She's still talking with Twilight and Princess Celestia at the entrance. Something about a duck or something, I got bored and decided to follow Moon Struck here. Speaking of, this is your perfect chance to chat with Discord now too," Rainbow answered Discord before turning to Moon Struck.
"Ooh somepony new wants to chat with me? I much prefer a dance though," Discord said, picking Moon Struck's front hooves up and twirling her in many quick circles. When he let go of her hooves, she couldn't see straight enough to even stand anymore and collapsed to the floor.
"Discord! How could you do something so mean to Moon Struck? She was so looking forward to meeting you and becoming your friend tonight," Fluttershy flew over and helped Moon Struck to stand up again.
"It's okay Fluttershy, as I said earlier, where is the fun without a little chaos?" Moon Struck managed to get out once the spinning stopped.
"Oh I think I am going to like you," Discord said, floating next to Moon Struck and pinching her cheek.
"Discord, Moon Struck here was hoping you could help her with a small request," Fluttershy smiled at Discord.
"So she just wanted to be my friend to get favors from the Lord of Chaos, is that it?" Discord pulled back and glowered down at Moon Struck.
"Of course not! I mean, yeah I was hoping you could help me build my home since I want it to be more chaotic than any normal pony can do, like no gravity and such, but I want to be your friend because well... I sort of think you are really... cool." Moon Struck finished in a whisper.
Discord's face changed from a glower into an immediate devilish grin. "So you think I'm cool?" He asked, pressing his face up close to Moon Struck's. "Would you say that I am cooler than Dashie here?" He asked while pulling Rainbow over as well.
"Well, Rainbow is cool and all, I mean she's a Wonderbolt, and that is pretty amazing. But... well I do have to say your coolness and her coolness are two different things, and I sort of prefer your chaotic coolness more." Moon Struck said, not meeting Rainbow's eyes.
"Wait, you seriously think Discord is cooler than me?!" Rainbow shouted, pulling from Discord's grasp.
"I didn't say that! I just said that the kind of cool he is and the kind of cool you are can't really be compared, but I like the chaos because..." Moon Struck started to try to explain again, but Rainbow Dash wouldn't listen.
"If you think he is so much cooler than me, I will just go off and find some other ponies who appreciate my coolness more." With that, Rainbow flew off and joined up with the other Wonderbolts when she spotted them across the room.
"I can't do anything right, can I?" Moon Struck smacked herself with her wing, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Don't worry about Rainbow, I am sure we can make her understand what you meant. Let's just give her a little time to calm down first," Fluttershy said, gently pulling Moon Struck over to a table. "In the meantime, why don't you tell Discord exactly what you were looking for in a house. I remember you mentioning no gravity just a second ago, and earlier you also said something about a house completely encased in night, what else did you want?" She continued, trying to cheer Moon Struck up.
With a smile towards Fluttershy, Moon Struck began to tell Discord all the plans she had been making for years about the home she wanted, but also letting him know that she would let his chaos also have some freedom. So long as the few major requests she has are met, he could do whatever he wanted about the rest. Even if it meant painting the ground below the house in a neon checker pattern that spelled out his name.
The three, Moon Struck, Discord, and Fluttershy, chattered on happily about the different things that could be done and all the nonsensical chaos that could be created. It was some time later that Moon Struck looked up and saw the only pony she was looking forward to seeing more than Discord.
"Princess Luna," She whispered as the Princess walked over to them.
"Twilight Sparkle has told us that one by name of Moon Struck has desired an audience with the Princess of the Night. I am here to grant that request." Princess Luna stated while staring down at Moon Struck. "Wouldst thou prefer we move away from the festivities so that we may converse in quiet?" Princess Luna asked.
"Uhm.. okay?" Moon Struck whispered.
"Then thou must follow us, we shall take thee out to the gardens. It is much more quiet out within our Night." Princess Luna said, gesturing towards the nearby glass doors. Moon Struck stood, and with a slight nod from Fluttershy and a simple hmph from Discord, she followed the Princess of the Night out into the darkness.
"Sooo, uhm... it's really nice to finally meet you, Princess. I do admit that I have admired you for a very... very long time." Moon Struck managed to say, her words catching in her throat.
"Indeed, we are pleased to meet one such as thyself who truly admires our night. Twilight Sparkle has told us of thy work, taking care of our night's clouds and weather. We are grateful for all the care taken by thee." Princess Luna gave a slight nod of her head to Moon Struck.
Blushing, Moon Struck took a step back, "I am nothing special, Princess. I just really love being beneath the moon and stars. I have loved the night ever since I was a filly, heh."
"And that is exactly why we are grateful to thee, Moon Struck. If we had somepony such as thee back when we suffered so, we might not have succumbed to the darkness in our heart. We had only seen the ponies play and frolic in the daylight, while they slept and ignored the wonder of our night. But now we see a pony who relishes in that wonder, and has come to create an even more beautiful night for ponies to enjoy." Princess Luna continued, taking a step closer to Moon Struck.
"Uhm... thank you, I guess. But you do know that even if everypony sleeps in the night, that is the time they can dream. And a dream is like the heart singing out its hopes and wishes into the night. Even if you are alone, you are surrounded by the dreams and wonders of everypony in Equestria. I think you are the most amazing pony because not only do you raise the moon, but you also protect the dreams of everypony. To battle nightmares, and take care of all of Equestria, and to do it all by yourself? That is truly the most courageous thing to do. While you were lost to the moon, Celestia only raised the sun and moon; she did not have your power of the night to protect us from the worst enemy anypony could ever face, ourselves. Everypony had to fight their own fears and frights in the night, nopony walked through the dreams to help us, to guide us. Think of how many ponies must have become lost in their nightmares without you there to protect them?" Moon Struck said, looking up to the moon. "I know that feeling all too well. I don't remember the last time I slept at night, or the last time I had someone to even talk to about my nightmares. I used to talk to my mom, but since her and dad left each other, I couldn't bring to talk to her about my silly frights when she had had so much more to deal with on her own." She finished turning from the sky and staring at her own hooves.
"We had never thought of that, the fears that were faced by everypony in our absence. How much pain must we have caused to everypony because of our jealousy towards our own sister?" Princess Luna thought out loud, sorrow showing in her eyes. "We wonder how much more of our night thou are more familiar with than we are, Moon Struck. We wish thee to enlighten us of thy nights that had passed before our return, if thou so desires." She asked Moon Struck.
Moon Struck stared at the night pony, stunned. The Princess of the Night herself was asking about the night as it was ruled by Princess Celestia. "Well, although the nights were beautiful, they sometimes felt... empty. Lonely. I had always stayed awake as late as I could as a filly, playing and running and flying through the sky. My mom would always have to come fetch me from a cloud in the morning, because I would always fall asleep surrounded by the stars and warmth of the moon's light. I felt peaceful, and at home there. She would always lecture me, saying I would catch a cold. But tucked into the clouds, I was always warm and filled with joy. At the time, I had respected Princess Celestia for raising the moon and bringing such a wondrous night to all pony kind. When reading stories about the moon for a school project, though, I had learned the tale of the Mare in the Moon. The books our library in Vanhoover had were not very clear about the origin of the tale though. Since my report was important, I pleaded with my parents to take me with them to Canterlot on their next trip. I had been allowed into the archives here at the castle, where I chanced upon Princess Celestia doing some reading of her own. She had the book I was looking for, turned to the tale of the Mare in the Moon. Thinking back, she had looked so sad, so heartbroken, and something else I hadn't understood at the time. But I remember that look of regret, just as I remember the guilt and horror and sorrow that followed soon after. You see, I had saw the book, the story in front of her, and I begged her to tell me all she knew about the Mare in the Moon. I told her it was for school, but that I also wanted to know because I loved the moon. I loved the pony face that watched over the night from in the moon, because I always felt like the face of the Mare in the Moon was watching over me directly, taking care of me as I played in the night. The more I pleaded with the Princess, the more distressed yet happy she seemed. I thought she was happy that I loved her night, but sad I didn't seem to care as much for the day. But after more imploring that she told me about the tale, she gave in. She told me that it would not be a joyful story, but something that had been a weight in her heart for a long, long time. As I sat and listened to her tell of how she watched her beloved sister grow distant, and hateful, I came to be afraid of how the story would end. I mean, she had been telling me about a Princess, a younger sister, that nopony had ever heard of. When she started to talk about how her sister fell plague to an unchangeable anger in her heart, and changed to an evil one called Nightmare Moon, my heart had turned to ice. I had unconsciously taken a step away from Princess Celestia, fear taking hold of me. She had hung her head, crying, when she told me what she did. She banished Nightmare Moon to the moon itself. She had sent away her own sister, exiled her to the furthest place she could. How isolated must her sister have felt, how alone, how lost to have succumbed to such a sorrow and anger. I could not respect the Princess after that. I asked how she could have done such a thing to someone she loved, she only looked away from me. I left her like that and escaped to the clouds high above the castle. After that, every night, instead of playing, I flew up high into the clouds, as high as I could get and as close to the moon as possible, so that I could tell the Mare in the Moon stories and sing to her and let her know how much I loved her night. She was my only friend, even if she could not respond to me, she was the pony I trusted most even if I didn't know whether or not she could even hear me. But, I wanted her to know I cared." Moon Struck whispered the last sentence, looking away from Princess Luna in embarrassment.
"Thou truly loves night, dost thou not? Wouldst thou like to hear about the night that we welcomed before... before our banishment?" Princess Luna asked, placing a hoof on Moon Struck's shoulder.
"You... you would be willing to tell me about something from so long ago, something that must have hurt so much to go through?" Moon Struck asked in awe.
"But of course, thou art a pony that can truly appreciate that which we have to offer to everypony. We would be grateful to have somepony to share our night with." Princess Luna replied with a smile.
And so, the two sat, staring into the night, and talking about different nights from their pasts. It was like they had both found something lost that they had never even known was missing. They both found somepony who understood them.
"It looks like they are having fun, we shouldn't disturb them," Twilight said to Princess Celestia, as they looked from the doorway at the laughing pegasus and alicorn.
"Indeed, I do not remember that last time I have seen Luna so happy. Letting her and Moon Struck meet was a wonderful idea, Twilight." Princess Celestia replied warmly.
"I didn't think they would get along so well so quickly, but I did hear from Moon Struck how much she loved the night, ever since she was small. Which reminds me," Twilight turned to look fully at Celestia," she also told me about the first time she met you as a filly. Or at least, some of when she met you. You had told her about Princess Luna, about the Mare in the Moon, and about Nightmare Moon. You had apparently told her about banishing Nightmare Moon as well. Why did you tell some filly you did not know, and not tell me? I thought I was your pupil, but even I didn't learn about something so important until so much later. So, why?" Twilight muttered.
"Twilight, I did not tell you because it was not your time to learn about my sister. And, I admit I was also a little afraid." Princess Celestia sighed.
"Afraid? Why would you be afraid?" Twilight asked, confused.
"What if you had run from me, as she had? What if you no longer respected me, no longer wanted to be my pupil? What if you came to fear me as well?" Princess Celestia said sorrowfully.
"I could never hate you! Being your pupil was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I would have forgiven you, just as Princess Luna did. You did what you thought was best for both Equestria and Princess Luna, even though it hurt you so much to do it. If anything, I would have respected you more for the courage you displayed doing something you so obviously did not want to have to do. You acted only in the best interest of all ponies, and you bore the suffering alone." Twilight assured Princess Celestia, smiling at her teacher and friend.
"You truly are my most precious student, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Celestia smiled back, then turned and looked at her sister out in the garden. "I am glad that my dear Luna has found a friend who can sympathize with her love of the night. I only hope that Moon Struck can come to forgive me for the sadness I cast on her as a filly." She sighed.
"She will come around, I'm sure. If she and Princess Luna continue as friends, I am sure she will come to realize how kind and caring you truly are as well." Twilight reassured Princess Celestia. Somepony behind them called out to greet and chat, and so both Princess turned from the sight of Princess Luna and Moon Struck in the garden, and continued to mingle with the guests at the Gala.
"... and the look of pure terror on his face! I had scared the hayseeds out of him! It was great! After that, he wouldn't look me in the face for a whole week! It was the best Nightmare Night I had ever had. I still daydream about the pranks I pulled because of how much better I could run about in the night than any of those bullies. No matter how many times they tried to bring me down by calling me Moonbait, I still managed to one up them." Moon Struck laughingly told Princess Luna. "Although, I did have to stop leaving chocolates up in the clouds as my offering to Nightmare Moon after the time the chocolate melted and rained upon unsuspecting ponies," she shrugged.
"Oh, did I hear somepony talk about raining chocolate? I can do that quite easily," Discord said, appearing in front of Moon Struck and Princess Luna. With a snap of his fingers, a pink cotton candy cloud popped up overhead, raining chocolate milk down on the three of them. Discord magicked a glass into his hand, filling it with chocolate milk, before drinking the glass and throwing the chocolate away in a small explosion.
"Discord, we demand thee remove thy cloud from above our heads!" Princess Luna boomed in her traditional Canterlot voice.
"Oh Lulu, you just don't know how to have any fun," Discord winked at Moon Struck before snapping his fingers again, the pink cloud disappearing.
"Think you can make one of those for my new home? I wouldn't mind having a cotton candy cloud that rained chocolate milk into a pool," Moon Struck giggled. "It would be so much fun! I could even have a chocolate pool party."
"New home?" Princess Luna inquired.
"Oh, I've asked Discord to help me build my home back in Ponyville. I want my home to be in a permanent state of night, along with a few other chaotic bits. I will mostly be letting him have his fun making my home though, because I want it to be a surprise." Moon Struck answered with a sly look at Discord.
"Thou wishes for no sunlight to touch thy home? But why wouldst thou wish that?" Princess Luna asked, concerned.
"It's not that I don't want sunlight to touch my home. I have nothing against the day, but I do usually sleep through it, so it gets kind of hard to sleep with the sun in my eyes. But if my home was always covered by night instead, I could sleep peacefully during the day without having to worry about being woken up from being blinded." Moon Struck explained.
"Well, we suppose that is true. But still, we wish thee to reconsider, and maybe just keep thy bedroom covered in nighttime instead?" Princess Luna implored.
"I don't know; Discord, would you be able to do that?" Moon Struck directed her question at the draconequus who was now juggling oranges with little wings on them and changing colors every time they left his claw or landed in his paw.
"Now somepony remembers I'm here, hmph." Discord grumbled. "I could easily put just your bed in darkness if that is what you want, so one little room shouldn't be a problem." He continued anyways, catching an orange and turning it into a pineapple instead.
"No, not darkness. Darkness is just so... empty. I want it eclipsed in night; starlight and moonlight. It doesn't have to be real moonlight for obvious reasons, but since the sun only eclipses the starlight with its own brightness, if you could at least make the stars visible, I would be happy." Moon Struck corrected.
