After a mysterious force takes over Equestria, Celestia and her younger sister have to search for the mysterious Elements of Harmony—but things become more complicated than the princesses expected when a third companion joins them.
Princess Celestia—or Tia, as her sister prefers to call her—has a fairly simple life. Stay inside as much as possible, avoid making new friends, deal with the politics of Equestria, and try to care for her easily excited little sister. But life becomes slightly more difficult when a mysterious force takes over Equestria. Reluctantly, she's forced to go on a quest to discover the mysterious Elements of Harmony with her sister. Things become more complicated, though, when a third member joins their party.
" 'With her long mane flowing, the princess kissed her lovely prince and bade him good night as he cantered off into the sunset.' " I closed the book of tales with a snap and glanced down at my younger sister, currently nestled in her bed. "That's the end, Luna. Time for sleepy fillies to fall asleep."
"But I'm not sleepy," whined my younger sister, her dark eyes wide open. She tugged on my pink mane, pulling me into bed with her. "I want to hear another story, and then I want to play chase with you, and then I want to—"
"Shhh," I said, shaking my head and trying not to get too irritated with my younger sister. She was barely old enough to know how to sleep through the night without wetting the bed—I should know better than to think that getting mad would fix anything. "Luna, I've already read three stories to you. I don't know if there's anything else I can do to get you to fall asleep." That's it, I coaxed myself. Explain the facts in a positive tone, then explain what she needs to do, and then maybe sing her a lullaby or something. Then you'll have the entire night to study and read. All the parenting books that I had read in an attempt to take care of my little sister had done wonders for my ability to take care of young foals, not that I got much chance to meet other foals.
That's your choice, I reminded myself. You chose to isolate yourself from other fillies and colts. It's for the better, you cotton-headed fool.
I shook all the thoughts out of my mind and focused on Luna, whose lip was trembling. Inwardly, I sighed. What was I supposed to say to a little filly like her? How could I explain that after she watched me raise the moon, she had to sleep? How could I explain to her that sometimes, I just wanted to spend a night alone? "Luna," I said in my most soothing voice, "I don't want you to cry, all right? I'm going to stay here until you fall asleep. I can sing you a lullaby, if you want."
No response from the tiny blue filly lying in the bed. I resisted the urge to tear my mane out. "Listen to me, sister. If you aren't going to cooperate, I can always get one of the royal nurses to come up and care for you while I go do older-filly stuff . . ."
That got a response from my catatonic sister. She sprang out of the bed and leaped onto my bag, wailing, "Nonononononononono!"
I tried to not show my smirk. If there was anything that got Luna upset, it was socializing with our royal staff. As the princesses of Equestria, we had maids that could wait on us whenever we wanted them to, but Luna wasn't used to being around other ponies, so naturally she wouldn't have anypony but me take care of her, and I always felt uncomfortable when other ponies were helping me. I knew that I was supposed to be Equestria's most important political figure, but I wasn't even a mare yet, and most of the time I just felt self-conscious. I'd grow out of it, though. I hoped.
"Tia, I don't want one of the maids to come in and check on me," Luna whined, her voice muffled from her face being shoved in my mane. "I wanna play with you."
"You can't do that, Luna," I told my sister, gently lifting her off of my back using my magic. Tucking her back in, I gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "Do you want me to sing you a lullaby? It'll make it easier for you to fall asleep."
My sister tried to protest, but ended up stifling a yawn instead. "Lullaby," she said, her voice thick with sleepiness. "But you've gotta climb in with me, Tia." I didn't argue. Getting Luna into bed was a big enough challenge as it was, and I wasn't about to complicate things with arguments about how she should be old enough to fall asleep without me sleeping next to her.
Carefully, wrapping one white wing around my sister, climbed into her bed and pulled up the sheet. "Are you comfortable enough, Luna?" I asked my sister in a low voice.
"Sing the lullaby, Tia," came the sleepy response.
"You're getting older, Luna," I told my sister, shaking my head. "You know how to talk well enough so that you don't have to call me by that silly nickname anymore—you're old enough to be calling me Celestia." I paused. No answer. "Luna?" I said again, in a quieter, more gentle, tone. Nothing. Sighing, I began to sing in a gentle, yearning voice. "Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head . . ."
I turned a page in my book, my horn glistening with magic. I stifled a yawn, feeling as though I was Luna, insisting that I wasn't tired. Thank goodness there wasn't anypony to tell me to go to bed—I had to finish studying this new chapter before I went to bed. Although this assignment hadn't been given to me by my tutor, I often finished my assignments early and read ahead in the textbooks.
Snobby princess, learning for fun, said a snide voice in my head. I ignored it, wishing that the cruel voices in my head didn't come up so often when I was studying. It completely broke my concentration.
I heard fast hoofsteps padding up the stairs. Cursing under my breath, I slammed shut the book and turned towards the staircase expectantly. It was probably a maid wondering what I was doing up so late, or a butler wondering how I felt about next morning's breakfast. Why was it that whenever I was really beginning to do something interesting—in this case, learning more about the ancient pegasus empires—some servant came up to watch my every move?
A plump stallion's figure appeared in the shadows at the top of the staircase. I heard panting, then saw the stallion sprint towards me. I squinted, holding up my lantern so that I could see better. Gradually, a short, plump stallion appeared in front of me—one of the castle's cooks. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as he gulped for air. I straightened my posture and attempted to look as though I hadn't been sprawled out on the carpet reading for the last hour and a half.
"Gustave," I said in a civil tone.
"My . . . my leader," he said through his gasps, bowing down. I felt heat spread across my face.
"Gustave, you don't have to bow," I muttered, hating the fact that a grown stallion had to bow down to a teenager. "Why are you up here, anyway?"
He gulped and took a few more heaving breaths. "Ran . . . all around . . . the castle looking for you," he said between wheezes. "There's . . . news. A . . . disturbance has been spreading over . . . Equestria. You're needed—needed in the . . . town hall tomorrow morning. Seven . . . a.m. Sharp."
I stiffened. "A disturbance? Spreading? What the hay is that supposed to mean? Is it so important that I have to be there at seven?" I didn't risk a glance at the clock, knowing that I'd be horrified with the late hour. I had been planning on sleeping in late, or at least as late as I could with Luna in the castle.
"The page did not say, Princess," said Gustave, sighing and wiping his brow of sweat. "All I know is that you are required to be in the town hall. We expect you there at seven. Sharp."
"Sharp," I echoed dully, strolling over to the lantern and blowing the candle out. "Thank you, Gustave."
"My lady," said Gustave, as if this was some form of thanks. The squat stallion gave one final, sweeping bow before strolling out, his chest heaving from the exertion.
I stood in the dark room, just staring off into space, for at least ten minutes. My legs felt unusually heavy, and my brain was a slushy pit of the stupidity of all the mortals. Then, finally, I shook myself and stumbled over to the window. When I peeked out from the curtains, there was nothing that showed me that there was a great disturbance in Equestria. Sighing, I trudged towards my bedchamber and pulled up the sheets, not bothering to brush my teeth or mane. I listened for any noise—my sister's cries, or anything else that could prevent me from going to sleep—but nothing out there could distract me from a good night's sleep before my big day in the town hall. I snuggled into my quilt, letting out a sigh of relief.
Just as I was falling into a heavy sleep, an uneasy sense of foreboding washed over me. I sat up, glancing around uneasily, but there was no evident danger. I sighed and curled up into a ball, letting my eyelids droop shut. Whatever worry was nagging at the back of my mind, I'd figure it out tomorrow, at the council meeting in city hall.
I reluctantly opened my eyes and ran a hoof through my tangled pink mane. I had woken up at four in the morning to raise the sun, but I'd been so tired that I'd barely cracked my eyes open, and I'd collapsed back into bed and fallen back asleep without a second thought.
