Secrets and Lies
By Jmozziel
Chapter 1: Death at Hoof
Twilight Sparkle stretched and yawned, knocking over the candle. The room plunged into darkness and Twilight mumbled lightly under her breath. She righted the candle and lit it again with a simple fire spell. She turned back to her once again illuminated book and flipped the page. Immediately she was lost in the words. She was brought out of this stupor by a loud thud and a cry of pain. Twilight stood up in shock, but then her eyes narrowed. I bet Rainbow Dash has tried yet another trick too dangerous for her. I'm going to have to have a nice heart to heart about this whole library crashing thing she has going on.
Twilight walked up the stairs to her room, her glowing horn casting eerie shadows on the wall. The sight that met her at the top of the stairs was not Rainbow Dash, but another pegasus? His mane was cropped too short and he was too well built to be Rainbow Dash. She blinked hard as the pegasus slowly and shakily rose to his feet. What she saw next caused her to blanch. Two arrows stuck out of his right side, nearly severing the wing. Blood ran down his charcole gray coat and through his pure white mane. Twilight started to approach the pony, who seemed vaguely familiar. "Moonbeam?" She questioned. The pony turned and she saw it was indeed the pony in question. His eyes met hers. They seemed to swirl between a deep blue and the pale white of a dead pony. Twilight found the sight disturbing and quickly averted her gaze to the ground.
Moonbeam all of the sudden cried out with a vigor very much unlike that of a pony near death, but rather that of a pony in the middle of a fight. "Back, get back! I don't know if I can fight them off!" Before Twilight could question who they were two unicorn, muscle buldging earth pony, and a slender pegasus appeared in a bright flash of spell light. They were covered head to hoof in a deep, flowing purple outfits. Their eyes peered out from the masks, examining the turn of events. They stood for a second longer as if comptemplating the second pony that was Twilight Sparkle. Suddenly, the pony that appeared to be the leader spoke in a hissing undertone.
"Ah, What luck, the meddlesome detective and one of the elements of harmony. Perhaps the elements of disharmony will have an easier time bringing back our leader, Nightmare Moon?" The speakers voice reminded Twilight Sparkle of the hissing of a snake about to strike. There was no doubt in her mind now. She should have listened to Moonbeam when he first told her to run. Twilight's head turned at another noise equally as disturbing. Moonbeam stood there, a low gutteral growl coming from his throat. His wings suddenly flared out dislodging one of the arrows and spattering blood on the bookshelves. Moonbeam's low held stance clearly stated his intentions. He would not surrender.
The assassins immediatly fanned out, each bent low preparing to spring. the unicorns and the pegasus leapt in unison at the injured Moonbeam. The earth pony sprang at Twilight as if he had been thrown by a catapult. She gasped and fell back, narrowly avoiding a long, wicked looking blade that had appeared in the assassin's hoof. The assassin leapt again and this time Twilight managed to redirect all her energy into a sheild spell. As her horn dimmed so did the room. It instead was bathed in an eerie violet glow. Slowly that too began to falter under the relentless assult of the assassin. Twilight suddenly plunged the room into near total darkness. She heard the tell tale woosh of the assassin and just as suddenly, lit her horn as bright as she could muster. She felt the blade pass through her mane and heard the pony cry out as his eyes were seared by the light. Under a softer light Twilight turned to face the dazed assassin. Before Twilight could stop herself she surrounded a nearby bookshelf in magic and brought it down with a sickening thud ontop of the assassin. Blood splashed onto her hooves and she turned away, her stomach heaving.
Twilight turned to examine the fight between Moonbeam and the remaining assassins. Moonbeam, it seemed, could handle himself quite well and had dispatched one of the unicorns, but spells still flew about wildly from the remaining unicorn and the pegasus launched himself again and again at Moonbeam. The dead unicorn's throat was savagely slashed and blood glowed under the light of her horn. I need to stop this madness, this can't go on! Twilight decided on a stun spell that would in theroy stun everyone in the room. As she gathered the magic though, sparks began to fly from her horn. The she more she tried to concentrate the more her mind wandered to the dead assassin under the bookshelf. The one that she had killed. With one last mighty effort she closed her eyes and concentrated on the spell. The combination of the spell and the stress was too much for her magical ability. The resulting blast knocked everypony flying. It sent books tearing across the room, paper torn from them catching fire, and shelves started crumbling. Twilight was thrown against the wall like paper. Blackness set in immediately and she knew no more.