"I believe that can be arranged. But I would like to make a few extra... changes to the building plans. Deal?" Discord said, an impish grin on his face as he threw the flying multi-colored oranges and the now blue pineapple up in the air, where they flew off into the main ballroom and the rest of the Gala.
"Anything you want to do, I give my full permission. Just don't tell me what the changes are; as said, I want to be surprised!" Moon Struck quickly agreed with a smile.
"Oh goody, a place where I can let my chaos run free. You should invite Fluttershy and I over for tea after you get moved in then, I am sure we will have the most marvelous time." With that, Discord winked again, laughing as he disappeared in a pop, presumably to go back to Fluttershy and pranking ponies in the Gala.
"Dost thou truly believe in giving Discord full reign over thy home? We know not what he may set loose in his chaos." Princess Luna warned.
"I know it may seem a bit... unorthodox, but I do think that he can make a strange and wondrous home that can only be seen in dreams. And that is what I want, a dreamlike home of fun and whimsy." Moon Struck answered, smiling somewhat wistfully.
"If that is what thou desires, we shall not endeavor to stop thee. Shall we return to the Gala? We fear that our sister might be missing of our presence, and we are sure that thy friends must desire thy presence as well," Princess Luna asked, turning towards the doors back into the light and laughter filled hall behind them.
"Yes, friends..." Moon Struck sighed.
"What is wrong, dear friend?" Princess Luna pried, concerned.
"It's just, I sort of, accidentally... hurt Rainbow Dash's feelings. I didn't mean to! I just... I was just being honest with her. I thought friends were supposed to be honest, even if it might hurt somepony. At least that's what I thought I learned from my mistake with Rarity. But I still seemed to mess up." Moon Struck whimpered, her voice cracking. "Should I have lied?" She looked at Princess Luna, the plea in her eyes glistening.
"We do not think that lying would be the answer, but maybe thou should speak with Twilight Sparkle about this. She is the Princess of Friendship after all, she should be able to help thou correct the complication with thine Rainbow friend. Come, let us go in search of her." Princess Luna said, lending a hoof to help Moon Struck stand. The pegasus and alicorn returned to the Gala, but Moon Struck feared that she had destroyed her new friendship with Rainbow Dash before it could even truly begin.
Moon Struck parted ways with Princess Luna and tried to first find Rainbow Dash in hopes of fixing the misunderstanding herself. She didn't want to have to get someone else to take care of all the problems she caused every single time. So as she weaved her way through the other guests, she searched everywhere to find Rainbow. While trying to get past two unicorns chatting about the newest Manehattan fashions, she managed to trip and fall into a pale blue pegasus eating an apple pie. Or at least, he was until Moon Struck tripped into him and knocked it out of his hooves.
"My pie!" Soarin shouted, looking somberly at his half eaten pie on the floor.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you drop your pie! I can go buy you a new one, and I'll get this mess cleaned up, and I am so, so sorry!" Moon Struck quickly apologized, feeling so embarrassed that she couldn't even manage to go across one simple ballroom floor without causing somepony a problem. "Or I can buy you two if you would prefer, as soon as I can find where they are at at least." She continued, rambling on.
"Hey, it's okay. Accidents happen, right? Tell you what, you I'll show you where to get them, and we can split a pie since I had already eaten half of this one, okay?" Soarin smiled.
"Are you sure, I mean, you don't even know me." Moon Struck looked down at her hooves.
"Just because we don't know each other doesn't mean we can't help each other out, right?" Soarin said. "By the way, my name's Soarin, nice to meet you." He finished, holding his hoof out to Moon Struck.
"Oh uhm, I'm Moon Struck. Before the pie, do you know where I can get something to clean this mess up with?" Moon Struck replied.
"No worries, not the first time I've dropped something at one of these events, heh." Soarin chuckled before giving a sharp whistle, much to the discontent of the surrounding ponies. Suddenly, a unicorn guard appeared and sighed when he saw the mess. He cleaned up the spilled pie with his magic, gave a slight nod to Soarin, then walked off. "See, easy as pie," Soarin winked at the all too terrible joke.
Giggling as well, Moon Struck then said, "alright then, smart guy, lead on to the bringer of baked goods so we can replace your long lost pie."
Soarin led Moon Struck to an area with long tables set up full of different foods. Small finger foods and things that looked as if they would make her hungrier if she ate them, rather than filling her stomach. But at the very end was a stand filled with different apple treats. And a certain somepony stood behind the stand that she recognized, taking money from some other guests, who then walked off with a couple apple fritters.
"Why hello there Soarin, already back for another pie?" Apple Jack greeted Soarin as he stepped up to her apple stand.
"Sort of, you see, I had a little accident with the first one," Soarin said, shrugging his wings. Moon Struck stepped up next to him as he finished talking.
"Sugarbait, I'll get ya a treat, on me of course, in a sec, let me just wrangle up another pie for Soarin here, and..." Apple Jack started, smiling at Moon Struck.
"Actually, I'm here to pay for Soarin's pie. I sort of... knocked it out of his hoof as he was eating it, so I wanted to get him a new one to replace the first." Moon Struck said, cutting Apple Jack off.
"Oh, then don't worry about the price, Soarin. Here," Apple Jack replied, giving a new pie over to Soarin. "It's on the house, after all, we all make mistake," She rolled her eyes with a grin. "I know I've made a good few myself after all."
"It is very kind of you to give him the pie for free, but I really would prefer you let me pay for it, it was my mistake so it is my responsibility to correct it." Moon Struck stated, pushing a couple bits towards Apple Jack.
"Sugarbait, I understand that ya want to make amends on yer own with Soarin here, but as a friend I simply refuse to take yer money," Apple Jack replied, pushing the same couple of bits back towards Moon Struck.
"As a friend, then, you should allow me to pay my dues as I wish. You must have worked so hard to make all these delicious treats, I couldn't accept any of them without repaying you in kind. So the least you could let me do is to pay for the pie." Moon Struck said, slight annoyance in her voice.
"I could just pay for the pie myself..." Soarin started to say before getting cut off by Apple Jack.
"The least ya could do is accept the generous offer of a friend. The pie is on me, and that's final!" Apple Jack shouted at Moon Struck who had tried to push the bits back again. Soarin just looked back and forth from the two arguing ponies, still holding the pie in hoof.
"Uhh, I'm just gonna... uh go now, thanks for the pie," Soarin quickly said, rushing off back into the crowd with his new pie.
"Oh great, thanks to you being stubborn as a mule, Soarin probably thinks of me as some crazy pony. I was just trying to apologize to him and you messed it all up. I wonder if I can find him later and apologize again," Moon Struck lashed out in annoyance. As soon as she did, she regretted it though. Embarrassed again at her own foolishness, Moon Struck glanced at Apple Jack's hurt face. She knew she had messed up badly this time, and afraid of what Apple Jack might say to her, she took off running into the crowd of ponies gathered in the hall. Once she got far from where Apple Jack was, she found a dark corner to sit in and hang her head. Covering her eyes with her wings so nopony could see her crying, she sighed in anger at herself. "Oh Moonbait, you fool of a pony, how could you say that to Apple Jack like that? Stupid, foolish pony..." Moon Struck whispered to herself.
"Moon Struck? Are you alright?" Somepony asked Moon Struck, stepping up next to her, then sitting down. Moon Struck removed her wings from her eyes, trying to careful wipe away her tears without being seen. "Have you been crying?" The pony asked. When Moon Struck looked up, she saw Rainbow Dash sitting next to her, concern and worry covering her face.
"R-Rainbow? Y-you're not m-mad at me?" Moon Struck stuttered, hiccuping from trying not to cry.
"Mad? Why would I be mad at you? Oh wait, you mean about that coolness thing from earlier?" Rainbow replied, thinking back to when she had flown off to go hang out with the Wonderbolts earlier during the Gala. "Well yeah, I was a little upset that you thought Discord was cooler than me, but you're kind of weird like that. I mean, I know I am a super awesome pony, even if you don't include my being part of the Wonderbolts, but that you liked Discord more kind of hurt my feelings," Rainbow finished looking away from Moon Struck and out into the Gala crowd.
"I don't like Discord more! I like all of you in equal parts! You all have your own uniqueness, none of you can be compared to the others beside the fact that you are all amazing in your own way. I just... I'm just really bad at saying what I mean, and worse about saying things I don't mean." Moon Struck sighed, her eyes tearing up again.
"I figured that out after I had flown off unfortunately. It would be like if somepony asked me who of my friends is my favorite, the only right answer is that you all are my favorite and making me choose would just be dumb. When I went to find you again to apologize for getting angry, you were outside talking with Princess Luna. You looked like you were having a lot of fun, so I didn't want to interrupt. After all, I know how much you were looking forward to meeting her. So I just went back to hanging out with Spitfire and Soarin. Then somepony asked for an autograph and a picture, and I just couldn't say no, so I stepped away from Soarin to do that, then when I came back I saw him leading you away. I followed a little ways behind to see what was going on, when I saw him lead you to Apple Jack's stand. And I kind of saw you two arguing over the cost too." Rainbow said.
"Did... did you hear what I said after Soarin rushed off?" Moon Struck cringed.
"Yeah, I did," Rainbow said, looking at Moon Struck with concern again. "That was kind of a dumb thing to say, she was just trying to be nice after all."
"I know, I just... If she gave the pie for free, then it would be the same as her compensating Soarin instead of me. I would still feel guilty over it because it wasn't me who repaid him. But she was just being so stubborn about taking my bits that I got mad and annoyed at her, and I snapped without even thinking about what stupid words were falling out of my mouth until after they already fell out. Once I realized how hurtful the things I said were, it was already too late. I ran off before she could tell me she didn't want to be my friend anymore. I'm no good at this friendship thing, I just keep messing everything up. I hurt Rarity's feelings over the dresses earlier, I hurt your feelings, and now I've hurt Apple Jack's feelings too. It's just one dumb mistake after another. All I want now is just to escape from the Gala and not have to make anypony else suffer." Moon Struck whimpered.
"Hey, everypony makes mistakes. Don't tell anypony else this but, even I make mistakes. I know, it sounds ridiculous that someone as great and awesome as I am could make a mistake, but I have made lots of them." Rainbow said rolling her eyes." Back when I first became a Wonderbolt, when I was no longer a reserve, I forgot rule number one, to look both ways when crossing the runway. Well, let's just say I nearly got run over, but in my super awesome speed I got out of the way in time... to crash into a trash can. I got the nickname Rainbow Crash, and because I didn't bring up how it hurt at first, I ended up making bigger mistakes more often. In my first show, I changed the routine to try to stand out, but instead I crashed in front of everypony and made myself look completely ridiculous. Then I came clean with the rest of the Wonderbolts about how the nickname made me feel, and they all let me know the nicknames they all ended up getting as newbies. I realized that being called Crash really wasn't that bad a name by comparison. I still make mistakes, like tonight when I got upset at you and turned your words around. So I think if you just apologize to Apple Jack and talk it over with her, she will understand. Keeping it to yourself will just hurt you and her more." Rainbow finished, wrapping her wing around Moon Struck's shoulders.
"Maybe you're right," Moon Struck whispered.
"Of course I'm right, so just go talk to her," Rainbow said giving Moon Struck a little shove with her wing.
With a deep, slow breath, Moon Struck stood and looked one last time at Rainbow, "thanks, Rainbow. And, I am sorry for earlier. I should have tried to explain better, or I should have followed you at least."
"No sweat, now go on," Rainbow smiled before flying off to find the Wonderbolts again. Moon Struck watched her go, afraid to face Apple Jack after what she said. She knew she had to take Rainbow's advice, and to just apologize and explain, but her fears were stronger than her legs and she couldn't bring herself to take even a step towards where Apple Jack was. Sighing, she sat down again, tail wrapped around her and wings over her face once more.
"Come on, Moonbait, stop being such a silly filly and just go over to her. Rainbow's right, you just need to apologize, it will work out, right?" She told herself, biting her lip, worried if Rainbow really was right, and whether or not Apple Jack really would forgive her. She stood again, pulling her wings tight against her sides, and slowly made her way back over to where Apple Jack was still standing behind her apple cart.
Only this time, Apple Jack was not alone behind the cart. A small yellow coated filly with a bright apple red mane was standing next to her, wearing a light pink dress with pastel purple and green embroidery. She had a big pink pow pulling back part of her mane, and a big grin plastered to her face. "Hi there, would ya like a candied apple? Or maybe some apple corn? The apple fritters are especially delicious, why don't ya give one a try?" She was saying to anypony within earshot. Then she spied Moon Struck looking over at them, thinking she was looking at the goods and not the ponies running the stand. "Are ya looking for a yummy apple treat? We have lots of different kinds." She said to Moon Struck directly.
"Oh uhm, no, I'm not here for a treat. I just came to talk to Apple Jack." Moon Struck replied to the little filly.
"What do ya want now, still gonna try to get me to take yer bits?" Apple Jack snorted at her. "Did ya think somepony as stubborn as me would give in that easy? Well I have news for ya, I ain't gonna take yer bits, not now, not ever. So just go on and get out of here and get back to the rest of the Gala." She finished, turning away from Moon Struck.
"I just... I just came to apologize; but I can see I'm not wanted, so I'll... I'll just go away now." Crying, Moon Struck turned away. With one last glance back at Apple Jack she whispered, "I'm sorry, Apple Jack," before bolting back off into the Gala.
"Apple Jack! How could ya say that to her? Look at how much ya hurt her feelings! This ain't like you at all," Apple Bloom sternly told her big sister. "Ya better go apologize to her right now," she finished, pushing Apple Jack out from behind the stand.
"I suppose yer right, I should go find her; hope she's not too mad at me," Apple Jack sighed. "Ya okay to watch the stand while I'm gone, lil sis?" She asked Apple Bloom.
"Course I am, now hurry up," Apple Bloom replied before going back to asking different guests if they would like one of the apple treats.
Apple Jack gave a fleeting smile to her little sister before walking off into the crowd of guests.
Moon Struck rushed through the room, not caring who she bumped into, just so long as she could get out. She finally managed to rush back out into the garden and escape the prying eyes of the other ponies as she cried. Turning, she gave one last glance into the brightly lit hall filled with ponies dressed in their best attire, and she knew that place in the light was not one she belonged in. Stepping out into the garden surrounded by night, she looked up into the moon. "This is where I belong, alone with the moon." She sighed.
"Moon Struck? What are you doing out here?" Came a soft whisper of a voice. Moon Struck turned in time to see Fluttershy sitting a little ways away with a few small critters playing around her.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Moon Struck muttered, trying to hide the tears streaming down her face.
"Oh. Okay. Would you like to come sit with me? I know when I don't feel good, a nice warm snuggle with a cute little bunny always makes me feel better," Fluttershy said, holding a small gray bunny in her hooves, giving it a gentle hug.
"... sure, that sounds nice." Moon Struck replied after a moment. She walked over and sat next to Fluttershy, careful not to hurt any of the critters as she did so.