A tiny blue filly was pouncing on me, her squeaky voice loud and wild. Perfect—a morning that started out with a sister like this could only mean that I was going to have a difficult day. A glance across the room told me that her bouncing hadn't been for nothing, though—it was six o' clock, meaning that I had an hour to make myself look presentable and fly on the chariot across town. And since Luna wouldn't let anypony but me take care of her, that meant that I had to take her with me.
Wonderful.
"Luna, get off," I snapped. "You have an hour to get ready. You have to come to town hall with me, okay? Go ask Gustave to make you some eggs and toast, and bring something up for me, too. Make sure to brush your teeth well when you're done—you didn't brush hard enough last night." The taste inside of my mouth reminded me that I hadn't brushed at all last night, not to mention the fact that I hadn't bathed in several days. Ugh.
"Tia, listen to me!" said Luna, following me as I walked to the bathroom. Wiggling her legs, she jumped up on my back and tugged at my mane. "There's something weird going on outside and I'm scared."
"That's great," Luna," I said absently, levitating my toothbrush and scrubbing my teeth so hard that Luna nearly fell off my back.
"Augh! Tia! Listen to me!"
"Luna, I'm really busy right now," I groaned, running a hoof through my mane and closing my eyes. "We'll have plenty of time to talk on the chariot ride there about whatever weird thing it is that's going on outside. Just go downstairs and bother Gustave for a while, huh?" I tried to untangle my mane, desperately wishing that I'd thought to condition my hair last night. At least Luna had stopped tugging at it—she'd slid off of my back moments ago, and though I didn't look away from the mirror, I heard her hoofsteps leading away from me.
I caught a glimpse of a blue filly in the corner of my mirror. Instead of going downstairs to the kitchen, as I'd thought, she was now standing next to the bathtub, trying to reach the window, which currently had its curtains drawn over it. Sighing, I stomped over to her, letting my hairbrush clatter to the tiled floor. "Luna, I don't know what's wrong with you, but if opening this window will make you stop, I'm willing to do this." The curtains radiated with a silvery glow as I harshly yanked them open and took a quick glance out the window.
On the streets, ponies ran rampant, trying to escape from what appeared to be giant rabbits and squirrels. Running appeared incredibly difficult, though, as the ground would often tremble violently at random intervals. More than that, though, it was shimmering with a slippery liquid that the ponies kept on falling on, badly scraping their knees or bloodying their noses. Strangest of all, though, pink clouds drifted above the city, following around certain ponies and pouring brown liquid onto them in sudden spurts every few seconds.
My jaw dropped open.
Luna looked at me with what could have been triumph if she wasn't so scared. "See, Tia?" she said, her voice quavering. "I dunno what's going on and it's scary."
"I . . . well, yeah. I guess you could say that." At a loss for words, I shook my head, trying to clear the image of Canterlot in utter chaos. Nope.
Abandoning the tiny window, I walked into my study room, where a window took up half the wall. While the view had changed, the amount of insane occurrences hadn't changed one bit.
"Tia?" said Luna timidly. I didn't answer. My legs felt as though they could fall out from beneath me at any second, so I decided that it was best not to use up any more oxygen than I had to.
"Tia?" asked Luna again, and I shook myself, feeling determination come over me. My country was scared, and even if there were far more competent ponies to rule a country, I had to stop them from feeling as though there was no hope. More than that, though, my little sister was terrified, and I wasn't about to stand still like I was some sort of coward.
"We're going to need to go to town hall now," I said, using a commanding tone. I rarely showed any sort of dramatic discipline, so when I spoke in a commanding voice, everypony complied. "Luna, you're going to fetch me my hairbrush. Then, you're going to follow me wherever I end up going. No talking, no whining, and no dawdling. Do you understand?"
My sister stood speechless in front of me for half a second before sprinting off in the direction of the bathroom. The second she whipped around the corner, I sank down onto the floor, pressing a hoof to my forehead. I needed to think. I didn't turn towards the window again, though my brain itched to see what other disasters would occur. But something in my gut told me that seeing the pink clouds and the brown rain—what was that, anyway, chocolate milk?—would send me into an insane screaming fit. Luna didn't need to see that.
As I thought of my sister, she scrambled into the room, my hairbrush in her mouth. She spat it out wordlessly, looking up at me with wide, scared eyes. I felt a pang of sorrow. No matter what panic I was feeling, it had to be ten times worse for a filly her age.
"Thanks, Luna," I said, leaning in and nuzzling her cheek. She nodded seriously, keeping her lips tightly sealed together. I hesitated, then sighed and shook my head. "Luna, you can talk if you want."
She bit her lip. "Okay," she said, her voice quivering. She didn't say anything after that, though—she merely put her hoof into her mouth and hopped onto my back, taking in shuddering breath after shuddering breath. I glanced back at her, but her face was hidden in my mane.
Right. Nothing to do but go to town hall and get it over with. I spread my wings and flew down the stairs, nearly knocking over a few precious statues in my haste to get to the bottom floor. I'd be able to think about this whole disaster on the chariot ride to town hall.
"You've got to be kidding me," I said disbelievingly, shaking my head. Normally, I was pretty tolerant and polite with the royal guards, but this was completely unacceptable. Not that it was their fault, but . . .
While I struggled with the reality of the whole situation, Luna clambered down off of my back and experimentally poked at the royal guards, who remained as stiff-faced as ever. A small smile appeared on her face, and she giggled for the first time all day. "Tia, how'd this happen?"
I facehooved. "Do you really think that I know, Luna?" I asked sharply, forgetting for a moment to be scared and just getting irritated with my sister. I turned to the royal guards. "How did this happen?" I asked grudgingly. I knew that I was being rude, but at the moment, I had better things to worry about than proper manners. Such as the fact that—well, such as the fact that my royal guards had been turned into frogs. Frogs. Frogs with spears and helmets, and frogs that could talk, but frogs nonetheless.
"We woke up like this, my lady," croaked the frog on the left. Even as a frog, he managed to sound stiff and formal. I felt a wave of homesickness wash over me. Although I was in my home, I wanted a normal home, a home where the guards were formal pegasi and I had a meeting in town hall about politics, not—well, not whatever was happening at the moment.
"Right. Well, that doesn't matter." I rubbed my forehead with my hoof, feeling as though an enormous headache was coming on. "I supposed this means that you can't fly us there, then?" I asked, sending a hopeless glance at Luna, who was currently rolling on the ground with silent laughter and pointing at the frogs. A head shake came from both the guards. "Great. Well, I don't think we'll be able to catch some other sort of carriage. Come on, Luna, we're walking." I scooped up my giggling sister and put her on my back, trying not to get too irritated with anypony.
Stepping outside made my irritation retreat and my fear come roaring back full force. The sight of ponies shrieking and glancing around in horror made my insides shrink and my heart pound, but I steeled myself and kept on walked in the direction of town hall. I heard Luna's giggles die instantly, and once again, I felt Luna snuggle into my mane as if it was a blanket of some sort.
I avoided eye contact with anypony who hadn't run into their homes yet, but it was hard. The moment I got within twenty feet of anypony, I would hear a hushed "Look!" or a hissed "It's the princesses!" Fortunately, hiding from the public became easier when a monster-sized cloud hung over my head, casting a shadow over Luna and I—although I took back my gratitude when sticky brown liquid began pouring out of it. I shrieked and covered my eyes, feeling a chocolaty aroma fill my nostrils. I glanced back at Luna, squinting through the rain, and saw that my sister was taking it well. She had her head tilted up to meet the cloud, and so much rain had filled her mouth that it was dribbling out of the sides. I yelped and clamped her mouth shut. She murmured in protest before swallowing some of the liquid. "What?" she complained through the brown rain.
"You don't know what this rain is!" I hissed, my eyes wide. Great, she was probably going to get some sort of disease from the mysterious rain now. One more thing to add to my list of worries.
She swallowed the rest of her mouthful. "Yes, I do," she said, staring at me as if I were a moron. "It's chocolate milk."
I spluttered, trying to come up with an answer to this, but I gave up and let her drink. She hadn't had breakfast, and I decided that it was best that she entered the town hall with a full stomach. She tended to get cranky when she didn't have hear meals.
By the time we finally approached the town hall, my unkempt mane was covered in chocolate, my typically white coat had been stained to a faint brown, and I was in the worst mood I'd ever been in in my life. Luna, on the other hand, was in a decent mood, to say the least. She seemed to have forgotten the chaotic state that Equestria was in—which, personally, I was fine with. I preferred chocolate-stuffed and happy Luna to crying and scared Luna. At least now, she might fall asleep during the council instead of clinging to me and whining.
I pushed open the door to the town hall, stomping in and shaking as much chocolate milk as I could out of my mane. The room, which was filled with dignified-looking unicorns, fell silent. They bowed deeply as I passed them, but there was a curiosity radiating about them that everypony could sense.
"Hello," I said, trying to sum up as much dignity as I could. I felt gawky and awkward in the room of fully-grown unicorns, but I found my place at the throne at the front of my room. Luna sat on my lap and tried to braid my chocolaty mane.
"I suppose . . . I suppose that . . ." I cleared my throat and tried to start again. "I mean, I suppose that you all are wondering what's going on out there."
Silence. A few heads bobbed up and down, and I let out a small, quiet sigh. This was going to be uncomfortable. "Well, the truth is that I don't know what's going on. At all. I just woke up, and when I was raising the sun, I didn't notice since I did it inside and I was so tired, and I haven't actually eaten breakfast yet and—" I stopped. Great, now I was rambling. Excellent way to inspire faith, Celestia. "What I mean is . . . well, I don't know. I haven't read any books on what's happening right now."
"That's because what's happening rarely happens, and when it does, we don't speak of it." A mare with spectacles sighed and shook her head, looking sorrowful as she levitated a stack of papers into the air. "It's hard to explain what's going on, but we can put it simply: there is a spirit of chaos somewhere. We don't know if it inhabits the body of a pony or if it's merely a spirit, but there are few ways to combat it."
"Few ways?" I asked, sitting up straighter. "You mean that there are some ways to beat it?"
"Well . . . yes. Perhaps." A stallion sitting several chairs down from me stood up, taking a few papers from the mare and looking down at them. "The best in Equestria have done some research on it, and supposedly there are some mythical objects that can save us from this chaotic state."
"Really?" I sat up even straighter, paying more attention than I ever had in a meeting like this. "Are there—I've never read about anything like—what I mean is, where are they? Are we certain that their power will work? What are they?"
The stallion looked at me gravely. "We don't know precisely where they are," he said simply. "Supposedly, they're in a forest not far from here, in ruins deep in the woods. And we can never be certain if the power will work, but they're the only hope that we have right now."
I blinked, processing this information. Even Luna, who typically fell asleep halfway through these meetings, was staring around the room with her mouth open. "So . . . so which forest are they in? How will they be found? Who's going to search for them, anyway? This really doesn't make any—"
"Ooh!" A squeaky voice rose from the seat of the chair. I glanced down just in time to notice Luna leap up in the air, her wings buzzing for a split second. "I know! Tia and I could look for them! 'Cause we're the princesses and all, and we might have better magic than other ponies!"
I froze. "What?" I hissed at Luna between my teeth, resisting the urge to pick her up and shake her in front of the entire counsel. Turning back to everypony, I smiled and let out an embarrassed laugh. "I apologize. But pardon me—I still don't know the name of the forest, or even what we're supposed to be searching for, really."
The stallion who had mentioned the mythical objects seemed to only be half-listening to what I was saying, though. "You two, find the Elements?" he said absently. "That's not a bad idea." A murmur of assent went up around the room, growing louder and more excited with every second that went by. I glanced down at Luna, who was grinning at me like she'd just discovered the cure for the pony pox.
"Excuse me?" I called over the noise. Slowly, it faded into nothing but a few mutters. "What are the Elements?"
"Oh! Yes, a thousand pardons, your majesty. The Elements of Harmony are what you'll be searching for in the forest." He held up one of the sheets of paper that he was holding so that it faced me. Five necklaces were depicted on it, along with a tiara at the top. "They represent six of the things that create perfect harmony: kindness, laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty, and magic. Together, they can create a force powerful enough to save Equestria from anything, even a chaotic state such as this." He let the paper flutter to the ground, blinking at me as I absorbed this information. "The Elements of Harmony can be found in a forest not far from here, in an area so remote that it doesn't yet have a name. We can direct you to it, but the rest must be done on your own." He bowed to me, as if he was apologizing for suggesting that a teenager and a little filly go into an unnamed forest alone.
My head swam, and I felt my earlier headache coming back full force. "But I don't . . . this isn't . . . pardon me, sir, but I don't think I understand. You are suggesting that my sister and I enter an unknown forest to search for items that have an unknown location? This seems a bit . . . well, strange."
"I know that it may seem very strange to you," said the stallion, backpedaling quickly. "Naturally, if you don't want to do it, we can take other volunteers, certainly, there will be other ponies who would adore doing it. In fact, I'm not sure if it is the best idea for our two princesses to go. The delicacy of princesses such as you would be greatly damaged by going on a quest of this sort, and the last thing we need is for our perfect princesses to change their demeanor." Around the room, heads bobbed up and down vigorously in panicked agreement.
I glanced around, raising an eyebrow. They seemed so earnest that it almost seemed as if they were being sarcastic, but as I examined their expressions, I saw nothing but honesty—and fear, naturally. There was always the fear. And the sight of that fear, today, was too much for me. I had barely gotten any sleep, pink clouds were raining chocolate milk, I hadn't eaten breakfast, and now everypony was either suggesting that I go on a suicide mission or stay in Canterlot so that I wouldn't damage my "delicate demeanor." The combination of these thoughts was causing me to nearly go mad, and in that moment, I made a split-second decision.
"I'll go," I blurted out, immediately silencing the mutters of the ponies. All heads snapped in my direction—except for Luna, who had curled up in a little chocolate-bloated ball and fallen asleep on my throne. Great. The pony who had suggested this idiotic trip was now asleep, acting as if she hadn't played any part in this trip to a dangerous forest.
Another stallion spoke up, falling into a graceful bow before me. The rest of the ponies in the room followed suit. "Our princesses are not only graceful and dignified"—I shot a look at Luna, who was now sprawled out with her hoof in her mouth—"but selfless and courageous." He straightened up. "May I assume that you will begin your trek tomorrow evening?"
I froze. "Wait. But I—" I hesitated, letting my eyes fall on all the hopeful faces shining up at me. "Yes," I sighed, wishing that I had more willpower. So stupid, I thought, that everypony in this room is placing all their hope in a stupid teenager and a filly who has barely passed her seventh birthday.
"Excellent," said a mare briskly, standing up sharply and strolling out of the town hall. Other ponies began to follow suit, pushing benches and chairs back and heading towards the door (which had several pink clouds lurking outside, just waiting to pour chocolate on the heads of unsuspecting ponies). "We will be prepared to escort you to the forest at five P.M. tomorrow evening."
"Uh . . . yes," I said weakly, wondering why I had agreed to go on the quest at all. "Um—best wishes to you all."
I sat, completely still, for the next few minutes before scooping my snoring sister up and setting her on my back. "Loads of help you've done me," I muttered to her, wishing that blaming her would make everything easier. "You do know that you're sending us on a death trip, don't you?" She merely snuggled into my mane, sighing from her cheerful dreams.
I had reached the door during my one-sided discussion with Luna, but instead of exiting, I merely tilted up my face and closed my eyes, taking a in a deep breath. A few patches of sunlight hit my face, and I smiled, my heart rate slowing down a bit. No matter what, I would always have the sun. Although it was my job to raise the moon as well—at least, it would be until Luna got old enough—the sunlight on my face always made me feel calm and serene. It was nice knowing that no matter how many mistakes I made, or however many stupid quests in unknown forests I had to go into to find the "Elements," there would always be one steady thing that would never change.