Twilight Sparkle slowly came to. The remains of her spell seemed to still be lingering, dimly glowing, in the center of the room She shook her head in a daze and looked at the shattered remains of the clock. Only an hour had passed. Her eyes fell on the grisly sight. The Elements of Disharmony lay, bloody, strewn around the room. The blunt trauma on their bodies was clear. In the center lay the pegasus. His tattered wings were out stretched and feathers lay around him, torn from their pin holes. Mercifully he had been thrown against the now upturned mattress of the bed. He seemed to still be alive, if just barely. She stumbled woozily down the stairs. I must find some paper and summon the princess, she'll know what to do. Twilight found a sheet of paper, some ink, and a quill and began writing. The process was long because she couldn't concentrate enough to write magically. Instead she wrote in a sloppy scrawl with her mouth.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I was just attacked by a group of assassins who called themselves The Elements of Disharmony; or rather they attacked a pegasus in my room at the library. I don't know what's happening, but there has to be an explanation and I think that maybe if you saw the scene you could make sense of it. Come to the Ponyville Library ASAP.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
"Spike!" Twilight called out. "Crap, I forgot he is with Rarity supervising the Cutie Mark Crusader's slumber party." She rested a few more moments and felt her horn. She could faintly feel some magic returning. She concentrated with all her might. It was, in her mind, imperative that the letter reach Princess Celestia. With a burst of magic the letter was on its way. Her vision was tainted black at the edges from the massive amount of effort she had put into the spell. She now knew she was truely out of magic for the moment. She could only hope the letter reached its intended recipient.
Twilight's stomach proceeded to heave violently. She could not shake the feeling of death from the room. Her mind began to wonder to the fight upstairs and the assassin under the bookshelf. Her previous meal succeeded in finally coming out. She lay down, shivering, and tried to find the sweet release of sleep. When it did come though, her dreams were filled only with the eyes of the dead assassin, calling to her.
"Why? Why did you kill me?"
Princess Luna was enjoying her evening. Everything had been going well. She would even admit that it felt as if the court was beginning to accept her again. Her thoughts were interrupted by the flash of a scroll appearing.
"That's weird," she said out loud, "Who would need to send letters by magic to me?" She unrolled the letter and quickly read its contents. The letter dropped from her grasp. She knew who Moonbeam was. She ran as fast as she could to Princess Celestia's room; the news hot on her lips.
"Celly! He's been found!" Princess Luna burst into the room, startling Celestia off her giant maroon pillow bed. "He's in Ponyville of all places, but we have to go now. He's badly injured and every second we waste is another second gone." By now Luna was almost in a frenzy, shaking her sister back and forth. She proceeded to jump out the window into the night and fly in the direction of Ponyville. Princess Celestia stood in alarm. She quickly called the captain of the guard and ordered him to send a dozen of his best ponies to follow her. The Princess then galloped from the hall, out the front door, and took flight into the moonless night.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. She was instantly blinded by a bright light and shaded her eyes against the intruding sun. She couldn't see anything, but slowly everything came into focus. At first she wasn't sure where she was. She let out a groan as recognition set it. The blank white walls of the Ponyville hospital met her gaze. That could only mean that last night's events had not been a nightmare.
"Everyone! She's awake." A voice in the hall shouted. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy tumbled into the room. Each was in disraught state. Pinkie's mane was almost straight, Rarity's purple mane was frazzled, and it looked like Applejack hadn't combed her blonde mane in a few days. Everypony had bags under their eyes; a testament of a sleepless night. "Boy are we glad to see 'ya," exclaimed Applejack, the rest following suit. "We had tah see 'ya when we found out you were here. The princesses didn't stay long and didn't explain anything. They left us letters, but they were vague as to why you were here."
Pinkie Pie launched herself and enveloped Twilight in a bear hug. "I'm so glad you're ok! Those nasty letters made it sound like you were dying!" Tears streamed down Pinkie Pie's face as she pressed it hard into Twilight's shoulder.
"I'm fine," Twilight reassured her friends, "It's really nice that you came to visit me, but I suffered no more than a few cuts and bruises. We should be more worried about the pegasus who fought so bravely. In fact we should throw him a party!" Pinkie Pie perked up at this and wiped the tears away. She managed a half hearted smile.