"Here," Fluttershy handed her the small gray bunny. Holding the small creature in her hooves, she gave it a small hug, pressing her face close to the bunny's soft fur. "Feel better?" Fluttershy asked.
"A little, I guess." Moon Struck said, setting the small bunny back in the grass. "Thanks, Fluttershy." For a while the two just sat together, Fluttershy cooing over the small animals, and Moon Struck just watching her in amazement. "You are really incredible when dealing with animals. Is there any creature you aren't good with?" Moon Struck finally asked as Fluttershy managed to stop a squirrel and chipmunk from arguing over a nut they had found under a bush.
"Well, I am terrified of dragons, honestly." Fluttershy said thoughtfully.
"But what about Spike? He's a dragon and you didn't seem afraid of him earlier," Moon Struck replied, confused.
"Well yes, but he's not a big, scary, fully grown adult dragon." Fluttershy answered as a small wren landed next to her, chirping for attention.
"Huh. I didn't think there would be a critter under the sun or moon that would scare you." Moon Struck thought out loud after a few minutes.
"Oh everypony has something they're afraid of. What scares you most?" Fluttershy asked calmly, no judgement or discrimination in her voice.
"Well... a lot of things, I guess. I'm afraid of spiders, and caterpillars. I fell out of a cloud once, it was beyond scary. But more than anything, I'm afraid of..." At this she stopped for a moment, looking away from Fluttershy, worried of what Fluttershy would say or think of her silly fear.
"You're afraid of...?" Fluttershy gently pushed the question, giving Moon Struck a kind smile.
With a deep breath in, Moon Struck slowly let the air flow back out before she looked up to the moon and said, "I'm afraid of being alone. I'm afraid I will mess up and lose you all as friends. I hurt Rarity, even though she forgave me, what if I do it again? Same with Rainbow Dash, I said the wrong things and created a painful misunderstanding. Then with Apple Jack, I said something I didn't mean because I let my stupid emotions get the better of me, and now she doesn't like me anymore. If I just could not be such a failure..." Moon Struck rushed the words, holding back her tears until they started to silently roll down her cheeks and fall off into the grass.
"I'm sure Apple Jack doesn't hate you. Just talk with her and apologize, I'm sure she will understand." Fluttershy replied, placing a hoof on top of one of Moon Struck's.
"I tried, she got mad at me before I could even get the words out to apologize and told me to go away." Moon Struck muttered. "That's why I had come out here, I had to escape to the only place I could feel safe and wanted. Beneath the night sky." She whispered.
"Then give her time, she will cool off and be willing to listen to you soon, I'm sure of it. Apple Jack is a good friend, she will forgive you." Fluttershy said before picking up one of the bunnies that was pawing at her tail. "Sometimes, it just takes a few tries and a little work. No friendship is perfect," she continued, nuzzling the bunny before setting him back down next to two others.
Moon Struck smiled halfheartedly at Fluttershy, wondering if she was right. It was hard to believe after how horrible she had been, but what if Apple Jack would forgive her? What if she could salvage the friendship that she thought she had already shipwrecked on the shores of her mistakes?
Moon Struck stayed with Fluttershy for a while, learning about all the different critters she had tended over the years. Her favorite was hearing about the time Fluttershy stared down a cockatrice.
"I wish I was as brave as you are." Moon Struck said, snuggling the small gray bunny she had first held. It had curled up against her front hooves as she lay in the grass, listening to Fluttershy's stories.
"Oh, I'm not brave," Fluttershy answered meekly.
"Of course you are! You stared down a cockatrice! You calmed an angry manticore! You scolded a full grown adult dragon despite your fear! You befriended Discord despite what everypony else thought of him, and despite the bad things he had done to you and your friends in the past! I don't think I know a single pony in all of Equestria that is braver than you, except maybe Princess Luna," Moon Struck stared at her now blushing friend.
"But of course Fluttershy here is brave," A sudden draconquus said, appearing from no where with a pop, and floating around the two pegasi mares, spooking some of the critters back off into the bushes. Moon Struck stroked the gray bunny and soothed him into staying curled next to her, Fluttershy doing the same with the brown and white bunny who had hopped under her tail to hide. "Although I don't appreciate the insinuation that she would have to be brave to be my friend," Discord eyed Moon Struck.
"I didn't mean like that. I meant, she had to stand up to what her friends wanted to do and to keep her promise with you. It can't have been easy telling her friends no, even if she remembered what happened before, when you first broke out of stone. Although it would have been kind of funny seeing Rarity push around a giant rock..." Moon Struck stifled a giggle. "But still, despite the others not trusting you back then, and wanting to turn you back into stone, Fluttershy stood up for you and defended you, and even told her friends no. That had to have been one of the bravest things she's ever done. I wish I had her kind of courage." She finished, snuggling the gray bunny some more to hide her unhappiness.
"But you are brave. You have traveled all over Equestria, watching the world and caring for it every night. You are a lot like Princess Luna in that way. I don't think I could ever do something like that. Being alone in the dark of the night scares me. Who knows what could be lurking in the shadows after all?" Fluttershy said to Moon Struck.
"But the night isn't just darkness, and darkness doesn't necessarily mean its bad either. Darkness doesn't equate to evil, just like light doesn't always equate to good. And you can't have one without the other, there are shadows in the day, just as there is beautiful pure light in the night. Look," Moon Struck gestured to the moon and the stars, "the night is full of wondrous light. The moon and the stars watch over the night, wrapping it in a soft cool embrace. Unlike the sun that can burn and scorch, the moon is a gentle kiss of light." Moon Struck stood, passing the small gray bunny to Fluttershy before she flew up into the sky, and floated in the moonlight as it poured down upon them. "This is the light of a soft embrace, holding the world close. It is a world of imagination and dreams. A world of chaos and order, perfectly balanced." Moon Struck twirled in the light shaft before gently floating back down to the ground where Discord had settled himself in next to Fluttershy, much to the dislike of the critters.
"Pfft, order and chaos balanced? Why would you think that?"" Discord asked sarcastically.
"The light and the dark have found a way to exist together, one does not overshadow the other. The ponies may not frolic and play in the night, but they do in their dreams. And in dreams, order does not have to exist. Ponies can dream about anything, no matter how crazy anypony might find it. I dream of a world of night, shooting stars and fireflies. But I also dream of rivers that flow up, waterfalls that fall into the sky. Rainbows made by moonlight, also known as moonbows. I dream of my someday home, where the furniture will be on the ceilings and walls, I'll have doors to no where, and rooms that are bigger than they appear. A fireplace that only has blue flames that give off cold air. " Moon Struck rambled.
"Oh that last one is a wonderful idea! I wonder why I didn't think of it before," Discord laughed, clapping his hands. "I wonder if I could get away with a small windigo instead of fire..."
"Discord," Fluttershy began to reprimand him.
"Alright, alright, no windigos.
"The night brings in this imagination, this fun. Under the sun you have to follow rules and live in an orderly fashion. It's so dull and lackluster; but in the night, you can run free of all of that. It brings its own balance that way." Moon Struck continued, rolling her eyes at Discord. "I suppose, if you put it that way it does kind of make the night seem less scary and more... fun." Fluttershy said, looking away from Discord who now was shaping small pink and blue cotton candy clouds into different shapes, one of which being a small windigo. Moon Struck couldn't help but notice that three much smaller pink clouds were shaped like butterflies, just like Fluttershy's cutie mark. Fluttershy also noticed as they began to flap their cloud wings and flit around her, making her giggle gently. Discord began making other animal shapes, some made from cotton candy clouds, some made from balloons. Some were made from flowers he plucked from around the garden. They danced and changed colors all around Fluttershy, so Moon Struck took that as her queue to leave. When she got to the door back to the Gala hall, she looked back at the still giggling Fluttershy, and the warm smile of the draconequus.
"They look so happy together, with nopony else in the world," Moon Struck thought to herself. "I wish I could find that kind of happiness with somepony else." She sighed, with a fleeting smile to her two friends in the garden, she went back to the party.
Moon Struck was lost in her own thoughts as she weaved her way through the crowds, but without looking she had managed to run into somepony. When she looked up, she saw a light gray pony, with a gray-violet mane, wearing a very simple blue-gray frock.
"Oops, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," Moon Struck apologized immediately.
"Okay." The earth pony said simply.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Moon Struck asked, worried.
"No." The pony replied.
"That's good. My name's Moon Struck, by the way." Moon Struck sighed with relief.
"I'm Maud Pie." Maud answered.
"Pie? Are you Pinkie Pie's older sister then? She did mention she was bringing her sister to the Gala." Moon Struck asked.
"I am." Maud blinked.
"So, you have a rocktorate, right? That's pretty cool. Do you have a favorite kind of rock?" Moon Struck inquired.
"Boulder is my favorite rock." Maud replied.
"Boulder?" Moon Struck questioned curiously.
"He's my pet rock," Maud said, pulling a small rock from inside a pocket and holding him up for Moon Struck to see.
"Is... is Boulder a type of basalt?" Moon Struck stared at the rock.
"He's a magnesium rich basalt." Maud answered, putting Boulder back inside her frock.
"Cool. I have a pet rock too, but she's at home watching my stuff till our new home is built. She's a piece of anthracite I found in my travels across Equestria." Moon Struck replied happy to have found someone else with a pet rock. "Maybe you can come see her some time, you live near Ponyville right?"
"I live in a cave." Maude said.
"Even better, I can come see you if you don't mind then, and I'll bring Stardust along. Oh, Stardust is my pet rock." Moon Struck smiled.
"Okay." Maud answered.
"Alright, by the way, you have some frosting in your mane." Moon Struck said, pointing to a little bit of pink frosting on the end of Maud's mane. With that, Moon Struck gave a slight nod to Maud before walking back off into the Gala. She had wandered back over to where Apple Jack had her apple stand, but Apple Jack wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was the filly from before, and two other fillies. One was a white unicorn, with a purple and pink curly mane and tail, wearing a white and light purple dress, the other was a dark mustard to almost orange coated pegasus with a pinkish-purple mane and tail, wearing a deep green dress.
"Can you see any more frosting on me?" The pegasus asked the other two.
"I don't think so. Wait! There's a little more just under your mane," The unicorn said, using her magic to float a napkin up to wipe off the pink frosting.
"Thanks," the pegasus said to the unicorn with a smile.
"What are friends for," the unicorn answered with a big grin.
"Oh hello there! Did Apple Jack find ya to apologize?" The earth filly she had seen before asked when she saw Moon Struck.
"Uhm... no? I actually came over to try to apologize again for what I said to her earlier. I was hoping that after a little time she had possibly cooled off enough to let me say sorry and explain why I said something so stupid." Moon Struck said, crossing her front hooves and looking sheepish.
"She went off to say sorry for getting mad at ya, and all that. She should be back soon if ya don't mind waiting though," the filly said. "My name's Apple Bloom by the way, and that's Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell. Nice to meet ya!"
"I'm Moon Struck," Moon Struck replied, nodding to each filly in turn.
"So you're the new nightwatch for the weather? How cool! Rainbow said you've been all over Equestria, moving clouds and controlling the weather everywhere! Have you ever battled any super storms? Or hurricanes?!" The pegasus filly was jumping up and down, talking rapidly.
"Well, there was this time a tornado of parasprites hit us in Fillydelphia, I was asleep at the time they came round and it had woken me up when they had been banging around my home at the time, eating all my food. Completely destroyed my specially grown night blossoms too," Moon Struck frowned, remembering the horrible little fluff balls. "Princess Celestia had to come clean up the havoc they caused. But other than that, mostly just minor storms and such. Lightning, thunder, nice long storms where I got to walk around on the top of the clouds above the storm, causing the lightning to strike where it wouldn't hit anypony. Was usually pretty fun. Although, the snowstorm up north of Vanhoover by the Luna Bay was beyond cold. Part of the bay froze even; I admit I spent a good portion of the night ice skating instead of taking care of the clouds. It may have caused a slight problem with an avalanche and not being able to reach the islands in the bay for two weeks. But it all worked out in the end," Moon Struck continued her weather rant.
"You caused an avalanche?" Sweetie Bell squeaked.
"It was an accident! And the day crew should have cleared some of the storm too, but they spent the day building snow forts and having snowball fights. We all ended up having to work through the day and night to get the whole mess cleaned up though," Moon Struck blushed. "Anyways, why did you have frosting on you? Maud had some in her mane too, come to think of it," Moon Struck thought back.
"Well, we sort of had a little accident at Joe's donut shop before coming to the Gala." Scootaloo answered, embarrassed.
"But at least we smell good now," Apple Bloom laughed.
"True," Sweetie Bell chimed.
"Good point," Scootaloo smiled.
"Moon Struck! There ya are! I've been lookin' all over this danged Gala to find ya. I just wanted to say sorry for snappin' at ya like that. I should have listened to what ya had to say first, before sayin' anything myself. You were right, I am just a stubborn pony. Would ya forgive me?" Apple Jack said, coming up to stand next to Moon Struck, holding her hat in front of her chest.
"You don't need to apologize, Apple Jack. You had every right to be mad at me. I let my stupid pride and emotions get the better of me, and I took it out on you when you were just trying to be a good friend to me. I'm sorry for calling you stubborn and being such a jerk," Moon Struck rushed to apologize.
"How 'bout this; we were both wrong and both being bad friends by not listening to each other or thinkin' of the others' feelings. So, we are both sorry and both forgiven, deal?" Apple Jack said, putting her hat back on her head and offering a hoof to Moon Struck.
"Deal!" Moon Struck smiled, shaking Apple Jack's hoof with her own.
"Now that that's settled, how about an apple fritter, on me of course," Apple Jack winked.
"Sure," Moon Struck laughed, taking an apple fritter from Apple Bloom. Taking a bite of the apple dessert, Moon Struck was amazed by how fluffy and delicious it was, despite how long it had sat out. "This is amazing! I don't think I've ever had an apple fritter this good. Think you can teach me how to make it?" She asked Apple Jack after swallowing the bite.
"Course I can, if ya don't mind gettin' a little messy," Apple Jack chuckled.
"No problem there. How about this, you teach me how to make these delicious fritters, and I'll let you have some of my secret apple butter, okay?" Moon Struck said, finishing up the last of the fritter and licking her hoof clean.
"Our apple butter is delicious too, but I wouldn't mind trying somepony else's. Who knows, maybe we can learn something from each other," Apple Jack smiled.
"Can we help too?" Apple Bloom piped up excitedly.
"Sure, we can all get about it in a couple days after Moon Struck has settled in; what do ya say, Sugarbait?" Apple Jack asked Moon Struck.
"Well it would have to be either really early, or really late, since I do have my nightly duties to adhere to, but other than that, it sounds like a plan." Moon Struck replied after thinking about it a moment.
"Alright, just after the sun sets, before you get to work then. Why don't you go on out back into the Gala, Pinkie was saying something about wanting you to meet her sister Maud." Apple Jack finished, before giving Moon Struck a nudge.
"I actually met Maud before coming back over here, but I wouldn't mind talking with her again, she was nice. And Boulder was cute too," Moon Struck smiled. Apple Jack gave her a sideways glance before shrugging. Moon Struck waved at the three fillies, and gave Apple Jack a quick hug before heading off in search of Pinkie Pie and Maud.
As Moon Struck made her way through the crowd, she heard the laughter of Pinkie Pie before she saw the bright pink pony bouncing about in circles.
"Maud! You smell just like a donut! Delicious!" Pinkie chortled as she bounced and sniffed her sister.
"It was frosting," Maud said monotonously.
"You're right, there's some pink frosting still here on the end of your mane! Hee hee hee!" Pinkie continued laughing after wiping the frosting out of Maud's mane.
"Pinkie! Maud!" Moon Struck called out to the two. Maud just blinked at her, but Pinkie came barreling at her as if she was shot from her party cannon.
"Oh oh oh! Moonbait! You have to come meet my sister Maud! You will just love her! And I know she will love you too," Pinkie laughed as she pulled Moon Struck over next to Maud. "Maude, this is my new friend Moon Struck! But you can call her Moonbait too, it's her nickname! And Moonbait! This is my big sister Maud! She has a rocktorate and lives in the crystal cave just outside Ponyville! It's really pretty in the cave, we should have a party there sometime to celebrate your new friendship with each other," Pinkie continued her bouncing, bubbling happiness as she ranted the greetings.
"Pinkie, I met Maud earlier. And Boulder too, of course. I was going to bring my pet rock, Stardust, to meet Maud and Boulder at some point too." Moon Struck rolled her eyes at Pinkie's overly excited prancing.
"Oh my gosh! You both have pet rocks! You are going to be bestest friends in no time! Of course, Starlight is also Maud's bestest friend, so we need to get you introduced to her too. I think she is off with Twilight and Princess Celestia talking about her friendship travels in Equestria. You two will have so much to talk about since you've been everywhere in Equestria, and Starlight traveled everywhere with Trixie as well. And then you can talk to Maud about all the rocks and everything else you've seen, and you will all be the bestest friends EVER!" Pinkie shouted.
"I know you want us all to become friends, but it isn't something you can force. If they don't like me, then that's all there is to it. Although, I do like Maud; I think she's really interesting." Moon Struck rolled her eyes at Pinkie again before turning to smile at Maud.
"Thanks." Maud said, a slight nod of her head as she blinked once.
"Oh I knew you two were gonna be the bestest friends ever!" Pinkie shouted as she threw her hooves around Maud and Moon Struck's shoulders.
"Pinkie... can't... breathe..." Moon Struck gasped as Pinkie's hoof hold choked her neck.
"Oops, sorry Moonbait," Pinkie giggled as she let them go.
"You said somepony named Starlight also traveled Equestria? I think Twilight mentioned her at one point too. Who is she?" Moon Struck asked, rubbing the back of her neck where Pinkie had been grasping right before.
"Starlight Glimmer used to be a big meany who had her own village and everything! She ruled it and took away everypony's cutie marks using her magic and stored them in a giant rock in a cave overlooking the village. She even took away my cutie mark, and the cutie marks of Fluttershy, and Rainbow, and Rarity, and Apple Jack, and even Twilight! But we helped to show everypony in the town that Starlight had taken away their cutie marks to make everyone equals, but she hadn't removed her own cutie mark, so she was making herself different which was not what she had supposedly been trying to do by taking everyone's cutie marks. In the end, everyone got their cutie marks back, but Starlight ran away. Then she came back for revenge on Twilight by changing the past so that Rainbow Dash wouldn't do her sonic rainboom as a filly, which is how we all discovered our cutie marks, and because Starlight changed the past, it changed the future, and all of Equestria was doomed because we didn't become friends!" Pinkie rushed out, before taking a deep breath. "Then, Twilight convinced her to become good and helped teach her about friendship, and resolved everything that made Starlight go all crazy evil in the first place. So Starlight was Twilight's official pupil, and after she completed all her training and finally felt ready, she went out to explore Equestria and see what she could learn about Friendship as she traveled with her friend Trixie everywhere! Oh, Trixie is a showpony who does magic shows. Though, they aren't very good," Pinkie rolled her eyes before giggling.
"Hey! My shows are amazing! You just can't appreciate it because you are just... just weird or something!" A light blue unicorn shouted from behind them.
"Trixie," A pale pinkish-purple unicorn said, smiling at the light blue unicorn.
"What? She started it!" The light blue unicorn responded.
"Hi Starlight!" Pinkie jumped over to the pinkish-purple unicorn with a smile. "Hi Trixie!" She then turned to the light blue unicorn, although her smile faltered just a tiny bit.
"Hi Pinkie, hi Maud," Starlight said, smiling at both. "You must be Moon Struck. Twilight was telling me about you just a bit ago." She then directed her smile to Moon Struck who was unsure what to think of being talked about by the Princess of Friendship, and to her student no less.
"Wow, Starlight! How did you figure that out?" Pinkie asked, astonished.
"Just a guess, honestly," Starlight replied. Then she walked around Pinkie over to Maud. "Maud, I found this when we were traveling through a swamp just south of Horseshoe Bay when we left Baltimare." Starlight pulled a small crystal from out of her pocket and handed it to Maud. "I'm not really sure what it is, but I thought you might like it." Starlight smiled at her friend.
To everyone's surprise, except Pinkie's, Maud licked the white clear crystal that Starlight handed her. "It's halite." She said simply.
"Halite? Isn't... isn't that just salt, if I remember right?" Moon Struck asked with a tilt of her head.
"Yes." Maud blinked.
"Cool, nice find Starlight," Moon Struck smiled at her.
"Oh, uh, yes." Starlight said, slightly confused.
"Thanks," Maud said as she put the piece of halite in her pocket with Boulder.
"You're welcome," Starlight replied, with a slight smile.
"So Starlight, did you enjoy traveling Equestria? And Trixie, do you think I could see your show later? I always enjoyed watching magic shows from up in the clouds at night as a filly." Moon Struck asked the two mares.
"If you want, we can find somewhere to sit down and rest, and I can tell you all about the things I saw. You can tell me what the places I visited were like during the nights then, too," Starlight responded.
"If you really want to see the Great and Powerful Trixie do magic, it will cost you," Trixie answered.
"Trixie," Starlight reprimanded.
"Oh fine, Trixie will do the show for free," Trixie huffed.
"If you'd rather not, it's fine, I don't want to put you out." Moon Struck hurriedly said.
"Don't mind her, Moon Struck, that's just Trixie's personality. Come on, I think I saw a place we can all sit down near that wall over there," Starlight said, leading Moon Struck, Trixie, Maud, and Pinkie off to a nearby set of tables. But just as Pinkie was about to sit down, a guard came up and whispered in her ear.
"Oh my gosh! It's my turn! Sorry girls, I'll come chat later. Time to go sing the Pony Pokey!" Pinkie bounced off excitedly, pushing past ponies to get to the stage.
Shaking her head, Starlight turned to Moon Struck. "So, where do you want to hear about first?" She asked.
"Well, why don't you start from when you and Trixie left Ponyville, I guess," Moon Struck answered. And so, Starlight, with much embellishment from Trixie, told Maud and Moon Struck all about their travels and the strange friendships they made along the way. She also told about all the problems they came across, and some of the better nights and worse nights for where they camped out.
"Wow, I remember that chimera, her heads never agreed. I just flew off since it wasn't worth my time to bother with them, but I also had that option. Having to outsmart her and get away like that? Genius!" Moon Struck laughed as Starlight finished her story.
"Sounds exciting," Maud blinked.
"Of course it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie bragged.
"I'm just glad we got away, honestly," Starlight said. The four mares sat and talked about rocks and different places in Equestria, trying hard to ignore Pinkie's very loud rendition of the Pony Pokey. When Pinkie returned to table of giggling ponies, she ran up and pulled Maud as a song by the actual band started to play.
"Maud! I love this song! Let's boogey!" Pinkie bellowed out as she yanked Maud off into the crowd.
Shaking her head, Moon Struck looked at the other two, "I guess we could always join in and dance too," she laughed.
"No thank you; Trixie does not dance with ponies below her status." Trixie said, a little too quickly.
Starlight rolled her eyes at her friend, before turning to Moon Struck and saying," I'll just sit here with Trixie. We traveled pretty far today, and I'm a little too tired to dance. You go have fun with Pinkie and Maud."
"Alright, if you're sure." Moon Struck said before turning and starting to walk away; she couldn't help but overhear Starlight talking to Trixie as she was leaving though.
"Trixie, you can just admit you don't know how to dance," Starlight poked her friend in the shoulder.
"Trixie does too know how to dance, she just doesn't want to dance with such a big crowd around, that's all." Trixie said.
Moon Struck smiled and made her way through the crowd after Pinkie and Maud. She found Maud standing a little ways in, and Pinkie bouncing and dancing like crazy.
"Isn't this song great, Maud?" Pinkie laughed. "Moonbait! Come dance with us!" Pinkie yelled when she saw Moon Struck, much to the disapproval of the ponies surrounding them. Moon Struck smiled and walked up next to the two earth ponies, before stopping next to Maud and swaying slightly to the music.
"Woo! Yeah! Uh huh! Who got the moves? We got the moves!" Pinkie yelled as she danced circles around Moon Struck and Maud. As the song finished, Maud went back over to Starlight and Trixie to talk more, Pinkie bounced off to find some yummy sweets to eat and get her energy back, and so Moon Struck was alone again in the Gala hall. She walked over to the entryway, hoping to find Twilight. As she started to exit the hall, somepony spoke from behind her.
"Moon Struck? Where are you going?" Twilight asked. Moon Struck turned around and saw Twilight standing next to Princess Celestia.
"Oh, I was looking for you actually. I was hoping I could leave my dress in the carriage. I wanted to go for a flight in the night, this party has kind of worn me out emotionally and mentally. I've not spent so much time around so many ponies in a long time, and its a bit too much for me to handle all at once. So I wanted to go clear my head for a bit, but long flights in a dress like this are kind of hard to do, with all the extra weight and cloth getting in the way." Moon Struck answered, embarrassed.
"You can leave the gown in one of the suite rooms that's not currently occupied, if you would prefer. I can have one of the guards take it up for you as well," Princess Celestia said.
"Well if it isn't too much of a bother, then I accept your offer, Princess," Moon Struck replied with a slight bow towards Princess Celestia.
"If you would like, I can go with you on the flight," Twilight said to Moon Struck who was already pulling her dress off just outside the door of the Gala hall.
"I appreciate that you would leave the Gala for me, but I would much rather go alone. It's a good way for me to get my thoughts together and just relax. I shouldn't be too long though, and once I'm done I'll come right back and meet up with you again, okay?" Moon Struck answered after she got the dress completely off. Princess Celestia called a guard over, who took the dress and walked off to another part of the castle.
Twilight gave Moon Struck a quick hug. "Be safe out there," she whispered.
"It's just the night Twilight, it's not like I'm off to battle dragons or something. I'll be back soon, goodbye," Moon Struck gave Twilight a fleeting smile as she walked down the stairs and exited the castle. Once outside, she took to the sky and felt immediately refreshed as the night breeze blew through her mane. She flew high above Canterlot, off into the clouds, so far that the castle looked like tiny fireflies in the distance and the music from the Gala was nothing but a memory. She found a cloud just large enough for herself to rest on, and lay down, sighing in relief. Moon Struck was coming to truly love her new friends, but there were just too many ponies down there, it made her feel like she was suffocating. Being up here in the night sky soothed all her fears and worries, and brought her back to herself. Before she realized it, though, she had drifted off to sleep beneath the stars.
A meadow painted with glowing night blossoms, a breed of trillium with pure white petals that glimmered in the full moon’s light. The meadow rested atop a piece of land that floated in the night sky as if it were a cloud, the landmass covered on the underside with amethyst, garnets, peridot, and quartz as clear as glass. The shimmering, sparkling, floating meadow drifted over darkened lands below; a light lullaby could be heard on the gentle breeze as the meadow continued to drift, leaving behind a soothing scent as it passed.
In the meadow’s center was a white and gray mare, sitting atop the single boulder that stood above the surrounding flowers. Her pale wings were outstretched, and her blue mane was pulled back with a silver bow; she slowly swayed back and forth, singing softly into the breeze as it blew through her mane, pulling petals up to dance to her song.
“Sweet Moonlight watches as stars fall from the sky,
granting their wishes to the ponies who pass by;
Melodic Moonlight, enchanting lullaby,
sweet dreams move onwards as we float up high.
Our meadow a tribute, to the night, to the sky,
a dreamer’s lost carriage of night’s whispered cry,
So we sing so softly, our Moonlit lullaby,
so we sing so softly… our Moonlit lullaby.”
Moon Struck sang the last verse of the lullaby she wrote as a filly for the Mare in the Moon. It held all the love she had for the moon, for the night, and for Princess Luna in it, even though it only made sense to her. She sang it every night, and in every dream, hoping that one day the Princess would hear it, or the night would answer. Looking around her dreamscape, to the meadow she had floated upon for so many years as she slept and dreamed, she found herself a little… lonely. She had never been lonely here before; this was her meadow, the night she loved, the full moon bathed her in light. And yet… since she had begun to make friends, begun to make her home in the waking world, her dream world felt so… empty. She had never before felt the need to dream of other ponies, because herself and the night was plenty to keep her happy, to make her feel safe. But now, the darkness beneath her meadow loomed below her, as if to swallow her in its depths. The black depths under her floating haven were… chanting to her. They were calling her down, pulling at her with their twisted words and hatred. Suddenly, the faces of her new friends were down there, on the ground, looking up at her. But no smile graced any face, instead, anger and anguish and hatred were there.
“You think you are so cool, so above us by being up on your stupid meadow?” Dream Rainbow yelled up to her.
“I guess I’m too stubborn to be anypony you would want on yer pretty li’l meadow, is that it? Me an’ my apples ain’t good enough for ya now?” Dream Apple Jack shouted, pounding her hoof on the ground.
“Your dress just had to be so much more fabulous than my own ensembles, you are obviously too fashion forward to want the dresses of some country pony like me, is that what you meant? My dresses are too… plain for somepony as special as yourself?” The Dream Rarity huffed at her, turning away with a glare.
“I tried to be kind, to help you get along with Discord so that you could make a new friend, but then you just leave us in the garden and don’t even try to say you were going back in? You don’t even care how much you make anypony worry about you!” Dream Fluttershy whispered, yet her voice carried up like a scream.
“You didn’t do the pony pokey with me!” Dream Pinkie bounced and bellowed.
“I went through so much trouble to bring you last minute to the Gala, all of us worked hard to get you ready to enjoy the night with us, but then you just up and leave. No explanation other than a simple ‘I’m too overwhelmed’ nonsense. Just admit you don’t like us and leave us alone!” Finally, Dream Twilight roared as she cast a shield between her and the meadow, stopping Moon Struck from even being able to talk to them, to apologize, to beg them to forgive her. Her fears of losing her friends grew from the darkness down on the ground below, stretching out clawed hooves, grasping for her in an attempt to pull her from the sky.
“No! Stop it! Let me go; let me GO!” Moon Struck screeched, trying desperately to shake the shadow claws from her wings and mane.
For every shadow she pushed away, two more appeared in its place. Her new found friends turned into darkness and shadows, they reached out, their seething hate filled words grabbing her and holding her down. She cried, struggling with all her might to escape, but the hold her shadow friends had on her was too strong. She couldn’t escape her fears, even as they emerged from the darkness and materialized beside her in the form of her friends. Her fear of everything she did, everything she said that was wrong, hovered around her and pulled at her, their clawed hooves scratching at her. She felt as if she was being ripped into thousands of pieces, but her body remained as one. Her mind and heart, however, were cracking under the pressure of the darkness that now completely encompassed her.
“Step back, foul night creatures of fear. Let go of thy prey and disappear from our presence!” A voice called out from some feet away. The claws released Moon Struck and shriveled in fear from the mare that called out to them. Princess Luna brandished her horn at the shadow ponies that surrounded Moon Struck, striking them with moonlight and causing them to dissipate into the night, replaced once more by the light of the full moon and soft glow of the night blossoms. “Art thou alright, Moon Struck?” She asked as Moon Struck struggled to stand up; but the fear still commanded her body, causing her to collapse in a mess of legs and wings.
Breathing slowly, Moon Struck hid her face from view. “Are you just another of the heart demons, here to take what little I have left, or are you the real Princess of the Night?” She whispered, afraid to look up, afraid of what she would see.
“We assure you, we are as real as the sun that Celestia raises for every new day, and the moon that we raise for every new night. Dost thou doubt us?” Princess Luna replied, stepping closer to the still shivering and scared Moon Struck.
“No, I don’t doubt you; I doubt myself.” Moon Struck answered softly.
“Thou hast no reason to doubt thyself, Moon Struck. Thy nightmares have been banished for now, and although we wish we could promise them to be gone forever, we are afraid that only thou can completely vanquish the darkness that feeds on thy fear and self-loathing. Know that all ponies have some nightmare, some demon, that haunts them. Some come upon this fear early in life, and in turn are able to fight it earlier as well. But some succumb to that darkness, some let their hearts be stolen willingly. Our own heart was once stolen. We had fallen into the black depths of hatred towards our own sister, our own citizens. For it, we were banished; a fate we truly deserved. Twilight Sparkle and her friends helped us be freed from the darkness using the Elements of Harmony. But that darkness remained in part; we used the fear of ourself as Nightmare Moon and created our own personal torture. A reminder, if thou wilt, of what we wished to never become again. We named it the Tantabus. It was a creature we created that turned dreams into nightmares, and in doing so, our dreams were of becoming Nightmare Moon over and over. And every time, instead of losing to the Elements, in our nightmare we had won. Night became eternal; no pony was safe. But, in one nightmare, we were saved. Our dream ended… happily. The Tantabus had escaped, and because we had dreamed of Twilight Sparkle and the others, the Tantabus had gone after them, infecting their dreams with its nightmares. We eventually worked with the others, and all of Ponyville’s citizens as well, to defeat the Tantabus before it could escape into the waking world. We came to understand that we need not punish ourselves for the past. We found our way to forgive ourself, and then we were able to have happy dreams from thence on. But every now and again, even we still have our nightmare, our fear of becoming that which we least wish to return to. Some fears cannot be beaten so easily, some have to be defeated time and time again, and each time we can only become a little stronger from the last. We will not tell thou that thy fears can be beaten with ease, but thy strength can grow by confronting it, and by forgiving thyself as thy friends surely have.” Princess Luna softly said, placing a hoof on Moon Struck’s shoulder. “Do not let thy fear control thee.”
“... Fear has been my longest acquaintance. I have always stood with my fears, because they are the one thing that I can understand and that can understand me. As they hurt me and pierce into my heart, they also are the protective wall, the shield that stops the true pain from reaching me. For, how could I be hurt by anypony, if I never expect anything but to be hurt?” Moon Struck looked up to Princess Luna, tears trailing down her face, tiny rivers of sadness leading from her midnight blue eyes that were so… empty.
“As surely as it may protect thyself from pain, it prevents true happiness as well. Thou cannot embrace the joy thy friends offer if thy heart is hidden in a thorned shell of darkness. Thou can create such beauty in thy dreams, but is time that thou finds this same beauty in the waking world. If thou truly wishes, we can speak with Discord, allow him to see this place of thy dreams, and request help in creating at least some part of this meadow in the realm of the awake. His magic is surely more than satisfactory in creating such a strange, yet beautiful place. We can support his chaos with our own magic of the night to create these flowers that bloom in moonlight, in place of the sun. Would that help thyself with facing thy fears in the waking world as well as that of thy dreams? It would be a place where thou friends could be taken to, so that they can see things in thy views of our night. A way for thou to share thy love, and for thy friends to understand thyself more, as thou wouldst come to understand them more as well. Thou art still budding,” Princess Luna said, stepping a little to the side to reveal a single night blossom that was still wrapped up, its petals enclosed to the light, “like this flower, surrounded by open and free others, but unwilling to bloom itself. Thy friends surround you with open petals and welcoming grazes, but thy own fear keeps thou hidden.” She waved her horn with a small flourish, and the flower that had hidden itself below the surrounding open flowers began to release and open, letting in the moonlight that surrounded them all. “If thou art willing to let the light into thy heart, thou wilt be able to open and bloom as well.” Princess Luna smiled to her. Moon Struck stared at the flower. Once it had opened and bloomed, it began to glow with the same radiant light as all the other night blossoms, but with the words Princess Luna had spoken, she felt she could see a slightly stronger light coming from it. Princess Luna then pushed the flower ever so slightly so that Moon Struck could see the underside of the petals that were now raised to the light. “Look; the petals of thy flower may appear bright and strong on the surface, but a single glance deeper shows the darkness that still stays with it. There are wilted petals, scars of its late blooming. But it stands stronger because it was still able to turn up and face the light instead of hiding from it. Thou art truly this flower, thy scars will remain with thee, but thou can choose to open thyself and face the light, face thy friends, but only if thou so chooses. We cannot force thee to open thyself, but we can offer a kind ear. We can also offer something that we think thou wouldst appreciate.” Princess Luna turned, with a glance and smile back at Moon Struck, before she cast a spell that opened a door. With another glance back, Princess Luna beckoned Moon Struck to follow her. Slowly, Moon Struck rose to her feet, tears still falling, as she followed Princess Luna through the ivory door and out of her own dream.
“Where are we?” Moon Struck asked once the door closed behind her.
“We have brought thee into the dreamscape. This is the realm with which we travel between all the dreams of Equestria so that we may fight the nightmares that haunt the ponies that they are unable to fight themselves.” Princess Luna responded, gesturing to the floating orbs that surrounded them in the star-filled dreamscape. Moon Struck looked into the orb nearest her and saw a russet colored stallion with a chocolate mane and hourglass cutie mark staring, unblinking, into the eyes of a strange looking pegasus statue. Looking into another bubble orb floating past her she saw a rather large purple sea serpent wailing and thrashing in a river; his orange shining mane was falling into the water surrounding him, leaving his head bald and blank. Moon Struck reached out to touch the poor creatures nightmare, wishing to help when Princess Luna reached out and stopped her. “Do not touch the dreams, for it will drag thee into them. This may be a nightmare, but observe,” she said, pointing at the dream orb. The sea serpents’ cries continued as his beautiful mustache fell out as well. But with a slight turn of the orb, a donkey pulling a rather large cart appeared. In the cart was a large and truly magnificent toupee; the sea serpent had stopped his thrashing, wiping his tears away as he picked up and placed the toupee on his head. With a smile he hugged the donkey whose drooping face smiled as he hugged his friend in return. The donkey’s own toupee fell to the ground and the two just laughed before the sea serpent placed the small donkey’s toupee back on his head. The nightmare had changed into a wonderful dream all on its own.
“So, these are every ponies’ dream? How do you know when it’s a dream you need to intervene in and which ones can be resolved on their own?” Moon Struck asked as an orb floated past with a gray colored earth pony swimming in jelly inside it.
“Sometimes we don’t. We trust that we know, but there are times where we miss nightmares that need our help; just as there are times we step in too soon and the pony does not have the chance to fight their own fear.” Princess Luna replied, watching another dream orb float past with a large red pony sporting a green apple cutie mark, and horn and wings oddly, fly around and blasting vampire bats away from zap apple trees.
“Why did you step into my dream then? Why did you save me?” Moon Struck whispered.
“Because we feared that the dream wouldst devour thee,” Princess Luna answered slowly.
“Because I am too weak you mean…” Moon Struck hung her head nearly hitting an orb with two light yellow earth ponies with red and white striped manes as they pulled piles of bits towards themselves.
“Thou art not weak, Moon Struck. Thou art like anypony whom faces fear. We shall show thee,” Princess Luna said, once more placing a comforting hoof on Moon Struck’s shoulder. She then pulled Moon Struck with her as she had finally found what she was looking for in the orbs surrounding them. Touching a nearby orb, Princess Luna and Moon Struck were sucked into the dream of somepony. When Moon Struck’s head stopped spinning for the sudden change, she realized they were in a dark, cold forest.
“The Everfree Forest? Why are we here?” Moon Struck said, looking around for anypony aside from them.
“There,” Princess Luna replied, pointing down below them into a slightly more open patch of forest. A light mint colored pegasus was laying underneath a pile of large leaves. A pony mannequin head was sitting on a stump next to him, its mane styled rather horridly, partially falling apart. He looked like a complete wreck. Princess Luna flew down to him as the pony mannequin head started to multiply, surrounding him and laughing at him, telling him he was a failure and deserved to rot in the dark, lonely forest. With a wave of her horn, Princess Luna blasted away the mannequins and picked up the haphazardly built shelter off of the pegasus. “Zephyr Breeze, arise. Thou must continue forward and persevere against the struggles that lie ahead of thee.” Princess Luna said to the shivering and confused pegasus.
He slowly stood up, “but what if I do fail? What’s the point in trying?” Zephyr sighed.
With another small blast of magic, Princess Luna made a mirror appear. In the mirror was a scene very similar to the one currently playing out, except in the mirror Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash appeared and brought Zephyr from the forest. “If thou wouldst remember, even thy sister told of her fear of failure as well. But with her belief in thee, thou was able to complete something on thy own. Thou completed mane therapy school, did thou not? Believe in thyself, as thy sister does.” Princess Luna replied as Zephyr watched his memory play out in the mirror.
“You’re right, I need to see this through. As Flutters said, I can do this!” The dream began to change and Zephyr was now standing in a mane therapy shop. He trotted off to go style the mane of the nearest pony and Princess Luna flew back up to Moon Struck.
“Sometimes, somepony just needs to remember their own strengths to surpass their fear. Thyself included, Moon Struck,” Princess Luna smiled at Moon Struck before opening a door back to the dreamscape. Once in the dreamscape, Moon Struck turned to look at Princess Luna who continued to observe the surrounding dreams with a motherly smile.
“You really are amazing, Princess Luna.” Moon Struck whispered, a small smile on her face as well. Suddenly, Moon Struck started to fade out and was sucked away from Princess Luna. “Wait, what’s happening?” She yelled.
“Thou art returning to the waking world. We shall speak with thee later, if thou so wishes. Fare well, Moon Struck.” Princess Luna’s words were whispered to her as she faded into nothing.
With a start, Moon Struck fell off the cloud she had fallen asleep on. Opening her wings she prevented herself from plummeting too far, but the sudden drop did cause her head to spin. Moon Struck flew back up to the cloud and sat for a bit, thinking of everything that just happened. The dreamscape fresh in her mind, as well as her own fears, she pondered the words Princess Luna said to her before she awoke.
As Moon Struck lay on the cloud, looking into the night sky for answers but only finding more questions in her heart, she failed to notice that the cloud had turned pink beneath her. All the clouds surrounding her had turned pink, and were slowly growing larger. When she sighed, knowing her questions would still be flitting around her mind, she looked away from the stars and noticed the pink cotton candy clouds because they were all starting to gather to the cloud she was laying on.
Moon Struck tried to pull her hooves free, but she was trapped in the sticky mess, her flank and legs turning pink from the cotton candy, and she even noticed a few chocolate milk stains on her coat.
“Discord,” she called out, albeit quietly.
In answer, a burst of pink and teal fireworks appeared above her head in the shape of butterflies and flowers.
“Discord, get me out of this cloud!” Moon Struck called out, this time much louder so she could be heard over the continuing fireworks. Another rocket burst above her head and shaped its yellow explosion into a giant tea pot. Following closely were two smaller rockets that showered green and blue sparks around her, appearing as tiny tea cups filled with tea.
Discord’s claw reached past her and grabbed one of the firework tea cups. It turned into an actual green teacup filled with steaming hot tea; he sipped it as he looked at her with a rather smug smile.
“Don’t you appreciate my little performance? It is just for you after all,” Discord stated calmly, as he continued to sip the tea.
“The fireworks are plenty interesting, yes, but not when they are exploding right next to my head!” Moon Struck tried to not screech at him as another red firework burst above her head, this time in the shape of a large arrow, pointing directly down to her.
“How else was I supposed to let everypony know where you had gotten lost?” Discord grinned as he tossed the tea cup up into the air, letting it explode into a shower of rainbow confetti around them.
“Lost?” Moon Struck questioned him, confused. “I… oh no. The Gala. Twilight and the girls. I fell asleep out here and completely forgot to go back!” Moon Struck struggled against the cotton candy prison she was held in as she panicked.
“As much fun as it is watching you turn yourself into a ball of cotton candy, I suppose I should let you know that Twilight and the others will be on their way here now, since I signaled to them. So just sit tight and enjoy the show,” he laughed, throwing a chunk of the cotton candy cloud into his mouth and staring at the burst of fireworks that shaped themselves into winged fruits and feathered trees. “Would you care for some chocolate milk?” He asked with a smirk.
Moon Struck stared at him, mouth agape. She laughed. She laughed so hard she was crying as she watched the draconequus pull a glass out of nothingness and dip it into the cotton candy cloud, producing a glass of chocolate milk, crazy straw included. He offered it to her, but her hooves were still stuck deep into the cloud.
“Little help?” She managed to choke out between her laughs.
“Of course my favorite little Cuckoo,” Discord said snapping his paw, and in a flash the cloud they lay on was back to being just that, a regular white cloud.
“Cuckoo?” Moon Struck asked, taking the glass of chocolate milk from him.