The warmth disappeared from my face. I opened one eyes and discovered that several pink clouds were hovering over my head. There was a moment of brief calm before buckets of chocolate milk came pouring down onto my head, awakening my sister and causing her to fall off of my back. There was a thump, quickly followed by loud wails that mingled nicely with the pounding of chocolate milk rain.
I felt my horn grow warm as I lowered the sun. The castle looked like a gold medallion when the sun hit it. I felt a strange sense of homesickness hit me as I glanced back at the castle, but I steeled myself and marched on towards the forest where several mares and stallions were leading me. My saddlebags, though they barely held anything, felt uncommonly heavy.
Luna must have sense my loneliness and fear, because she had stopped drinking chocolate milk several minutes ago and was staring at me, flying a few feet above the ground so that she could examine my face properly. "Tia?" she asked nervously. "Are you okay?"
I glanced at her. She had lost some of her carefree attitude in the last few minutes and now looked more serious. I almost laughed at her seriousness, but resisted the urge to. "Yes, Luna, I'm going to be okay," I said to her soothingly, rumpling her dark blue mane. She yelped and flew out my reach, giggling. "We're both going to be okay as long as we have each other. We're going to find the Elements and save Equestria, and then we're going to play together for as long as you want, all right?"
"Okay," she said happily, flying towards me again and giving my cheek a happy nuzzle.
A lump constricted my throat, and for several moments, I found it impossible to speak or swallow. Fortunately, the mare leading the way turned around at us and spoke so I didn't have to.
"We're here," she said simply, pointing a yellow hoof at the mouth of a craggy forest. I gulped. Unkempt trees, with moss and other who-knows-what hanging off the edges, almost blocked the entrance to the forest, but there was enough empty space so that you could see the inside. Cautiously, I peered inside. Roots and boulders covered the path, making it look almost impossible to take a step without tripping. It looked like we were going to have to fly most of the time. Inwardly, I groaned. I'd never taken flying lessons as a filly, and as a result, I was a fairly weak flyer. Fortunately, Luna excelled at flying, so I wouldn't have to hear her griping for the entire trip.
"All right," I said simply, coughing the lump out of my throat and taking a step towards the mouth of the forest. I plastered a smile on at Luna and gave a thankful nod to the mares and stallions who had led us, who slowly backed away from the forest. "Come on, Luna. It's not scary in here."
My sister looked unenthusiastic at the prospect of entering the forest, but she was less enthusiastic about staying with a group of strangers, so she took a few uneasy steps towards me. "That's right," I coaxed her, holding out a hoof. "It's not bad in here. It's like . . . like a fun hiking trip." I lit up my horn so that I could see more and discovered that I was the biggest liar in the world. It was, in fact, extremely bad in the forest, and it was nothing like a fun hike. I sighed and hoped that Luna wouldn't panic. It was hard enough getting myself not to panic.
Luna entered uncertainly, snuggling up next to me when she finally got close enough. "Tia?" she said in a small voice. "I'm scared."
I glanced back at the adults, who were staring at us curiously. I tried to give them a you-can-leave-now head jerk, but they continued standing there, meaning that I had to be the good sister and not tell Luna to shut up because I was scared too. "There's no reason to be scared," I said brightly, nuzzling her cheerfully. "Nothing can hurt you in here. Besides, we're doing good things for other ponies. There's no reason to be scared if we're going to help."
Luna sniffled. " 'Kay." She stuck her hoof into her mouth and proceeded to suck on it to soothe herself. Once again, I turned towards the adults, who were examining us as though we were new scientific discoveries.
"Well . . . thank you," I said uncomfortably, rubbing the back of my neck with my right hoof.
One by one, they sank into stiff bows, then turned away and walked towards Canterlot again, their heads bowed. The sight of seeing ponies so upset was almost comical when combined with the polka-dotted purple grass and the chocolate rain. Only one mare turned around and gave us a second glance. I matched her stare evenly, expecting some sort of lecture, but she surprised me. "Princesses?" she said simply. "Be careful."
I was too taken aback to make a sarcastic comment. "We will," I said, startled. She nodded and turned away, breaking into a run after the first few steps. A pink cloud trailed after her.
I turned to Luna, who looked very small in her place on the ground. I rekindled my horn, which had fizzled out during my exchange with the mare. "Should we start?" I asked her, not realizing how strange it was for an older sister to ask her younger sister for instructions. I suddenly felt very uncertain.
"Yeah," said Luna in a small voice, taking her hoof out of her mouth and starting to walk deeper into the forest. She lit her horn, too, after nearly tripping on a root. I lingered back only for a moment, but when I realized that Luna was going into a forest alone, I exhaled and jogged after her.
We walked in silence for the first few minutes, flinching at every snap of a twig and rustle in the trees. Luna walked for the first few moments, but chose to fly after several near-injuries by tripping on a log or boulder. She was the first to speak.
"Can't you raise the sun, Tia?" she said nervously. Her voice sounded out of place among the dark, silent trees. I smiled at her and gave her a little nudge.
"I can't do that, silly. Everypony'd get all confused. I mean . . ." I hesitated, not wanting to make Luna feel more scared than she already did. "I mean, Equestria's got enough confusion to deal with at the moment anyway."
"There's no weird stuff here, though," noted Luna. I glanced around and noticed, with surprise, that there wasn't any strange chocolate rain or tilted, bright yellow ground.
"Huh," I said, experimentally prodding at the earth with my hoof. "Weird. Maybe this forest has a magic of its own that prevents the magic back in Canterlot from working." That idea sent a shiver down my spine, but I rolled my eyes and tried not to think about it. Only stupid little fillies thought that a forest could have its own magic. Even if the trees were going everywhere and the few animals that I had seen looked wild and independent, it was dumb to think that a forest had evil magic.
"Where are we going?" asked Luna, tugging at my mane to get my attention. I shoved her away playfully and glanced around, hoping that ancient ruins would appear out of nowhere.
"Some sort of ancient place," I said, now wishing that I'd asked more questions and paid more attention when our leaders were rambling on. "The ruins haven't been touched in years, supposedly. Last night, when you were asleep, I read this story about this stallion—well, he was really more of an older colt—who was alive a long time ago. He was alive before we were born, around the time that all the ponies were divided into different empires. There was lots of chaos going on in the different kingdoms—you know all about all those wars that were going on right before the creation of Equestria? So anyway, he decided to go out and see if these Elements really existed. Legend has it that he went into a forest just like this. But sources are hazy, and historians aren't sure if it really happened or if it's just some sort of old mare's tale."
Luna, who was paying more attention than she ever did during my other history lessons, fluttered her wings in excitement and zigzagged in the air. "But you told me that the magic of friendship saved Equestria, right? So what happened to the stallion who went searching for the Elements?"
I cleared my throat, feeling a blush creep over my cheeks. I'd forgotten that I'd have to tell the ending to this tale. "Oh, he heard that all the problems going on in the empires were being solved, so he gave up his quest. You know, since there was no need for the Elements of Harmony anymore. Everything ended up okay, it was just that there was no need for the Elements any longer."
Luna nodded, seeming satisfied with this answer. I let out a quiet, relieved sigh. I hadn't wanted to tell Luna what had really happened. How he'd gone on the quest and never returned. How nopony bothered to search for him, because they were all far too terrified of the forest. How nopony knew if he had lived or not, but they were all so certain of his death that they held his funeral without even searching.
I shivered to myself and let my mane fall over my face. I peered out nervously. The yellowish glow of my horn was casting shadows over the trees, making everything seem far more dangerous. I reached out a wing and pulled Luna closer to me. Her wing stretched out to mine, and for several minutes, we touched wings like that, warmth spreading between us. It seemed like a long time before she spoke again.
"Are we gonna get there soon?" asked Luna. I glanced over at her and saw that her wings were sagging, a sure sign of exhaustion. I mentally smacked myself in the forehead. Why, oh why had Luna come with me on this stupid trip? How many times were we going to have to stop just so that a tired filly could catch her breath? Not to mention all the dangers that could be out there . . .