A noise from the hall drew everypony's attention. Moonbeam stood in the door. His side was completely wrapped up in bandages, as was part of his head. He was a deathly pale. He stood there, rocking on his hooves, and for a second everypony thought he was going to fall over. He opened and closed his mouth several times. When he finally spoke it was in a quiet, hoarse voice.
"I...I think I owe you an explination." It looked as if he was going to launch into a story but was cut off by the sudden appearance of a nurse.
"Thank Celestia I found you!" The nurse exclaimed, "You should not be out and about. You're gonna be here a long time as it is. No reason to lengthen that time." Moonbeam was ushered out leaving the six good friends to wonder about what he had been about to say.
It was two busy months later before anyone saw Moonbeam again. He had been kept in the Ponyville hospital because his injuries were deemed too sever to move all the way to Canterlot. His wings were raw, but new feathers were forming. His coat seemed like it could not be fixed. Long scratches marked where he had taken blows during the night fight and the arrow wounds had scarred over. Moonboom thought he was ready to be released from the hospital because of this. The nurses however wanted him to stay longer to let feathers in his wing more fully form.
It came as a suprise to everypony when Moonbeam was let out almost two weeks early. He had felt lonely and needed some company. He had used his best charm and had secured early release. He began thinking to himself as he walked aimlessly around town. Perhaps I could get Pinkie Pie to throw a party. That is, if they would be his friend after this whole fiasco. I could give them all a much needed explanation as to what had happened. They deserve that atleast. "Hey Pink...Oof" The wind was knocked out of him as a pink bundle of pony sprang into him, hugging him fiercely.
"Yay! You're out of the hospital! This means a welcome back party!" Pinkie cried in excitement, "Wait until all the others hear." Moonbeam winced in pain. Pinkie squealed with excitement and her famous streamers from nowhere came flying out. "Yay recovery! I got food already set up cause I knew you were going to be out today! Meet me at SugarCube Corner." Pinkie Pie disappeared seemingly into thin air leaving a confused Moonbeam standing in the road.
"Hey, what about inviting, ahh, whats the use." Moonbeam shook his head at the merry pony. No one would ever know how she really functioned.
Moonbeam walked towards Sugar Cube Corner. Typical Pinkie Pie. Somehow that pony manages to have a party for anything. He walked towards the front door and pushed it open. The room was completely dark. A sudden flash of light filled the room and Moonbeam squinted. As his eyes ajusted a rainbow colored cake came into view. Standing around it were six ponies. They smiled widely and shouted "Suprise" at the top of their lungs. Fighting his way through multicolored streamers and a sea of confetti Moonbeam made his way to the exhuberant mares. Moonbeam briefly hugged each mare. He backed up after hugging the last pony and sagged.
"I don't deserve this." The guilt could be seen clearly in Moonbeam's eyes. "I'm afraid that I lied to you all. You should just all unfriend me and go your seperate ways."
"What!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "No way would we ever abandon a friend!" Rainbow dash flew back in mock shock, he rainbow colored mane leaving a small rainbow line. " And you saved Twilight! That's plenty of reason to party!"
Rarity draped a hoof around the dejected pegasus' shoulder. "Anyways darling, we think that you probably had your own good reasons for this supposed lie you tell us you told.
"Umm, could you please; I mean if it's alright…" Fluttershy trailed off as she became the center of attention. Her pink mane seemed to grow and hide her face as she shrunk back.
Moonbeam turned a sad eye to Fluttershy. "No, it's ok, I think I know what you're asking and I'll only take a minuet to compose my thoughts." Moonbeam sat on the ground and pondered just about how he should go about explaining himself. "Well," he began, "for starters I'm not the weather pony looking for a new experience in a new town that first came here. I'm from the Canterlot Intelligence Agency. Specifically I'm a privite eye for Princess Luna. I was specifically hired because of my unnatural ability to uncover evidence and find ponies. I was investigating a cult bent on bringing Nightmare Moon to power. I came here because this cult was made to kill the elements of harmony to prevent a similar banisment of Nightmare Moon again. However, I had to hide my trail well. I was afraid I was being tailed. Not even Princess Luna knew where I was."
Applejack narrowed her eyes and leaned close to him. "But ah'm the element of honesty. When we first met yah told me yah were a weather pony investigating life in a new town." It was Moonbeam's turn to raise his eyebrows.