“Well you are Moonstruck after all, so I thought you would be used to ponies calling you cuckoo!” Discord laughed, petting Moon Struck on the head.
Moon Struck drank the milk and pondered that. Sure, lots of ponies had made fun of her, calling her all sorts of names; calling her crazy, loony, and her personal favorite of Moonbait. This was the first time somepony had called her Cuckoo though. She liked it.
“Cuckoo, huh. Will you keep calling me that? I think it’s… nice.” Moon Struck said to him between sips.
“And people call me crazy,” Discord smiled, another burst of butterflies and balloons in the fireworks above them, the red arrow still there as well.
“Moon Struck!” A purple flash of mane blurred Moon Struck’s vision for a moment as Twilight Sparkle tackled her into the cloud.
“Twilight?” was all Moon Struck managed to say as Twilight wrapped her hooves tightly around Moon Struck’s neck.
“I was so worried when you didn’t return! Princess Celestia told me not to worry, but as the Gala started winding down to an end, and you still hadn’t returned, I thought that maybe you got lost! Or worse, that you got hurt! I shouldn’t have you let you go alone, I should have gone with you!” Twilight rushed out, still hugging her friend in a vise-like grip.
“Twilight… can’t… breathe…” Moon struck tapped her hooves against Twilight as she tried to breathe through the tight hold on her neck.
Twilight let her go and sat back on the cloud, “sorry. It’s just, when you never came back, I was scared. So many thoughts went through my mind and I didn’t know what to do. In the end, I got the girls and Discord to help search for you.”
“That explains the cotton candy and fireworks I guess,” Moon Struck mused. “Sorry, by the way. I kind of… fell asleep out here. I was more tired than I thought I was,” she said with a small semblance of a laugh. “I really didn’t mean to worry anypony. I had a… well I suppose you could call it a walk, with Princess Luna. It was amazing! She brought me into the land of dreams with her and we talked for a while. I got to see firsthoof how wonderful she really is. It made me respect her more than I already did, which I didn’t think was possible. I got to learn about her, and… and about myself some too.” She finished, looking down at her hooves, the smile fading from her eyes.
“Moon Struck? Are you alright?” Twilight asked, concerned.
“Hey, Cuckoo, look up!” Discord shouted from somewhere above them, as he was no longer laying on the cloud. Moon Struck looked up in time for a large crystal cruet to pour codfish oil on her head.
“Discord! Why did you do that?!” Twilight shouted to the floating draconequus. “Can’t you see that Moon Struck was upset? That wasn’t very friendly of you to do to her!” She finished, shooting a bolt of magic at him.
“Oh, how feisty we are, Princess Purple,” Discord said as he separated his body in half to dodge the magic.
“Discord! Get down here now!” Twilight yelled.
Moon Struck, dripping in codfish oil, looked at her two new friends and began to giggle uncontrollably.
“Moon Struck? Are you… okay?” Twilight questioned her giggling friend.
“See? She gets it!” Discord laughed alongside Moon Struck, floating down beside her.
“Gets what?” Twilight asked, glaring at Discord as he leaned against Moon Struck who had collapsed on the cloud in her fit of giggles.
“Codfish oil!” Discord said with a flourish of his claw, producing the crystal cruet.
“A crystal cruet? Codfish oil?” Twilight asked again, more confusion than glare as she stared at him.
“Would you have preferred I had given her only a tiny glass of water?” Discord smirked as Twilight’s face dawned in comprehension.
“She isn’t sick!” Twilight said, remembering the time years ago when Discord had interrupted her day with Cadence, pretending to be sick so she would take care of him. “And the only water she needs now is the water to wash that stuff out of her mane!”
“Twilight, it’s okay,” Moon Struck managed to say, her giggles finally stopping as she stood up, pushing Discord off her in the process.
“It is?” Twilight stared at her, unsure if her friend had lost her mind.
“Of course it is, Twilight dear,” Discord snickered.
“Discord, hush. And Twilight, yes. He may have been causing his personal brand of havoc, but it helped. The complete randomness of his act of kindness pulled me out before my nightmares pulled me back in,” Moon Struck said, rolling her eyes at the draconequus as he pretended to pout.
“Who said anything about me being kind?” Discord folded his arms as he stuck his tongue out at them.
“You can’t fool me with an act that cheesy,” Moon Struck laughed.
“Oh, cheesy am I?” Discord turned to face her, turning himself into cheese. He then snapped his cheddar claw and Moon Struck turned into a swiss cheese pegasus. “Look who’s cheesy now!”
“I bet I taste delicious on rye,” Moon Struck said before sticking her tongue out at him in return.
“One swiss pony on rye coming up!” Cheddar Discord shouted, snapping his claw again, making two pieces of rye bread appear, sandwiching Moon Struck. “Oh wait! We simply cannot forget the sauerkraut!” Discord snickered with another snap of his claw, sauerkraut appearing on Moon Struck’s back between the slices of bread.
Moon Struck laughed. She laughed and laughed, collapsing against the cloud again, the sauerkraut and bread falling around her. Discord chuckled alongside her, nearly falling on top of one of the pieces of rye.
“This isn’t funny! Moon Struck, Discord, be serious! Everypony else is still out looking for you, Moon Struck.” Twilight stomped her hoof on the cloud, staring at the two cheese creatures, no smile gracing her lips.
“Oh, alright, killjoy,” Discord huffed, standing back up. With a snap of his claw, he and Moon Struck were both back to normal, the bread, sauerkraut, and cheese all now gone. “We were just having a gouda time,” he smirked.
“I happen to a-brie with you there, D.C.,” Moon Struck giggled again.
“D.C.?” Twilight asked, still unhappy with the two playmates.
“Dis. Cord. Discord. D.C.” Moon Struck answered.
“Ooo, I get a nickname too, my little Cuckoo?” Discord practically buzzed with excitement.
“It only seemed fair, after all, since you gave me a new nickname.” Moon Struck smiled up at him as he flittered above the clouds. “Anyways, Twilight. I am sorry for worrying everypony, but Discord was just trying to cheer me up. I don’t see why that is something to get upset over, I mean, we were just having some fun. I don’t remember having as much fun in my whole life as I have had in this past day! I’ve made new friends, found a new home, met my hero, befriended the spirit of chaos, and even got to walk through the dreamscape! I only flew up here because I was so overwhelmed by all the changes that were happening so fast. I am so used to always, always, being alone. This whole day has been strange and wonderful, but it has also been completely terrifying!” Moon Struck rushed out, trying to explain everything she could to Twilight.
“Why would it be terrifying?” Twilight asked, confusion and concern replacing the eye-roll she was giving Discord as he juggled blocks of cheese he seemed to have pulled from orange and yellow fireworks that had exploded above them. “Discord, would you please stop all those fireworks? The noise is giving me a headache already,” Twilight asked him, trying not to snap.
“Just trying to make our presence a little more obvious,” Discord said, snapping his paw and ending the fireworks show. The red arrow remained above them, though, bright and glowing.
“Twilight, have you ever just been thrown into a situation where you didn’t know what was going on, didn’t know what would happen, and it happened so fast that you couldn’t even understand it until more things happened, changing it even further?” Moon Struck said, so softly, Twilight could barely hear her.
“Well… there have been a lot of occasions where things happened that I didn’t have control over and didn’t know what was going on until much further down the line. One day I woke up and all my friends had the wrong cutie mark! Another day, the sun and moon were both up and the Everfree Forest was attacking! Then there was the first day I was sent to Ponyville. Princess Celestia told me I had to come check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and then Nightmare Moon appeared and Princess Celestia was gone!” Twilight answered, pacing back and forth as she listed off different events from her life where changes she wasn’t used to and didn’t know how to deal with immediately occurred.
“Alright, now think of how you felt during each of those instances. Were you scared, did you panic? Did it ever feel like things were happening too fast? Did you feel like you were losing control?” Moon Struck asked, her voice a quiet plea.
“Well… no. I mean, yes I was a little scared and I did panic some. But Spike and the girls were beside me for it all. They helped me to defeat Nightmare Moon and bring back Princess Luna, they helped me to restore the Tree of Harmony, and together we helped each other so that I could return to them their rightful cutie marks. They were with me through everything, they helped me overcome it all. So I didn’t have to be too scared, because the changes were faced by all of us together using our friendship and our elements.” Twilight replied, smiling as she thought back to all the things that her friends helped her through and all the things that helped her to grow.
“Now, imagine if you had to do everything alone. Nopony else, no friends. Not even Spike. Just you, by yourself, and all those events happening at the exact same time.” Moon Struck inched closer to Twilight, her face unexpectedly grim.
Twilight stepped back, the idea catching her off guard. She sat down on the cloud and pondered over having to do everything, all of it, alone. “I suppose I don’t know what I would do then. I would probably be confused, and terrified. I don’t know if I would have the strength to battle all those problems alone much less piled together if I didn’t have my friends there to support me through it all and give me the strength to continue forward. It would be like before we reformed Discord, when he almost won. I would… give up.” She answered honestly.
“That feeling of being alone, wanting to give up, was pretty much my everyday before coming to Ponyville and meeting everypony else. Everything happened so fast, it was so overwhelming, I panicked. I had to escape so I could breathe again. I didn’t want to hurt anypony’s feelings by saying I couldn’t handle being around them all, but it felt like I was suffocating at the Gala. I had to get out to somewhere I could recognize. Being in the night sky, in the clouds and the comfort of the Moon’s light, it calmed me. Helped me relax and breathe again. I didn’t think I would fall asleep up here, but all the tension and fear left my body, and the next thing I know, well, you get the picture.” Moon Struck said, tucking her hooves beneath herself as she lay down on the cloud, resting her chin against the white fluff.
“I didn’t know. Why didn’t you just tell us? We could have gotten you a room, or I could have talked with Princess Luna and maybe you could have accompanied her with her nightly duties. She may have appreciated the company, and it might have been easier for you if you didn’t have a whole crowd of ponies surrounding you.” Twilight stood and walked over to Moon Struck, placing a hoof on top of her head in a calming, gentle gesture. “Which reminds me, you said you met Princess Luna in your dream and she pulled you into the dreamscape. Why did she enter your dream in the first place?”
“I… was having a nightmare. I was dreaming about all the ways I had messed up, how I had been hurting everypony’s feelings since I arrived, and I was afraid. I know you all have been very forgiving, but the fear is still there in my heart, eating at the back of my mind like a termite. So, Princess Luna rescued me from the nightmare and the darkness my heart was harboring. She pulled me into the dreamscape to help show me that I wasn’t the only one who was afraid. I wasn’t the only one being chased by their own darkness. It helped some, but it is a fight I will have to continue on my own,” Moon Struck sighed.
Twilight looked upon her new friend, comprehension and understanding now reaching her face. “Everypony does face darkness and fear in their hearts. It affects everypony differently, and everypony fights it differently. Not everypony succeeds either. Some fall to the persuasion of the darkness, Princess Luna is no exception to that. I am no exception to that. The only thing we can do is look to our friends to find the strength to fight back. You have us now. Apple Jack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and myself. We are your friends, we will be your strength, so don’t hesitate to find us when you need help.” Twilight said, offering her hoof to Moon Struck. Moon Struck accepted the outstretched hoof and stood.
“Hey, don’t forget about me! I’m your friend too, Cuckoo!” Discord shouted, not wanting to be left out of the conversation any longer.
“I could never forget you Discord,” Moon Struck said, a slight smile creeping back onto her face.
“I should think not, somepony as amazing as I am would be hard to forget. But you can’t go forgetting we are friends now either. I don’t give that honor to just anypony, you know!” Discord harrumphed as he floated past into a cotton candy cloud. He pulled himself free from the sticky mess covered from the top of his antler to the fluff of his tail in pink cotton candy. “Oh dear.”
“You… you look like a pink cotton candy sheep!” Moon Struck began to laugh again. This time even Twilight couldn’t hide her smile at the pink, fluffy draconequus.
“Ha ha, let’s see how you two like it,” Discord grinned that trickster grin of his, before snapping his claw. A pink cloud of cotton candy zipped past him and landed on top of Twilight and Moon Struck. Another snap of his claw and it lifted back up off them, and zoomed off to the other clouds. Twilight and Moon Struck were both now covered head to hoof in the pink, sticky mess. “Pink fluffy ponies prancing on white clouds!” Discord held his pink candy-covered stomach as he laughed, pointing at the two cotton candy ponies.
Moon Struck looked at Twilight and laughed more; Twilight glared at Discord but she was unable to hold her laugh back anymore as she looked at Moon Struck. The three of them laughed until they could barely breathe, crying from the joy. When they all finally calmed down Discord clapped his paw and claw together making the whole mess of cotton candy disappear, including the surrounding pink clouds.
“As much fun as this little world of chaos we are creating is, it appears we have guests,” Discord said, floating beside Twilight and Moon Struck, throwing glitter and confetti into the air around them.
Moon Struck and Twilight looked around for the supposed guests. As Moon Struck turned to look below the clouds, a rainbow twisted through the air, barely missing her. Rainbow Dash landed softly on the cloud between Twilight and Moon Struck, wings out as she struck a pose.
“Finally found you! I was following Pinkie Pie, but she just kept leading us to bakeries. We ended up in Joe’s Donut shop a half dozen times so she could lick the frosting off the walls! I can kind of see why he doesn’t want Maud and the CMC in there anymore,” she said, stretching her wings. “I don’t have any frosting on me, right? It was falling from the ceiling like rain.”
“Ooo, frosting rain! That’s a good one; I’ll have to try it later,” Discord grinned.
“Don’t even think about it,” Twilight stared at Discord.
“What? I wasn’t going to try anything, why I’m practically a saint!” Discord chimed, a halo appearing above his head, a harp in his claw.
“Wait, Joe is still up cleaning? It’s almost sunrise though, how bad of a mess could one mare and three fillies make?” Moon Struck asked Rainbow as Discord tossed his harp back into nothingness while Twilight continued to stare at him.
“You don’t want to know,” Rainbow replied, thinking back to the shop covered completely in frosting and sprinkles. She even could have sworn she saw a few gems glittering as they stuck out of the mess. “Anyways, Moon, where the heck have you been hiding? We were looking all over for you when you didn’t come back!”
“I fell asleep up here.” Moon Struck answered simply.
“Huh. Well, this is a really nice cloud, I can see why you would want to nap here,” Rainbow smiled, poking the cloud with her hoof.
“Are y’all gonna come down here or what?” A voice yelled from below the clouds.
“C’mon. Apple Jack and the others are waiting for us on the ground.” Rainbow said before taking off and racing back towards the earth.
“Discord, you coming?” Moon Struck asked as she turned to the draconequus, now fully garbed in white robes to match his golden halo that was glowing above his head. Twilight was still eyeing him until Rainbow took off from the cloud.
“Oh of course, my little Cuckoo, of course. Would you like me to lend you a claw?” Discord snickered, popping his claw off and offering it to Moon Struck in his outstretched paw.