"It's probably a good idea to stop right about now," I said grudgingly, sighing and stopping in a small clearing. She gratefully dropped onto the ground and rolled around, as if the sticks and pine needles were as comfortable as her own canopy bed. That filly could fall asleep anywhere.
"I have to raise the moon, anyway," I went on. Luna's ears perked up. Fluttering her wings, she buzzed around me like a hummingbird. It looked as though she had gained all of her energy back—not that it was going to do us any good, now that we had found a clearing and were planning to stay the night.
"Really? Tia, can I watch you? Is it okay if I see you do it? Are you gonna make all of the stars appear, too? Can you make a shooting star? Oh, and then can you sing that pretty song that you always sing about the sky? Pleasepleaseplease?" Her voice grew happier and louder with every word, developing a sing-song tone. I ground my teeth together and stretched out a wing to pull her onto my back. She squealed excitedly, rolling around.
"Luna, I'm going to have to ask you to be quiet while I raise the moon," I said simply, taking a deep breath to calm myself. "Remember? We're supposed to always stay calm while we raise the moon. It's a special ceremony."
Luna grumbled and flopped onto my back. " 'Kay."
I glanced backwards at her and allowed myself a small, grudging smile. "Remember to watch carefully. It's going to be your job one of these days, anyway." I looked away from her now, facing the dark night sky. I took another deep breath, steadied my hooves, and—
"Tia?" Luna piped up again. My horn lost its glow, and I stumbled, the weight of the moon on my horn pulling me down. I looked back at her again, biting my tongue.
"You can't do that, Luna," I said irritably. "What if the moon had been halfway up in the sky by the time you did that? I could have dropped the moon and messed up everything—the tides, the night sky, maybe even the moon itself." Truthfully, I knew that nothing like that could truly happen, but I was just hoping for some lie that would convince Luna not to startle me like that anymore.
"Sorry," she said, not sounding apologetic at all. "I was just wondering. Can whatever's going on back in Canterlot hurt the sun or the moon?"
I paused. "I don't know, Luna. Could I please just raise the moon now?"
" 'Kay." She snuggled into my mane, letting out a sigh of contentment. I smiled and stared back up at the night sky, breathing in the crisp night air. For a moment, I didn't feel endangered or angry—I just felt powerful and safe. I lifted my chin up, took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and—
"Tia?"
My eyes snapped open and my head jerked backwards. "WHAT?"
She regarded me as if I was a lunatic. Her lower lip jutted out. "I'm hungry."
" . . . And that's the story of how the brave young filly managed to escape the dangerous forest." I kissed Luna on the forehead and pulled a blanket out of my saddlebags. "The end," I finished, tucking the blanket around her. I felt bad that she had to sleep on the rocky forest floor, but she didn't seem to mind, and besides, where else was she supposed to sleep? I doubted that even Luna could fall asleep while flying.
"Can you tell another story?" she asked, her eyes already closed. I tried to smile, but my face felt limp.
"Sorry, Luna," I said, ruffling her tangled blue mane. Truthfully, I wouldn't have minded another story—it would have distracted me from the fact that we were falling asleep in a quite possibly dangerous forest—but I knew that there was no use in delaying our sleep any longer. We'd have to get up early the next day if we wanted to have any chance of finding the Elements.
I curled up next to her on the ground, sticks poking into my stomach. I winced as my head hit a rock and I realized just how cold it was in the forest. I considered starting a fire, but remembered my tutor's warnings about falling asleep when there was a fire started. I grunted and tried to take a corner of the blanket, but Luna was wrapped in it like a butterfly in a cocoon. Sighing, I wrapped my forehooves around myself and pouted, feeling much like Luna whenever she threw a tantrum.
Staring at the sky, with the moon and stars glimmering down at me, I felt ridiculously small. I might have been a princess, but I was just one pony among billions. I might be able to raise the sun and moon, but I still wasn't sure if I was going to survive this pointless trek into an unnamed forest.
Stop. Don't think about surviving. I rolled over, wondering how Luna could fall asleep so easily when she was lying on the forest floor with the weight of knowing that she had to save Equestria.
Well, she didn't have to save Equestria, exactly. Yes, she was coming on this trek with me, but she was just a little filly who didn't even have her cutie mark. I was the one who was leading the journey, the responsible one. I was the one who would be blamed when we came back empty-hooved, with all of Equestria left in chaos.
I groaned silently and tried to sleep.
I wasn't sure when I fell asleep and when I woke up, but the next thing I knew, I was staring at a dead bush, frozen with fear.
Two yellowish eyes were peering out of it, squinting menacingly.
I felt my heart stutter to a halt, then begin beating so fast that it was almost painful. My instincts told me to run away, but it felt as though I had become a concrete statue. I swallowed, my mouth growing dry. "Luna," I mouthed, but no words came out. I tried again, nudging Luna with my elbow while still keeping eye contact with the pair of yellow eyes. "Luna!"
No response except for a dreamy moan. Great, now I was completely on my own against this mysterious pair of glowing eyes, which were growing narrower and narrower by the moment.
I cleared my throat and slowly backed away. The eyes snapped open angrily. I froze. "Er, Mister—or Miss—I mean, whoever you are—hello?" A low growling was now echoing throughout the clearing, and the yellow eyes were looking more furious by the moment. I squeaked, my heart pounding. I stumbled backwards, scooping up Luna and placing her on my back. "Get away from us!" I shouted. I knew that there was no point in speaking to this creature, whatever it was, but I had abandoned logic in my panicked state.
"Tia?" said Luna drowsily. Her voice came from my back, sleepy and not the slightest bit scared. "Whaz goinon?"
The growling intensified. Then, suddenly and horribly, the creature leapt out of the bushes. I screamed, rolling into a ball and shielding Luna. I stared, transfixed, as the creature came barreling through the sky, then landed quite gracefully several feet away from me. We made eye contact again, and I felt most of my fear evaporate, replaced by fear. The creature standing in front of me wasn't a creature that you'd find in the woods, exactly, but it most certainly wasn't a pony.
"What are you?" I asked, cocking my head.As I stared at the monster-like creature in front of me, my fear continued to ebb away. He—it was definitely a he—was the strangest-looking creature I'd ever encountered, but he didn't look dangerous. He had the yellowish eyes with red pupils that I'd noticed earlier, but they looked less dangerous. He was tall and skinny, with a red spiky tail and blue wings that poked out of his back. He had a griffon claw and a lion paw, but the most bizarre thing about his appearance was the goat head. His face and neck were covered in gray-brown fur, and two curly horns poked out of his head at odd angles.
As I stared at him, my mouth half-open, he regarded me as if I was an earthworm. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it was rude to stare?" he drawled, raising an eyebrow.
If possible, my mouth dropped open even wider.
"Oh, don't give me that," he said, yawning and stretching. "You're startled that I can talk? Just because I'm a so-called monster?" He sank into a mocking pout. "You ponies can be so racist."
"I-I, uh, I didn't mean that—" Pull yourself together, Celestia! I scolded myself. You need to ask him the necessary questions and just get out of here. Don't let him make you feel stupid—he's just about your age, not some high-class citizen interviewing you!
Maybe that was the problem, though. I didn't have much experience talking to ponies my age, let alone strange monsters my age. But you are a PRINCESS, I told myself, wondering if other ponies had to coach themselves through conversations like I did. Just let him know that.
I cleared my throat and lifted my chin up high. "As the princess of Equestria, I demand to know what sort of creature you are!"
He smirked again. "You're a princess? I should have known."
I felt heat creep over my cheeks. "Huh?"
"You're delicate. Snobby. You look like you're not going to last a second in these woods." He listed off these reasons as though he was intensely bored. "Your companion, on the other hand—" He jerked his head towards Luna, who was sitting on my back, grinning at him with feverish curiosity. "She doesn't look like any princess I've ever seen."
"She is," I snapped, scowling at him. "And I'm not delicate. Or snobby. Anyway, you never answered my question."
He rolled his eyes, yawning again. There was a flash of light, and the next thing I knew, he was standing next to me, tracing my face with one of his claws. I jerked away, horrified.
"What are you—"
"This isn't Canterlot, Princess. I don't have to take orders from a so-called 'Princess'." He made air quotes. "But since I am a creature of my own free will, I can tell you if I so please. I'm a draconequus."
I blinked, squinting at him. "You're a drac—a dracon—a dra-con-equ-us?" I asked, my tongue stumbling over the words. He twirled his paw in the air in dry enthusiasm. "But that doesn't make any sense. I've never come across those in my readings, and I've done intense studies on the creatures around Equestria."
"Ah, yes. Well, it's like I've always said—ponies are racist. They never have accepted other species' differences." Rapid-fire bursts of light blinded as he teleported in quick succession. Luna giggled and looked up at him with wide eyes. He leered and ran a paw through his shaggy mane. "They rarely travel because of it—which brings me to my question: why are you here?"
I backed away from him, warnings about strangers filling my mind. "That's none of your business," I said, my ears bristling. I felt a shiver run down my spine. Something about this draconequus was making my mane stand on end, and I didn't feel good about being in his presence.
Luna had no such concerns. "It's because there's a bunch of weird stuff going on in Canterlot. Like chocolate milk raining. Some ponies told us about these things called the Elements of Harmony that might be able to get rid of the chaos, but we'd only be able to find them in this forest. And since we're the princesses, I thought that we should be the ones to go searching for them." She bit her lip. "Except we don't know where they are, really. And I'm hungry."
The creature cocked his head before shrugging and pulling a glass of chocolate milk out of nowhere. My jaw dropped open. Yes, I'd seen some strange things before, being a princess and all, but never before had I seen a creature that could defy all laws of physics like this.
Luna beamed, sipping her chocolate milk. I recovered from my shock long enough to give her a reproving glance. "Luna, what do we say when somepony gives us something?"
"Thank you," she managed to say, chocolate dribbling out of the corner of her mouth. Somehow, the glass continued filling itself after she had finished sipping. Delighted, she squealed, but I tugged the glass away from her, ignoring her protests. Facing the draconequus, I put on my fiercest scowl and tossed the glass into the bushes. A small explosion occurred, which I did my best to ignore.
"I don't understand how you can make that chocolate milk appear out of nowhere or how you can teleport," I said evenly. I felt the tip of my horn begin to glow in frustration, and I chose to leave it that way in the hopes that it would intimidate this creature. "I don't really understand what kind of creature you are, and I definitely don't know if you're dangerous or not." I took a deep breath and forced my horn to grow brighter, although I was suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted. "But I need you to explain a bit more about yourself if you don't want to get blasted in the face with this magic."
He smiled smugly. "Oh, dear me," he said, his voice coated with sarcasm. He fluttered his wings and hovered in the air for a few moments, putting on an expression of mock terror. "I'd better explain if I don't want the pretty pony princess here to blast me in the face with her magic, right? What kind of spells will you cast on me, Princess? A pink blast of glitter? The spell of magical love? The spell of friendship?" He fell to the ground, laughing at his own wit. Luna joined him. I scowled at my sister. Traitor.
Luna curled into a ball on the ground, her eyelids drooping. "I like you," she said, still giggling slightly. The draconequus shot me a boasting look as if to say, See? Your little sister's smart enough to know that I'm hilarious.
The draconequus poked at her head playfully, teleporting around her in quick bursts. She giggled and swatted at him. "Thank you, Princess. It's good enough to know that somepony appreciates brilliance when they see it."
"Yeah." Luna smiled and curled up in a little ball again. "Tia doesn't like funny things."
That was it. I stepped closer to the two of them. "First of all," I growled through my teeth, "this is just stupid, not funny. And second of all—don't you understand, Luna? He's doing all these chaotic things just like what's happening back in Canterlot! Bad things happen when things get chaotic!" I realized that I was yelling. Blushing, I stomped a hoof to punctuate my sentence and ended up feeling like a toddler.
Luna and the draconequus were both staring at me like I was a lunatic. It was Luna who spoke up first. "There are two different types of chaos," she said simply. "There's bad chaos and good chaos. Bad chaos hurts ponies, but this kind of chaos is the funny kind." She grinned and flew over to the draconequus, wrapping herself around his leg. "I'm calling him Discord."
The draconequus blinked. "What—are you talking about me?"
"Yeah." Luna said this as if it was the most obvious thing ever. " 'Cause it doesn't sound like you have any other name, and Tia says that 'discord' is another word for chaos. And since we're on this trip because of chaos—" She snuggled into him cheerfully "—I'm gonna name you Discord."
The draconequus spluttered, a blush spreading over his face. "That's—that's ridiculous! Are you insinuating that you can just name me, like I'm some sort of common household pet? Because I'm not! We draconequui have a long, noble ancestry, and none of us have names! It's a tradition!"
"That's a dumb idea," said Luna bluntly, frowning. "I want you to have a name, and Discord sounds like a good name."
His eyes grew wide with frustration. "You can't choose to let me have a name! It doesn't work that way! I refuse to let some pony princess name me. It disgraces the entire tradition of—tradition of—you can't just—"
I felt a grin begin to spread over my face. "I think I agree with the draconequus, Luna," I said, deeply enjoying the blush spreading across his face. "Such a savage creature like this shouldn't have a name. Only ponies are supposed to have names. I don't think that this creature is deserving of something as important as a name."
He clenched his paw and his claw into fists. "That's—fine! I don't care if you name me at all! It's a stupid idea, anyway." He scowled at Luna, and for a moment, I got a vision of him as a child, sticking out his tongue at her as if he was a schoolfoal in a fight with her. I resisted the urge to laugh.
Luna smiled smugly, clearly pleased that she had won the argument. "Okay, I think that Mr. Discord should stand guard until the morning while we sleep. Then, he can guide us through this forest so that we can find our way to the Elements." She curled up on the ground again, smiling contently and yawning.
"Wait, what?" I blinked, shaking my head. "I never said anything about this . . . this draconequus leading us through the forest. Where did you get that idea? Look, we've met him, you gave him a name—what else do we have to do? I personally have no interest in being watched by a complete stranger while I sleep."
"Don't flatter yourself," muttered the draconequus—Discord, I guess—while rolling his eyes. I glared at him and turned back to Luna. To my dismay, she'd managed to fall asleep.
Discord crossed his arms. "I didn't know that it was possible to fall asleep that quickly," he said snidely, inexplicably glaring at me. "I didn't know that princesses, of all ponies, could fall asleep that quickly."
I felt myself begin to blush. "What does that have to do with anything?" I snapped, both confused and irritated. What was this creature's problem with me being a princess? Didn't he know that I could have him burned at the stake merely by suggesting that possibility to one of the royal guards? "Besides, what are you so annoyed with us about?"
"Annoyed? I'm not annoyed." He seemed genuinely confused for a moment before regaining his ridiculously casual posture.
I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes, trying to remember what my manners specialist had taught me in the lessons on how to behave when dealing with a difficult pony. As far as I could remember, she had never covered anything on speaking to sarcastic draconequui. "Well, it was lovely meeting you, Mr. Discord." I curtsied, feeling ridiculous. "Unfortunately, if Luna and I want to find the Elements, which we do, we're going to have to get a good night's sleep. In order to do that, we are going to have to ask the present company to leave. Thank you for your time." At a loss for words, I curtsied again.
Silence hung in the forest for a moment except for the chirps and squeals of animals. I glanced up from my curtsy, feeling my cheeks grow hot. Discord was smiling, rolling his eyes and clearly stifling his laughter. "This isn't funny," I snapped, dropping my formal disguise.
"Speak for yourself," snorted Discord, shaking his head and wiping a tear of mirth out of his yellow eye. He turned serious, or at least as serious as somepony as disturbingly random as him could. "You know, though, your sister does have a point."
