Hiiiii! I'm here with the next chapter. Now, Luna's appearance wasn't very big, but here's what I think happened on the moon. The next chapter revolves around the Summer Sun Celebration and part of Luna's beginning back at Equestria. