> A hidden friendship > by General Sparky > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few weeks have passed since Derpy has settled in Equestria. She has gained a job as an mailmare and is temporary on her maternity leave. Derpy placed a hoof over her stomach and rubbed it. It would be anytime now that Dinky would come into this world, learn its fascination and magic. Derpy stared out of the window and look up to see the beautiful night sky. The stars blinking in an synchronised manner. It was time. Derpy smiled. Derpy switched off the lights and shuttered all the windows and doors. After making sure that her house was in complete darkness, she muttered a spell. “To the twinkling stars above, enough of deceit and deception, let me be true and authentic with the light of the Unicorn.” Derpy felt magic go through her and radiated out of her body and into her new form. Wings sprint from the back and a large horn grew from her forehead. Her legs elongated and her neck stretched as high as a giraffe. Her coat of grey was because lighter and lighter, turning into the pure white of the Unicorn. Her tummy flattened to hide the fact that she was pregnant. You see, Derpy was never an clumsy grey Pegasus that everyone loves. She was in fact an Unicorn from Earth. Throughout her life, she has taken on many forms and many names. But the one that stuck (to her) was the name: Goldhearts. She revealed in her true form and bend her neck low. She mentally cursed herself at how tall she was as compared to the common folk. If she stood next to Celestia, she might be able to make her look like a child in comparison. Whether or not that is a compliment or criticism is up for debate. Derpy us- (Actually I prefer you using Goldhearts from now on) :Why though: (It is my real name, that’s why. Derpy is just the name of my disguise and sounds so negative.) :But it will get the readers confused: (So what? Do it OR ESLE.) :Ok fine: Der- I mean- Goldhearts used her horn and cast a normalcy spell on herself. That way, no pony would feel that she is out of place and teh spell makes her invisible to other ponies as an added layer of protection. Now that she has casted the spell, she proceeded to saddle herself, making sure that the straps over her tummy area hung looses so as to not endanger the baby. She was saddled so many times in the human world that she just made it part of her routine. It was quite a nice escape from the constant stares that everypony was giving her every time she screwed up. She placed the rein over her hand and left it hanging. Even though there was no one who is going to be on top of her back, it was something that was drilled to her that she does so without thinking. Now all saddled up and looking like a horse on Earth, she used her magic to open the door and went out into the cool, sterile streets of Ponyville. In the daytime, the streets of Ponyville would be bustling with activity. However, as the sun set across the horizon, the activities on the streets dwindled down until what’s left was an empty street. Save for the lamp posts installed at a fixed distance from each other, the street was dark and that any pony which dared to walk alone in near perfect darkness was considered a brave act. Goldhearts was happy that ponies was generally not active during the night as it would mean that there was lesser chance for any pony to notice her. In addition, the wide walking space provided gave her an more enjoyable walk due to her large stature. It also means that she could pretty much trot without knocking into any pony. During her first few days in Ponyville, she depended on a physical map to get around. Now, she has memorised the map of the area and know how to get to various locations around Ponyville at the drop of a hat. Her walks usually take her around the perimeter of Ponyville’s borders. But today, she thought she might try something different. She contemplated on it for a long while but decided to venture into the Everfree forest tonight. For the average ponies, it may sound ridiculous and foolish to go into the Everfree, especially during the night. But Goldhearts was not the average pony. Goldhearts was a Unicorn. She has a variety of spells to keep creatures in the Everfree at bay. One of the spell she has in her arsenal is one capable of getting any creature to submit to her, as long as she wants. Of course, such spells are kept only when things turn south and that she is in a very dangerous situation. Goldhearts walked towards the Everfree, her eyes darting left and right to ensure that nothing in the Everfree would surprise her. Goldhearts trudged along the Everfree, making sure to stick to the