"Huh? About what?" I blinked, taken aback. Since when had Luna had a point about anything?
Discord rolled his eyes. "You princesses really are unintelligent, aren't you? Well, perhaps not your sister. After all, she was the pony who came up with the idea of—"
"What are you even talking about?" I snapped, rubbing my forehead to soothe my splitting headache.
He widened his eyes and teleported within an inch of me, running a finger up my cheek. I cringed away. "What I'm saying is that maybe it's a good idea to let me lead you to these Elements of Harmony that you talk about. I've been living in these woods my whole life, and I know every nook and cranny like the back of my paw. Or claw. Or hoof, if that's what you prefer." He held up his paw and claw. Both of them turned into a hoof for a split second before Discord shuddered and turned them back into their natural shape. "Ugh. I don't understand how you ponies can stand having hooves."
"I . . ." I shook my head to clear the image of his fists turning into hooves. "It's just, well, I barely know you and you're expecting me to let you lead me through this unknown forest. And if you'll excuse me, you're not exactly making the best introduction." I took a deep breath and went on, the words tripping over my tongue. I didn't want Discord to interrupt me now. "And it's not just me that you're going to be leading. You're going to be leading Luna, too, and I don't want to make the wrong decision. She could get hurt by you." I ducked my head, then glanced up at Discord, wondering if I had been too dramatic. He raised an eyebrow.
"Hurt? By me?" With a flash, he was suddenly dressed in a fancy suit and a top hat. "Do I look dangerous to you, Tia?"
I scowled at him, hating myself for blushing. "Don't call me Tia."
He widened his eyes in mock innocence, his suit and hat disappearing. "But Luna called you that!"
"Well, Luna's different." I found myself wishing that my glare was more terrifying. Underneath his mature, condescending gaze, I suddenly felt as though I was about Luna's age.
Discord sighed elaborately. "I think that we should just ask your sister what she thinks about me. You know, seeing as she's clearly the smart one in the family." He teleported over to my snoozing sister and poked her in the head. She jerked awake, shaking her head.
"Huh?" she blinked, her dark blue eyes looking fuzzy and confused. "Tia?"
"Nope." Discord picked her up, putting her on his back. To my surprise, I felt a stab of jealousy that I chose to identify as protectiveness. I grabbed her and placed her on my own back. Discord glared at me, but went on. "Luna? Your sister thinks that I'm intimidating and might end up hurting you. Do you agree with her?"
Luna yawned, fluttering off of my back and curling back up in a ball on the ground. "No," she said. Then, as if I wasn't there, "Tia's being dumb."
I sputtered, highly irritated. "What do you—"
"She thinks that you're dangerous even though you're not," she went on, yawning. Her eyelids drooped, but she went on with her tirade on my stupidity. "You're not scary, even though you're a monster. Just 'cause you can do magic doesn't mean you're gonna hurt me or Tia. Besides, you're probably Tia's age. And she could beat you up if she wanted to." With this, she yawned again, closing her eyes.
Discord and I were both miffed, to say the least. "Like she could really—" began Discord before cutting himself off. He turned to me, a pleased smirk on his face. "See?" he said, crossing his arms and grinning.
I groaned. "Fine. But if you lay one paw on my sister, so help me, I will—" I gave him the most terrifying scowl that I could and let my horn shimmer as dangerously as I could.
Discord stared at me flatly for a good five seconds before rolling his eyes and transporting so that he was lying on the ground. "Right. Because I really care about hurting two pony princesses." Yawning, he closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. A pillow appeared beneath his head, and a thick, plush quilt covered his body. I blinked, then groaned and curled up next to my sister.
This is a bad idea, my heart warned me. I pulled Luna closer to me and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. But even though I could hear Discord's snores, assuring me that he couldn't hurt us, it was nearly time to raise the sun before I fell asleep.
I ran a hoof through my mane, wishing that it was less tangled first thing in the morning. I glanced back at Discord and Luna. Both of them were sprawled out on the ground, sound asleep. I resisted the urge to smile and turned my back on them, focusing on the stars in the sky. My horn buzzed with warmth as I closed my eyes and focused on raising the sun. Relieved, I smiled as the glow of the orange sun fell over my face. The warmth awoke my aching limbs. Maybe, despite my lack of sleep, despite my tangled mane, despite the disturbing stranger who had volunteered to "help" us, today would be a good—
I heard a startled gasp come from behind me. I leapt a foot in the air, flapping my wings and glancing backwards. It took all my strength to keep the sun suspended in the air.
"Do you mind?" I snapped, sighing and returning to the earth. I tried to get the peaceful feeling back, but it disappeared. I turned my back to him and focused on raising the sun, but Discord was making my focus difficult.
"You . . . you raise the sun?" he stuttered, blinking. "How is that possible?"
With a final thrust of the sun and a toss of my mane, I whipped my head back to him. "What do you mean? How else would it get up there in the sky?"
"Well, it just always up there. The planet rotates so that it rises. Right? Something like that? I don't actually know, I just always assumed that . . . wow. Huh." He looked genuinely terrified, which made my curiosity mount even more.
"That makes no sense," I said, wrinkling my nose. "If the planet was rotating, how would the sun get in the sky? You draconequui have strange ideas. Next you're going to tell me that the weather thinks for itself . . ."
Discord opened his mouth, then shut it, as if it was too much energy for him to argue. "So where you come, ponies make the weather move, too, huh?" he said, blinking a few times and rubbing his eyes. I stared back at him, equally astonished.
Luna seemed to notice the tension through her sleep. She stirred, her back leg twitching, and slowly sat up, yawning. "Huh? Tia? Discord?"
Discord didn't seem to notice that she was awake. "What about the moon? The stars?"
I fidgeted. "Well, I raise those, too . . . Luna's going to have to do it when she gets old enough, but I do it for now." I bit my lip, trying to resist the urge to laugh.
Discord's eye twitched. I decided it probably wasn't the best idea to laugh at him. "So you mean that in this forest, everything just works on its own?" I said, wrinkling my forehead. "The weather just—just moves on its own and stuff?"
"Yes." He sighed, putting a claw on his forehead. A dull flush was creeping over his cheeks, as if he realized that he had let his guard down. "That's how things work in this forest. Everything's free. We don't need ponies to weigh it down."
I shivered, although the sun was quickly warming up the forest. Luna glanced up at me, her forehead crinkled. "This is weird," she stated, pouting and flopping down onto the ground. "I wanna go back to Canterlot."
I suppressed a groan. "Luna, you were the one who came up with this stupid—I mean, who came up with this idea in the first place. The least you can do is stop complaining about it."
Luna's pout grew larger. "But I'm hungry," she whined, rolling around on the ground restlessly. I closed my eyes and silently began counting to ten, but by the time I had gotten to five, Discord's voice interrupted my train of thought.
"You come into the woods and don't bring any food?" he asked snidely. "Honestly, I thought that your sister would have been more prepared for a trek like this. I guess she's less obsessed with order than I thought."
"Huh?" I opened my eyes and glared at Discord, trying to burn him with the sheer power of my eyes. "Of course I brought food. What do you think I am, stupid?" Without taking my eyes away from his, I levitated some apples out of the saddlebags and rolled them over to Luna. She bit into one reluctantly.
Discord let out a snort of laughter. "Do you really want me to answer that question, Tia?"
"Don't call me Tia," I snapped, shooting a glare at Luna as well. Why did she have to give me that stupid nickname in the first place? It was just another way for Discord to get the upper hoof on me.
"Awww, but I think it's adorable." He widened his eyes and pouted, greatly reminding me of Luna. I shook my head. How had I managed to surround myself with two Lunas?
He glanced at Luna, who was finishing her apple, and pointed at my saddlebags. "You didn't happen to bring any more, did you?"
"What? No!" I stomped my hoof. "If you're planning on tagging along and annoying us and acting like a creep, then you can do so without using up our food supply! Get your own food!" I got an apple for myself and chewed furiously, my teeth grinding and clacking.