“Why thank you, I always wanted a sentient back scratcher!” Moon Struck chimed with glee as she took his claw before he could react and started to scratch her back right between the wings. “Yep, that is the spot. So hard to reach right there.”
“I’ll take that back now, if you don’t mind,” Discord said, snapping his paw and making his claw reappear at the end of his arm. “Well, ladies; shall we?” He grabbed Twilight and Moon Struck and jumped from the cloud. As they began plummeting towards the earth, Discord shouted, “isn’t this great?”
Twilight screamed, fear overtaking her at the sudden descent towards the ground; but Moon Struck yelled in joy and delight as the wind rushed through her mane.
“Discord!” A voice below called up to them, causing Discord to slow the fall to a graceful and soft landing in front of Fluttershy.
“We were just having a little fun, I promise Fluttershy,” Discord frowned as he set Twilight and Moon Struck down. “No pony was going to get hurt,” he finished, hanging his head as he looked at Fluttershy with puppy dog eyes.
“Next time, remember to ask before grabbing somepony and jumping, alright?” Fluttershy said as she grabbed his paw. “Otherwise, you could hurt or scare somepony. Now, I think you owe them an apology,” she finished, giving Discord a look that made him scowl before he turned and faced Twilight and Moon Struck.
“I’m...sssssorry. For scaring you.” Discord grumbled, making his apology sound like a low hiss when he said sorry.
“There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Fluttershy smiled as she pat Discord on the back.
“I accept your apology, but if there’s a next time,” Twilight warned him.
“I promise I will not jump off a cloud with you in my arms without asking first next time,” Discord said, placing his paw over his chest as he spoke. “Now, a mountain on the other hand…”
“Discord,” Fluttershy gave him the look again.
“Kidding, only kidding Fluttershy my dear,” Discord replied quickly.
“I thought it was kind of fun, I mean, we have wings so what’s the harm?” Moon Struck answered.
“Of course my little Cuckoo would enjoy my pranks,” Discord snickered.
“Who’s Cuckoo?” Spike asked, staring from Discord to Moon Struck, although he couldn’t help but also glance at Pinkie Pie who had pink and green frosting dangling from her mane as she tried to lick it off.
“Moon Struck, of course!” Discord responded, pulling a small cuckoo clock bird out of nothingness and squeezing it. It made a loud squawking noise that sounded slightly like the words moon and struck.
“So, what the hay were y’all doin’ up there, anyhow?” Apple Jack asked, ignoring Discord’s antics.
“Moon here was napping apparently,” Rainbow replied first.
“Well, actually I had woken up just a little bit before Discord found me, but yeah, I had… fallen asleep up on the cloud. I’m sorry for worrying everypony.” Moon Struck answered.
“Well shucks, sugarbait, if ya were tired, why didn’t ya say so? I’m sure the princesses would’ve been more than happy to get ya a bed in a quiet room and all,” Apple Jack gave Moon Struck a very caring look.
“I didn’t realize how tired I was until after I had fallen asleep, actually. I had flown up there to just get some fresh air.” Moon Struck said, looking at her hooves as if she were a filly with her hoof caught in the cookie jar.
“I think It’s about time we all head home. It’s been a long night for everypony, and we could all use some sleep.” Twilight said, cutting any other conversation off.
“Yes, I do believe it is time to go home and get some beauty sleep. If I don’t, I will have to spend the whole day at the spa to recover!” Rarity sighed. “Although, nopony can have too much time at the spa I always say.”
“I think you look beautiful no matter what!” Spike complemented Rarity, a dreamy look on his face.
“Aw, thank you Spikey Wikey!” Rarity cooed at him.
“Discord, would you send us all to our homes please? You can stop by my cottage for a cup of tea before you head home as well,” Fluttershy asked Discord who was contemplating all the things he could jump off from while holding Twilight, just to see her reaction.
“Oh, yes, of course Fluttershy. Anything for my favorite pony after all!” Discord answered, snapping his claw. Everything spun for a few moments as the sudden movement through space yanked everypony from near Canterlot castle all the way back to Ponyville and their respective homes. Moon Struck found herself standing beside Twilight and Spike, at her castle of friendship.
“I guess… I can sleep here?” Moon Struck asked Twilight, staring up at the huge crystal castle.
“Of course, we have plenty of guest rooms after all,” Twilight answered nonchalantly, having already expected Discord to teleport Moon Struck there as well. “Come on, Spike can lead you to your room and you can finish getting some sleep. And Spike, after you show Moon Struck to her room, I need your help sending a letter to the Princess to let her know we found Moon Struck and got home safely.”
“Sure, Twilight. There is this really beautiful guest room that Rarity decorated that I think you will really love, too, Moon Struck,” Spike said enthusiastically as he led Moon Struck up the steps and inside the castle. “It’s right down this hallway, not too far from the main entrance, and not too far from the kitchen either,” he chuckled, licking his lips.
As Moon Struck followed Spike down the hall towards her temporary shelter, she gave one last look to Twilight who was walking the other way. She felt bad making all her friends worry over her, worse for making them have to go out and find her as well. If she had just stayed at the Gala, stayed at the party surrounded by everypony, no one would have had to worry. But, they may have worried more if she had started panicking. She didn’t want her friends to see the panic take her. She didn’t want them to think she was some kind of freak.
“Here you go, isn’t it wonderful?” Spike had led her into a large room with a canopied bed, and a large set of windows that looked out into the field behind the castle. Moonlight streamed in through the open curtains, casting the room in a soft white light. The room seemed to hold a theme of shades of purple and blue; the curtains were the deep sapphire of Twilight’s mane and tail, with the curtain pull ropes being a twist of vibrant purple and dark pink like the streaks in her mane and tail. The bed canopy was a light lavender color, same as the blankets and pillows. The floor was carpeted with a plush, dark purple, fluffy carpet that Moon Struck’s hooves sank into in warmth of softness. There were paintings and pictures of flowers on the walls, a mahogany dresser on one wall, matching mahogany vanity nearby. There were nightstands on either side of the bed, a lantern sitting on one. A small bookshelf sat in a corner, with a small table next to it, a book sitting atop it already. Moon Struck slowly walked to the little table and examined the book. Tales of the Moon read the title. She placed one hoof on the cover, gently caressing the book like a long lost friend. “I had help from Rainbow Dash to get your things from the cloud you had them sitting on while you napped at Rarity’s house. Twilight thought you would prefer that they were in your room when we got back. That way you wouldn’t worry,” Spike said as he watched her look around the room, finding different small objects from her life of traveling.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry about it, that’s what friends do, am I right or am I right?” He beamed at her. “I’m gonna go to the kitchen to get a snack, then I will be with Twilight to send the letter to Princess Celestia; so if you need anything just give a shout, okay?” He finished. When Moon Struck gave him a small nod of understanding, he took his leave and closed the door behind himself.
Moon Struck walked over to the vanity and found her small pet rock, Stardust. As she picked up Stardust, she then walked to the window, placing her rock friend on the sill while looking up into the night sky.
“They barely know me, and yet… they are so kind to me. They have been so accepting and forgiving. How could I deserve such kindness? Why do I deserve their friendship when they are so amazing, and I am so… nothing?” she asked to the moon that shone above. No answers came from the quiet sky before her. With a soft sigh, she walked to the bed, leaving Stardust in the window to bathe in the light of the loving moon that shone down. As she lay in the bed, pulling the covers up around herself, she looked at her little rock in the window. She did not feel she deserved to be in the light like her friends or Stardust, neither that of the moon, or that of the sun. The shadows and the darkness is where she felt herself to belong, where she had always belonged. Maybe the shadows in her nightmares were right, she thought to herself. “No!” She shouted into the darkness; she would not let herself become captured by her fear and self-loathing.
As the panic set in, though, her breathing quickened and she cried. She squeezed her wings around herself, her hooves crossed over her chest, cradling her heart and her fear as she tried to keep calm. Curling into a ball, she rocked herself as she had done many times in the past, repeating the same words to herself she always did. “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault…” her whispers fell into the silence around her. Tears streamed down her face into her mane, the covers twisted around her like a cocoon. As she rocked and whispered to herself, she slowly calmed down; but the fear was still there, a weight in her chest. She hadn’t gone to a hospital for her panic attacks in years, she had learned to control them for the most part. Every now and again though, she would be paralyzed for hours from it, but she had always been far from anypony else. If Twilight saw her like this, what would she say? What would she think?
She stopped her thoughts from trailing that way, she could feel another panic attack trying to set in if she continued thinking that line of thought. Once she was able to unwrap her wings, uncross her hooves, and de-tangle herself from the blankets, she got out of the bed and walked over to the little table. She grabbed her book, the Tales of the Moon and went back to the bed. She lay down, her book in front of her, and opened to a page somewhere in the middle as if by memory. Her hoof knew where to turn, as it always had. The story she opened to was a short story about a little filly who became a star. The little filly was born unable to hear anything. She never got to hear the voices of her mother or father, she had trouble making friends because of hearing. But that meant she never heard the names they called her either. She lived her life with a smile on the outside, but sadness in her heart. She shared her sadness with the night sky and the stars. She had one particular star that she considered her best friend as it shone brightly every night, and she felt the star was shining just for her. She didn’t speak well because of her hearing, her words were mumbled, sometimes incoherent, but she tried her best to let the star know everything. She gained confidence and courage from her star friend so that she could always smile for her parents. Her parents were sad for her, sad that their little girl would never get to hear them say ‘I love you’ or ‘goodnight, sweet dreams my little filly’ but they still said those words to her every day and every night. She learned to read their lips, the movements of their mouths, so that she could respond in turn, but she could see the sadness in her parents’ eyes at her mumbled attempts to speak. She tried harder, practiced her speaking every night to her star. One day, though, she was out practicing her talking in the day to herself to be ready for her conversation with the night star. That morning there had been a terrible storm; ponies everywhere were trying to clean up the branches that had broken off the trees, and were pulling down the now broken branches that the storm had struck with lightning, or that the winds had ripped away at. As the little filly was hopping through the puddles underneath one such tree, a large branch near the top had broken the rest of the way with a loud crack, but she couldn’t hear the noise. Other ponies had shouted at her to watch out, to move or run or something, but she heard none of them.
The branch landed on top of her, crushing her small body.
Her breath came out in a gasp. Her whole body shook with pain. Her eyes were clouding over as her body was racked with burning pain. Some ponies had come over to where she lay, they pulled the branch off her but it did nothing to relieve the pain she felt. She tried to look at her body but found she couldn’t move her head the way she wanted. As she lay there, crying, trying to mumble out words, she barely saw her parents running up the path towards her. She smiled a small smile as they approached, and her final words were able to escape her mouth. She had practiced so hard, she was so happy she could finally say them without mumbling.
“I love you momma, I love you papa,” she whispered with her last breath, closing her eyes and letting the warmth fade from her body. She was free of the life that had been so hard on her, she was free and she could hear! She watched as her parents held her limp body, watched as they cried for their little lost filly. She had used the last of her strength for those clear, beautiful words. She was sad, leaving her parents behind, but she was finally able to hear them too. They said ‘I love you’ over and over to her. She cried over her wonderful, caring parents. In spirit, she hugged them both one last time before she ascended into the sky. She flew past the borders of the sun’s light and joined her friend star in the sky. That night, after her parents had finally gone home, they looked into her little dark room, their sweet filly now gone. On her bed, beneath the pillow, was a small handmade book. The book detailed all her talks with her friend star, along with how to find him in the sky. He shone alone in the night sky, brighter than any other star. Crying more, they walked to her window and sought out her comforting friend star. But, to their surprise, there was a star neither had seen before, right next to her friend star, shining brightly in the night. It was their little filly, they felt it in their hearts. They hadn’t lost their daughter, she had just gone to play out in the night sky with her best friend of the night. She would always, always, be there looking down on them.
Moon Struck’s tears fell silently as she read the story. Of all the stories in her book of fairy tales, this one was her favorite, despite how bittersweet it was. She was impressed by the courage of the little filly, and happy that she could finally hear, but sad because of her passing. The filly had joined her friend in the sky, but the cost seemed so high. Every time Moon Struck read the story, she felt just a little stronger when dealing with her own fears. When she had finished reading the story a few more times, she placed the book on the nightstand beside the bed, then curled into the blankets to sleep. She drifted off into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.
Moon Struck curled deeper into her blankets as the sun’s light started streaming through the window nearest the bed, casting a perfect beam of light straight into her eyes. She rolled over and pulled the pillow over her face to try to block the rays that blinded her still closed eyes, but even so it seemed futile. The sunlight still managed to break her from her dreamless sleep, and she knew it was hopeless to try to continue until the curtains were closed and her room was basked in darkness again. So, as she unwound herself from the blankets and pillows and stepped from the bed, she stretched her wings and yawned before walking to the window that she had been gazing out the night before.
“Good morning, Stardust. Let’s get this too bright, too warm sunlight out of our eyes, shall we?” She softly said to her little rock that was still there on the window sill. In a gentle movement, she lifted her pet rock and brought it over to the nightstand where her book lay as well. After setting Stardust down, she walked back over to the window to close the curtains so she could get back to sleep when a flash of purple caught her eye. She looked around outside for where she saw Twilight flying, which took very little time as she saw Twilight up in the sky next to… a floating castle? Moon Struck thought she might still be dreaming as she watched the purple alicorn dart back and forth around the castle that glistened in the sunlight, colored in blues, silvers, and opalescent whites. It looked like a pearl sunk deep into the ocean at first, but the longer she stared the more she thought it looked instead like the moon in the night sky. As that thought filled her mind though, it seemed as if the castle shimmered again and now looked more like a deep underground lake with quartz stalagmites and stalactites poking around. Shaking her head slightly, she again looked for the princess who was still flitting around the ever-changing castle, with a rather unhappy look upon her face.
“DISCORD! I know you’re in there; get out here and put my castle back together! Now!” Twilight shouted, flitting around the different windows, trying to get inside. But with every window she tried to enter, something would block her. One window just closed with stained glass Moon Struck had been sure wasn’t there before. Another had dark wooden shutters that slammed shut in Twilight’s face. Again, Moon Struck was sure there wasn’t any shutters on the window, but she wasn’t sure of anything with the floating castle anymore. Twilight tried to fly into a window higher up and was repelled instead by a barrage of winged oranges, one of which squirted what looked like strawberry milk at her after being bumped into. Mane dripping, Twilight ground her teeth together then shouted out in frustration. “Discord, stop that!”