concrete path. She took in the sights around her. The trees stood tall, its branches bending and twisting around each other, giving it a creepy vibe. The leaves create a great foliage, covering the ground below with large shadows. The path seem to stretch on endlessly. The clouds above move slowly across the night sky. This gives an impression that the forest is haunted and scary. Derpy smiled. She started to let down her guard and walked through the forest. The Everfree forest bare a large resemblance to Earth. The soft grass, the tall trees, the darkness and calm of the night. It was perfect by her standards. She moved forward without a care and slowly explored the forest. As she advanced, an idea popped into her head. She went to the nearest tree and stand in front of the tree. She lowered her head slightly and point her horn at the tree and lightly scratched it. She proceeded to use her horn and carve something in the tree trunks. While she was carving, a high pitch whistle sounded in the air, followed by an loud explosion. Instantly, she turned behind and made her horn glow bright gold. Using her sense of hearing and based on her training, she detected where the sound was coming from. It was coming from the south west of the forest. From the sounds of it, a creature was fighting with another creature. She spread out her wings and took to the skies. From her birdeye’s point of view, she could see that a -no- two creatures was firing plasma bolts at an advancing army of timber wolves. ‘They are under attack, I need to go save them.’ Goldhearts thought. ‘Remember your training’ she muttered to herself. She flapped her wings and started to dive slowly, her horn glowing dark orange. ‘200ft’ Her wings started to fold as she got nearer to the ground. ‘100ft’ Her hooves spread out in front of her, getting ready to land. ‘50ft, 3,2,1,Fire!’ Her horn shot out a dark orange line on the ground, separating the timber wolves and the creatures under attack. She landed in front of the creatures. She glanced briefly at them and identified them to be dragons. She looked at the timber wolves and saw their hunger. “STOP IT!” She shouted at the of her lungs. The dragons gave a nasty stare at her while the timber wolves stopped their advance. “I don’t care what happened or who attacks who first. I want both of you to stand down!” Goldhearts warned. Both sides seem to understand her and started to back away from each other. “I just wanted a peaceful stroll and you two have to ruin it by fighting in the dead of night!” She lamented, her eyes filled with anger. Goldhearts took a deep breath and lowered her volume. Her eyes dimmed and her horn stopped glowing. “Why are you two fighting? Let’s start with you timberwolves, why did you advance on these two dragons?” She asks in a neutral tone like a school teacher who caught her students fighting in the playground. It was made clear to both parties that she was in charge for now. “I’m sorry, Miss. We have been starving for days now, we didn’t have anything to eat. The other pack challenged our leader and won, leaving us without a proper hunting ground.” The timber wolves explained, the dragons hear it as gibberish while Goldhearts perfectly understood them. “Okay. What about you, dragons?” Goldhearts asked. “We were looking for someone and the wolves started to charge at us from nowhere! We fired our plasma bolts in self defence, Miss.” The night fury exclaimed clearly still agitated from the event. Similarly, the timberwolves hear it as the dragons purring while Goldhearts understood it. (It was one of the perks of a Unicorn after all) Goldhearts took in the situation and thought of a compromise. “Timberwolves, I am sorry to hear that. How about this? I will give you something to eat on the condition that you leave these dragons alone.” The timberwolves nodded frantically. “You are magical creatures right? I know the perfect thing for you.” Goldhearts said and casted a spell. A mountain of magic-induced apples appeared in the space between the Timberwolves and Goldhearts. “Go ahead and eat to your fill.” The timberwolves did not wait and charged at the mountain of magic apples, chugging them down their throats at break neck speeds. In a short amount of time, the mountain of apples shrank and shrank, until what’s left is the grass below. “Delicious, can we have more, Miss Unicorn?” The timberwovles requested politely. Goldhearts cast another spell and another mountain of magic-induced apples appeared. The timberwolves dug in. However, this time they only ate half of it before getting full. The timberwolves lied down and scratch their tummy, now filled with energy. The dragons stared at the remaining pile. The apples smell so good. They could not resist the temptation and asked, “Can we try them, Unicorn?” Goldhearts nodded and they ate the remaining apples. It tasted as good as it smelt. Not long after, the dragons lied down besides the timberwolves, having had their fill. Goldhearts saw that both sides has enjoyed her apples and decided to leave since they were not longer fighting each other. “Since y’all are patched up, I will be taking my leave.” Goldhearts announced. Both parties quickly got back up and started to block her way. “Miss Unicorn, please don’t leave. You have fed us even though you don’t have to and treated us like living beings. Please stay so that we can return the favour.” The timberwolves said and looked up with their cute little eyes. Goldhearts took a step backwards. Whatever she was expecting, that was not it. Before she could so anything, the dragons asked, “Unicorn, don’t leave. You have stopped the timberwolves from eating us and saved our lives. Please don’t leave yet. We still need to repay your kindness.” the night fury said. She wanted so much to fly out right there and then. She shifted her hooves and slide her front left hoof over the ground. She lean her body forward and lowered her head. She was blushing from the compliments that both parties gave her. She thought long and hard, and walked around in circles and finally she reached a solution. “Timberwolves, if you want to repay me, you can do that by not attacking and hunting anymore. Here are some seeds. They respond to your magic. Use these seeds to grow magic-induced apple trees. After that share that with other packs so that the practice of hunting will be stopped and that would be enough.“ Goldhearts said and place a seed in the timberwolves’ claws. The look at each other and said together, “Thank you, Alpha.” With that, they took the seeds and walked back into the forest. “What about us, Unicorn, how do we repay you?” The dragons asked. Goldhearts shrugged her shoulders, she did not know what would satisfy the dragons. As she is thinking, Celestia started to raise the sun. Goldhearts was shocked to see that the sun is about to rise and that she needs to go back home and fast. “Would you two like to follow me home and we can discuss this further?”Goldhearts suggested. The two dragons nodded and said, “No problems, Unicorn.” “Don’t need to address me as Unicorn. Just call me Goldhearts. What’s your name?” Goldhearts asked. “I am Toothless and this is my mate, Luna. ” Toothless said, while pointing a claw at the Light fury. “Nice meeting you two, now let’s fly, I want to get home before Celestia fully raise her sun.” Goldhearts said and spread her wings. She was quickly followed by Toothless and Luna close behind as they flew towards her home. > A pleasant discussion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- They arrived at Goldheart’s house and landed. Goldhearts opened the door and ducked slighlty before entering the house. Toothless and Luna soon followed. Goldhearts closed the door and went into her room. She told the dragons to stay outside first. Goldhearts entered her bedroom and took off her rein and her saddle. She placed the items neatly in her cupboard. She lied on her bed and comptemplated what to do with the dragons. Meanwhile.... Toothless and Luna curled and lied down on the floor. They lay their head on the ground and looked at each other. Luna kickstarted the conversion, Toothless, so what do you make of her? I think she can be trusted, she seems like a nice pony. Maybe we could be her bodyguards while we accomplish our mission. Toothless said telepathically. Are you crazy, Luna? She is very powerful. She doesn’t need our protection! Toothless retorted, recalling their encounter with Goldhearts. She is powerful. Luna acknowledged. Luna tries to recall the fight and see if there is any way that she could help Goldhearts. As she went through the encounter in her head, she realised an important feature. Luna thought hard and remember something abnormal. Her saddle hung loose around her belly. Do you know what this means? Luna asked, delighted at the revelation. That she does not like to wear the straps of her saddle tightly. It may be a slip up. The straps around the belly is the worse. It hurts so much as it is so sensitive. Toothless stated, touching his belly, recalling his flight with his rider. That could be a reason. I think that she hung it loose around her belly as she is about to give birth to a baby. It hung unusually loose. If she really has a foal, we could help her baby sit her foal in the meantime. Luna explained. She lifted her head high and smiled. She lifted her claws and danced around in a circle, excited at what it entails. Toothless stood up and raised a claw and grabbed Luna. Not so fast, Luna. What if she doesn’t have a baby, What do we do? Luna stared at Toothless’ green eyes. ‘He was right. What if she isn’t pregnant?’ She was about to reply when Goldhearts came out of her room. “So what are you planning, Goldhearts?” Toothless asked Goldhearts verbally. “Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt if I told you. Well, I am pregnant. I was thinking that maybe you too could help me babysit her in the meantime.” Goldhearts said, digging her front hoof slightly on the wooden boards on the floor and lifting her for hooves to cover her face. The Night Furies acted surprised. Luna’s maternal instincts kicked and bombarded Goldhearts with questions. “You have a baby? How old is it? Is it a girl or boy? Who is the father? What’s its name?” Goldhearts blushed. “Well the baby has spent 10 months in my belly. Well it is a filly. Her name is Amalthea. The father is a stallion named Pablo and his nickname is Rommel.” “You have it all thought out, Goldhearts.” Toothless said, impressed. “Where’s your mate?” Luna asked. “He is not here, he is serving his duties while I came here. He is a great stallion. I am sure you would like him if you met him.” Goldhearts said, remembering the times she spent with her mate. “Cool. Now, as we wait for the baby to be born, what should we do?” Toothless asked, thinking of activities to do in the meantime. “For now, you can do whatever you want I guess. I need to get to work. Hang on a moment as I transform into my disguise.” Derpy said, realising that the room was getting a teeny bit brighter. “Wait, you have a disguise?” Luna asked, surprised. ‘A mare this powerful and still needs to hide herself in the populace? Preposterous!’ Luna thought. Toothless gasped in shock but a much different reason. ‘She needs disguises, that mean she have something to hide, something she does not want any one to know.’ Toothless thought. “Well, you see I am not a native here.” Goldhearts responded, upon seeing their reaction. “If you are not a native, than how did you get here?” Luna asked, curious about her story. Toothless moved slightly forward, interested to hear her story. “It’s a long story but basically I came from a place call Earth and settled down here in Equestria not long ago.” Goldhearts explained. Goldhearts mentally took note that she needs to complete that story, but not now, she has a job to do. “I am afraid that that will be a story for another time. I have a job to get to. You are free to do whatever you want in the meantime.” Goldhearts said sadly. If she had more time, she would probably go deeply into her past and explained it clearly. After all, if these Night Furies were to take care of her daughter, it’s better for them to know as much about her so that feel easy taking care of her daughter. “If that’s the case, do you mind us exploring the place in the meantime?” Toothless proposed. He was eager for a flight around here and wanted to explore more of this ‘pony-centric’ world. “Sure, why not. But make sure you are not seen, the residents here aren’t as welcoming as me when it comes to other species.” Goldhearts warned. She has seen how residents reacted to unknown species. (Specifically Season 1 episode 9 if you readers are asking) She does not want the same things to happen to them. Furthermore, it’s way before Twilight’s time, the residents might react even worse. Goldhearts started to imagine the ponies lighting up their torches, maybe even call in the royal guard to get rid of them, Berkian style. That’s a scene she would like to see and get a good laugh if it happens. Toothless waved his claws dramatically in front of Goldhearts. “Hello, Toothless to Goldhearts? Are you there?” Goldhearts snapped out of her daydream and went back into the story. “Great. You are back. Getting back to the point I made, we can cloak so no one can see us. See?” Luna said and fired a psalms blast in the air and flew through it. She turned invisible to Goldhearts’ eyes. “Wow, that’s impressive. Well, I would love to find out how you guys do it, but Celestia’s sun is up, I better get going. If you guys need me, my disguised form is called Derpy. See y’all around!” Goldhearts said, as she disguised herself as a grey pony with a golden mane. She grabbed her mail mare uniform and ran to post office. Toothless took a glance at Luna and smiled. He fire his plasma blast and flew into it, making himself turn invisible. With both of them cloaked, they spread their wings and took off, flying high into Ponyville’s brightly lit skies. There was just so much to explore!