To his credit, Discord didn't get upset. Raising an eyebrow, he snapped his fingers. A small wooden table, complete with a red silk tablecloth, appeared before me. I let the apple fall to the ground with a thunk, but that was the last thing on my mind. Somehow, the table had filled itself with plates and plates full of breakfast foods, along with several pitchers of chocolate milk. I rubbed my eyes, feeling my mouth go dry. Much to my displeasure, the foods looked delicious.
Luna squealed and ran over to the table, grabbing a muffin. The muffin bowl refilled itself immediately. Goosebumps broke out over my forehooves, despite the ridiculousness of the situation. "That's not possible," I said, backing away. "You can't just—you can't just make a table appear and—the food—argh!" I flew away, keeping my chin held high in the air. "Can you just leave already?"
Though I couldn't see Discord with my back turned to him, I would have been a million bits that he was making a face at me or rolling his eyes. "Why, Tia, I thought that princesses were supposed to be more polite," he said through a mouthful of food. It took all my control to keep myself from turning around and blasting him to pieces with my magic. Instead, I took a deep breath before turning around and beginning to pack up my saddlebags.
"Finish up breakfast soon or I'm leaving without you two," I said quickly. A rush of tears pooled in my eyes. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek and continued my instructions for my two companions. "Discord, if that food is poisoned or something, I'm going to imprison you in the moon. Luna, you'd better be ready to help out with the saddlebags. I expect both of you to be helpful and quiet. Any prank-playing will be met with extreme consequences." I swallowed hard, hoping that the sudden need to cry would go away. "Any questions? No? Okay, good, get rid of the table and shut up and pack up and just stop talking." I turned away, the final rush of words fading away as I swallowed hard and ducked my head. Do not start crying now, I berated myself. Crying won't make things better.
I glanced around once I had swiped under my eyes a few times. Discord and Luna were staring at me. Luna had dropped her muffin on the ground and was staring at me with wide eyes, trembling furiously. Discord, on the other hand, was regarding me as if I was a little filly throwing a tantrum. I took slight satisfaction in the fact that he had snapped his fingers and made the food disappear.
"Take care of the table," I mumbled to him, strolling over to Luna and patting her on the head. "You ready to go, Luna?" I said in a kinder voice. She nodded at me, her eyes downcast, and flew over to her saddlebags. She put them on expressionlessly, only deepening my urge to curl up on the ground and sob. Instead, I stretched out my wing and pulled her closer to me, feeling like the worst sister in the world.
"I have to tell you, I'm surprised," said Discord calmly, teleporting to meet up with Luna and me. I shot a glare at him, but he continued on, a calm smile creeping over his face. "For a princess, you sure do seem scared by the ability to make a bagel appear."
I filled up my cheeks with air and blew it out slowly. "Ponies can't just make food appear," I said, kicking at the dirt pathway. A perfect comeback came out of the blue to me, and I grinned, wishing I'd thought of it a few seconds earlier. "And for somebody who can make a bagel appear, you sure do seem scared by the ability to raise the sun and the moon."
Discord stiffened, drawing himself up to his full height (which was about twice my size) and crossing his arms. "I'm not scared. And it may surprise you, but Canterlot isn't the only place in Equestria. Has it ever occurred to you that not everypony out there makes their own weather and cares for every animal out there?"
"Shut up," I snapped, scowling into the distance and keeping my eyes trained straight ahead. I prepared a rude response, but realized that Luna was there. I glanced down at my sister. "How are you doing, Luna?" I asked in a kinder voice, letting my wing fall from her side and ruffling up her mane.
She shrugged. "I dunno. I'm tired. Do we know where we're going?" She directed this question at Discord, making her eyes wide.
"That's an interesting question," I said, turning to Discord at well. "You had better know where we're going. I've been putting up with you for hours just because I'm hoping there's some way that you'll be able to lead us to the Elements of Harmony."
He put up his paws defensively. "Look, you haven't even told me where I'm supposed to be leading you to. Don't get so angry, Tia."
"Ugh!" My wings flared out. "You're supposed to be leading us to an ancient temple or something like that. Could you just show us it already?"
He widened his eyes, as if I was being completely unreasonable. "Fine, fine. A temple?" He paused to consider this. "I think that there's something like what you're describing in the center of the forest. We're going to have to go in deeper, though." He stopped and swiveled around, glancing about his surroundings before settling in one place. "This way," he said confidently, pointing a claw at a different winding path and beginning to stroll down the path.
I hurried after him, and Luna followed, fluttering her wings so that she wouldn't have to walk. "You know this place really well," she said, her voice filled with awe. "How come you know everything?"
He shrugged, stretching his long arms and yawning. "I've been living in this forest my entire life. I've had plenty of time to explore the forest over the years."
Seeing my opportunity to ask the question that I'd been wondering since we first met him, I jumped in. "So how long have you been living in this forest?" I asked him, jogging to catch up with his quick steps.
He glanced down at me, clearly thinking me an idiot. "I just told you that. I was born in the forest, and I've been living here my whole life."
"No, I mean—" I struggled with the question, knowing that it would eventually lead to him asking me the same question. "I mean, how old are you? It's really hard to tell with creatures other than ponies."
He opened his mouth, then shut it. A red blush spread over his face as he scratched his neck. "I—how old am I?" he stammered, his voice cracking. The blush deepened as I attempted to hide my smile. "You mean, uh, like how many years I've been living?"
I blinked. "No, Discord, I mean the amount of seconds. Yes, I'm asking you how many years you've been living! That's typically what ponies mean when they ask you how old you are." Though I didn't want to feel excited, I couldn't help but feel my heart begin to beat faster. If he was being this evasive about the issue, there could be a possibility that—no. I couldn't let myself begin thinking like that.
Discord stammered intelligible syllables for a good thirty seconds before throwing his arms up in frustration. "Fine! I don't know my age, all right? I don't know what day I was born! Happy now?"
His comment took several moments for my mind to process. When I finally managed to understand, I spoke slowly to make sure that I hadn't misheard him. I had to speak carefully. "But do you know the general amount of years that you've been alive?" It doesn't mean that he can live forever, I carefully instructed myself. It could just mean that he doesn't have any parents, or that maybe nopony's told him yet.
He gnashed his teeth together. Luna nervously flew away from him, but I stared up at him, fascinated. Anypony with a bit of sense would have known to walk away slowly, but I had lost common sense around the time that he mentioned that he didn't know his age. "I don't know, all right?" he barked. "Maybe eight hundred. I don't know. I don't remember much from when I was little, so I can't say when I was born. Happy now?"
I stared at him, the corners of my mouth turned up in a slight smile. For some reason, we had all stopped walking sometime during this sentence, and we were all staring at each other with wildly different expressions—Discord looked livid, Luna looked terrified, and me . . . well, I probably looked ridiculous. I felt my smile grow bigger slowly.
"What?" asked Discord defensively, scowling. The blush had faded from his face slightly, although his cheeks still looked pink. "We live longer than ponies, all right? Is it such a crime that I don't know what day I was born?"
"No, it's just that . . ." I shook my head to wipe the smile from my face. "It's just that Luna and I don't know when we were born, either. And we've been living about as long as you. It's just . . . interesting." I let my hair hang down over my face. "It's just interesting to know that draconequui live about as long as ancient ponies," I elaborated, feeling like I had to explain my excitement. Both Discord and Luna were staring at me strangely, apparently startled by my excitement. "Nothing big, really."
"Huh," said Discord. He lifted up his claw to his face and examined his nails. We both kicked at the ground uncomfortably.
"Uh . . . should we go?" I asked, clearing my throat to break the sudden silence.
"Right," said Discord quickly, nodding emphatically and starting to walk down the path further. I smiled to myself, glancing at his back. Luna flew up next to me, her brow crinkled in confusion. I didn't blame her—I hardly understood myself what had just happened and why it made me so pleased.
I turned my face towards the sun and kept on walking.