“Oh, does precious Princess Twilight not appreciate my handicraft?” Discord asked as he floated lazily out of a lower window where a very pale moonbow river seemed to flow into a pond that Moon Struck definitely knew was not there before. As Discord plopped into the pond, the splash of almost colorless crystalline water landed on the odd bluegrass now surrounding the pond. From the water droplets, small luminous white flowers sprouted and surrounded the pond; then a pony sized dark mahogany bench popped from out of one of the larger flowers, landing perfectly in a slightly shaded spot just close enough to the water that somepony could dip their feet in while relaxing in the shade. As Discord popped up from the water like a strange fountain, spitting the crystalline water around himself in the process, he smirked up at Twilight. “I was asked to make this home, remember? I am working very hard on my little Cuckoo’s home, I will have you know,” he continued to grin as only the Lord of Chaos could.
“Did you have to take pieces of my home apart to do it?!” Twilight flew down to him, landing on the grass but still careful not to crush any of the flowers. “Look what you did! You pulled off a whole wall from the library! You even took the bookshelves and books with it!” She shouted as he changed poses.
He stepped off a marble pedestal that appeared beneath his feet, replaced by an exact replica of himself made of snowflake obsidian, emerald, jasper, garnet, amethyst, and some other mish mash of semi precious gems and stones. The statue Discord replica stood tall on his cloven hoof, his lizard-like foot sticking out behind him. His wings were spread wide behind him as his body curved into a perfect S, his head was looking up into the sky, mouth agape; in his paw he held a bow made of obsidian, the string pulled back by his claw, an arrow notched. From the tip of the arrow, water poured down into the pond, as well as from his deer antler and goat horn. Moon Struck couldn’t help but giggle at the fact that the goat horn was made from blue agate that perfectly matched his actual horn. His serpentine tongue stuck out from his open mouth that looked almost as if the statue were about to sing an opera to the flowers gathered round the pond.
“What in Equestria is that?” Twilight stared at the statue, backing slightly away for fear of whatever prank Discord may be planning with it.
“What does it look like?” Discord huffed, arms crossed.
“A trap,” Twilight answered warily.
“It is a statue for my little Cuckoo to enjoy when she is relaxing by the moon pond I have made for her. It is not a trap; the trap is on the third floor.” Discord snapped his claw and disappeared, appearing again high along the castle wall, construction hat and reflective orange vest on. Blueprints appeared in his paw and claw, spread out as he inspected his work. As he let go of the blueprints, they remained floating and open in the air beside him while he turned and three other Discord’s appeared, all in the same similar construction gear. “You, get inside and head for the second floor. The anti-gravity field is morphing again. Get it fixed so that Cuckoo can test it out later, after she wakes.” Discord pointed to the one on his left who was fanning himself with Twilight’s wings that he had taken without her noticing.
“Hey, give those back!” Twilight shouted as she watched the draconequus clone begin to toss her wings in the air. With an eye roll and snap of his claw, the draconequus returned her wings to her. She inspected them, making sure every feather was in its right place before scowling at the clone. With a raspberry to Twilight, the clone walked through the castle wall with a loud pop and disappeared.
“You and you, I need you both to get started on the tea room and the chocolate pool. Don’t forget the extra surprise that goes with the chocolate pool either, and use the new tea set for the tea room. And the new pillows, we had those specially made so make sure they are put in the right spot!” Discord gestured to the remaining clones who both saluted before disappearing with the sound of a whip cracking.
“Tea room? Chocolate pool? Did Moon Struck really ask for those things?” Twilight questioned the draconequus as he continued looking over the blueprints.
“The tea room was my idea; the chocolate pool being rained into from cotton candy clouds was her request. Anyways, her and I have already agreed that I get to let my chaos reign freely in her home, so long as I put in the few things she asked for. Although we did make the amendment of only her bedroom being enveloped in nighttime. Which I have another very special surprise for her in that, even though I had to ask Lulu a favor.” Discord said, still examining the blueprints.
“You? Ask a favor? Who are you and what have you done with Discord? You never ask for favors without expecting something in return!” Twilight was puzzled by Discord’s actions. She had never seen the draconequus do something so kind for anyone other than Fluttershy. Sure, he seemed to get along well enough with everypony now. He would race clouds with Rainbow Dash, he had a long standing prank war with Pinkie Pie, he even liked to discuss fashion with Rarity. There was one time where he had helped pick and sort apples during cider season, but that was in exchange for a full barrel of cider; so his kindness, although appreciated, had still come at a cost. He seemed to be creating this chaos home for Moon Struck out of the goodness of his heart! Twilight couldn’t help but be baffled.
“For your information, Princess, although I am reformed, I so rarely have this much freedom with my magic. Especially for somepony who appreciates it. Fluttershy and I have our tea parties, sometimes at my home, sometimes at hers, and even with her appreciating my chaos and creativity, I am not able to fully extend it outside my domain. I am creating a thing of chaos that was specifically asked of me. Not you, not Sunspot, and not Lulu. Me, and only me! Ponies used to run in fear at my magic and my appearance. Cuckoo sought me out; she did not shy from my face, she came to me in joy for my powers and my being. She welcomes the strange and out of place as ponies such as yourself would call it. Staircase to nowhere? No problem! Cotton candy clouds and pools of chocolate milk to swim in? Great! A room without gravity, where everything floats and moves about at will? Perfectly welcome! A life sized Discord body pillow? Wonderful!” Discord huffed at Twilight before snapping his paw and making the blueprints disappear.
“Did you really add a life sized pillow of you? That is kind of awesome, but shouldn’t Fluttershy have one first?” Moon Struck had opened her window and flown out into the strange happenings of her home being built.
“Of course Fluttershy already has one… Moon Struck?! What are you doing up so early?” Discord was startled by the pegasus who had flown up behind him, causing him to fall a few feet downwards so he had to look up at her.
“Sunlight got in my eyes. When I went to close the curtains, I saw Twilight flying around and then saw the floating castle. I guess this is my new home?” Moon Struck smiled as she inspected the walls up close before gliding down to the pale pond and statue of Discord. Landing softly, she trotted over to the bench and lay on it, relaxing in the shade as a gentle breeze wafted across her back.
“Well yes, but it’s not finished yet so you can’t go inside. You should probably go back to your room in Princess Tweedle Dee’s castle.” Discord floated next to Moon Struck as he spoke to her, Twilight gliding down beside them and landing in the grass around the pond.
“Put Twilight’s castle back together please,” Moon Struck sighed happily, the bench surprisingly comfortable.
“Oh alright already, I’ll fix her precious castle,” Discord huffed again, crossing his arms and clapping his feet together. With a flash of purple light, the wall that was missing on Twilight’s castle reappeared far below them. “Happy now?”
“Thank you D.C. for fixing it. How about you also apologize for playing the prank on Twilight now, too?” Moon Struck gave Discord a lazy grin.
“I already fixed the castle, what more do you want from me?” Discord pouted.
“Well I supposed I could go talk to Fluttershy about your little prank while discussing when to have my welcome home party after you get my home built. That is, if you still don’t want to apologize,” Moon Struck chuckled softly, knowing she had trapped the draconequus.
“Ugh, you are a tricky pony, Cuckoo. I might have to talk Pinkie into teaming up for a prank,” Discord said, eyeing the white pegasus as she spread her wings out and dipped a single hoof into the pond. “Alright, alright, you win. I… I am sorr… ugh I’m sorry!” Discord rushed the words as he stumbled over the apology.
“Thank you, Discord. Both for the apology and for putting my castle back together. Now, I didn’t get a chance to say this, but I do think the home you are building looks magnificent on the outside. I am curious about the inside. And what stone it’s made out of. This isn’t any stone I am familiar with,” Twilight said as she walked over to the nearby wall, tapping her hoof against it.
“Well of course you wouldn’t recognize it, pandemonia is a stone that can only be mined in my dimension of chaos and disharmony. It’s an ever-changing mineral that is as hard as diamonds and reacts best to chaos magic. Now, I will let you know that it can… absorb unicorn magic and release it again in rather spontaneous bursts of chaos, so be careful. it’s usually harmless, but Ponidora’s Box was made from pandemonia crystals for a reason. I have already used my chaos to put a protective coat on it, so it shouldn’t do anything unless told by myself, but better safe than attacked by a jelly flood or a pony-eating pudding.” Discord appeared next to Twilight, leaning against the wall near where her hoof was still prodding.
“If it’s so dangerous, then why are you using it for building materials?!” Twilight growled at him.
“It happens to be a very pretty stone, and although it can have some strange effects when toyed with by unicorn magic, it is also a highly protective stone. I told you, I have enchanted it with my chaos magic, so all it should do is shield anyone inside it’s walls from danger and shift its appearance every now and again.” As he finished speaking, the walls changed to a crystalline ice blue. It made Twilight shiver from cold just looking at it.
“It’s fine, Twilight. I like it; I think it is pretty and if Discord said he enchanted it only for protection and appearance, then I will believe him. I think he can be trusted to not let anypony come to real danger. He’s your friend too, right? You should have more trust in your friend,” Moon Struck opened her closing eyes slightly to glance at the purple alicorn.
“As well you should have last night, you mean? We are all your friends and you didn’t trust us to help you,” Twilight replied, slightly more callous than she had intended. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Twilight continued, “sorry Moon Struck. I shouldn’t be getting upset with you. The table has just been making requests to send everypony everywhere to solve friendship problems, and I haven’t really been getting any sleep because of it. You’re right, though. Discord is my friend, and I should have more faith in his abilities.” Turning to look at Discord, Twilight sucked in a light breath, “Discord, I am sorry for taking my frustration out on you as well, and for not trusting you with the task given to you. I am sure the home you are building will be wonderful. Although, I really would like a small piece of pandemonia to study, if you don’t mind. And a safe place to study it. I will probably ask Maud to come along to examine it as well.” Twilight started to muse to herself, becoming distracted with the possible new subject of study.
“I suppose I could supply you with a small piece of raw pandemonia, but you could only safely study it in my realm. Oh I know! You can join Fluttershy and me for our next tea party! That way you will be safe to research to your hooves content, and Flutters and I will get a show with our tea. Even better, everypony can join in; we can use it to celebrate Cuckoo's new home!” Discord clapped in glee.
“Well, studying it in its natural environment would be best.” Twilight mused. “Alright, I will talk to Maud and the girls so we can discuss having a party for Moon Struck’s new home. We will meet here on Tuesday afternoon once you have this place finished so you can bring us to your dimension Discord. I will need to gather everything for researching the pandemonia. So much to do, so little time.” Twilight flew off lost in thought about the preparations she needed to take care of before the party.
“I can't wait to see your home Discord,” Moon Struck smiled as she sat up on the bench.
“It is rather magnificent if I do say so myself,” he replied.
“A list! I can make a list!” Discord and Moon Struck were startled by Twilight’s shout right before she disappeared into her castle.
Discord and Moon Struck burst into a fit of giggles. “Only Twilight,” Moon Struck managed to gasp out. As she tried to pull herself together, she fell off the bench into the shimmering fountain pond, splashing Discord as he laughed.
“Hey! If it's a splash fight you want, then it's a splash fight you will get!” Discord smirked as he snapped his claw and the statue suddenly turned around, spraying Moon Struck with water.
“Oh, it is so on,” she laughed, bolting into the air, her wings carrying a spray of water to cover Discord and his statuesque companion. Discord in turn responded by pulling a large cannon from a nearby passing cotton candy cloud and blasting shots of water as Moon Struck zoomed around, attempting to duck back to the fountain pond so she could spray Discord again. Just as Moon Struck lifted back into the air, a stray ball of water barely missed her flank and instead landed square on Rainbow Dash as she flew up to inspect the newly created castle.
“Hey, what gives?” Rainbow Dash asked as she shook the water from her wings.
“Oops, sorry Rainbow. Didn't see you fly up,” Moon Struck said, landing on the blue grass beside the bench. “I was just about to win too,” she mumbled, glancing at Discord.
“Au contraire my little Cuckoo, I had you outnumbered, so I was guaranteed the win.” Discord answered, pulling a giant fan from behind his back. He turned it on and a gust of wind blew all the water off him, landing on Moon Struck instead. “See? My win,” he smirked.
“You may have won the battle, for now, but I will win the war.” Moon Struck replied, sticking her tongue out at him.
“So what is this thing?” Rainbow Dash asked, staring at the ever changing castle walls as she landed on the grass next to Moon Struck. “And what the hay is this grass? Its blue,” she poked the ground questioningly.
“It's the home Discord is making for me, isn't it just amazing!” Moon Struck squealed with delight. “And I don't know how he did it, but this is actually a special bluegrass that grows further north, we had it everywhere I grew up. Papa would spread the seeds on the hillsides to prevent mudslides during the rainy season. This grass has strong roots and birds love using it for building nests too. Back home we just call it big bluegrass.” Moon Struck smiled, brushing her hoof along the grass bunches, reminiscing her childhood. “Actually, why did you choose this grass Discord?” She asked, staring up at the Draconequus as he floated in circles around the statue, now returned to its pedestal.
“I asked Lulu a favor, just some snippets of information about you from your dreams that I could use to make your home more homey. The rest is a surprise though, you won't see anything of your house until I finish working my chaos.” Discord answered, scooping cotton candy clouds up and reshaping them into strange animals. “look, a platypus,” he chuckled, tossing a platypus shaped cotton candy cloud towards Moon Struck.
Moon Struck reached a hoof out to the sweet cloud creature to pat its fluffy head before letting it float past to circle the sky around her home. “Will I get to tour my home on Tuesday with everypony else, or will I get a special tour by myself first?” Moon Struck asked, watching Discord’s cotton candy cloud zoo zip around her.
“It wouldn't be as fun alone, now would it? We shall open the party with a grand tour of my craftsmanship before heading over to my dimension for tea and sandwiches.” Discord gleefully clapped.
“Wait, tea? In your home? What exactly is going on,” Rainbow Dash asked Moon Struck, confused and almost concerned as she glanced at Discord.
“I guess you haven't seen Twilight yet. We are going to have a housewarming party for me at Discord's house on Tuesday to celebrate the completion of my new home.” Moon Struck said, smiling at the idea of getting to go to the realm of chaos.
“Twilight agreed to that?” Rainbow Dash asked, suspicious of Discord's intentions.
“It was partly her idea, actually. I can't wait to see Discord's home, but I am even more excited to see mine. It looks so beautifully chaotic from the outside, I really want to know what wonders await me inside.” Moon Struck sighed happily, staring at her home. She walked back to the bench and lay down, relaxing as she closed her eyes. “Actually, I think,” she yawned, “that I am going to take a short nap here. This bench is just,” she yawned again, “so soft.
Rainbow Dash was about to respond, but Moon Struck’s gentle breathing as she fell back to sleep so quickly stopped her from saying anything. With a shrug and a smile, Rainbow Dash turned to Discord. “You better not be playing any tricks on her,” she stared at him, unblinking.
“Who, me? I am completely innocent,” Discord said, a halo appearing above his head. “Any tricks here are for my little Cuckoo's enjoyment, nothing less, and nothing more.”
Rainbow Dash gave Discord one last glance before taking flight down to Twilight’s castle below.
As Moon Struck slept by her little fountain pond, Discord magicked more clones to help continue completing her castle of chaos.