"No." He simply stated, backing off from Applejack slightly, "No. If you recall I told you that I was here investigating life here in Ponyville. I was investigating life in Ponyville. I also told you I would be taking a position as a weather pony. That was also true. I was specifically vague at those point because I knew you were the element of honesty. I was investigating your farm though, if thats the type of confession you're looking for. However, we are not here to argue that point. We are here to celebrate!" Moonbeam let a smile creep over his face. His guilt left his eyes and he ran over to the cake and took a huge bite. He turned back to look at the other six ponies in the room and beckoned them over. The six mares looked at themselves and then at him. His deep blue eyes sparkled and swirled like never before. It was then that they knew that everything would be okay.
Bright pinks and oranges lit the sky and the sun peeked over the horizen. A bleary eyed Moonbeam gazed at the sky from the entrance of Sugar Cube Corner. Dang, That was the longest party I've ever attended. I'm going to go home and sleep until next week and then finish those mystery books I do so enjoy. He happily cantered down the main Ponyville road and then turned up the dirt path leading to his cloud house. Wait a second. Cloud house? I'm injured, I can't fly! He stood stone still. His fluffy white house floated just out of reach. A breeze ruffled his mane but he took no notice. Neither did he notice the shadow of a light brown stetson flying towards him lazily. The hat gently settled on his head and jolted him out of his shock. In the distance an amber orange mare was trotting towards him.
Applejack stopped and waved. "Hey there Moonbeam. I'm sorry for being all up in yer face back at the party." Moonbeam trotted over. Applejack gently took the stetson off of Moonbeam's head and placed it back on her blonde mane. "Yah look shocked. Something wrong?"
Moonbeam sat down on his haunches and pointed at his house and then at his wing."You see, I can't fly and because of that my house is out of reach." Moonbeam continued to gesture to emphisize his point. 'It's going to be two weeks until I have sufficent amouts of feathers to fly up." This caused Applejack to fall back as well.
"That does seem to be a problem." Applejack stroked her chin in deep thought. "Ah suppose that fer tahday you could sleep in mah house's spare bedroom. Ah mean, that was what you were gonna do. Right?" Moonbeam continued to peer at his floating house. Already the merry little water fountain in front was beginning to dry up. He shook his head and stared back at Applejack.
Moonbeam shook his head again, bringing himself back to the present, and responded "What? Oh, right, ya, I'm was gonna sleep until tommarow. I would love to take your spare bedroom, but I don't want to impede. Surely you got work to do, I don't want to appear lazy. At the very least, hand me a job or two" They started walking back along the path leading to Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack laughed, "Hahaha! Actually, when Ah heard you were gettin' out early Ah did my chores for today before the party. Ah knew that there was a possibility that Pinkie's party would last all night. Ah always do the next days chores a day early before one of her parties. It lets me sleep as much as Ah need the day after the party. So atleast if you look lazy Ah'll look just as lazy." Moonbeam began to thank her for her kindness, but she cut him off, shoving her hoof into his mouth. "No thanks necessary, you saved Twilight's life." Moonbeam began to protest that he hadn't actually saved her when Applejack cut him off yet again with her hoof. "If you're dead set on some sort of payment then tell you what. Yah can tell me and the other gals the whole story of why yah were really here."
Moonbeam thought about this as they turned into the front gate of Sweet Apple Acres. It wasn't all a pleasant story. He continued to think as they entered Applejack's farm house. Finally he turned to her and said, "Sure, I've had enough of secrets and lies. I'll tell you mares anything you want to know tommarow. Now, wheres that room you mentioned. I'm...*yawn*...dead beat." Applejack just smiled and pointed at a door. Moonbeam walked in and there in the early morning sunshine was one of the most comfertable looking beds he had ever seen. He galloped through the barren room and threw himself onto the bed. He proceeded to worm and wriggle under the sheets until he was as comfey as could be. Lastly he reached up a hoof and pulled the curtains closed to douse the room in darkness. Applejack watched this in silent amusment before shutting the door and walking slowly to her own bedroom. It didn't take long for Moonbeam to fall asleep. His dreams took over and for once it wasn't a nightmare about that fateful night two months ago.
-End Chapter 1-
-Chapter 2: Moonbeam tells his story and reveals a little more about himself.-
Authors note: Alright, some of you may recognize this as the story once known by "Lies to Learn and Protect" However, following a review I had to majorly overhall alot of the story. This included a title change as I did not think the previous title would be very accurate in describing the story. Also, this may be down and up as I recieve more writing tips to improve this story to reach my ultimate goal so bear with me. May this be the final copy.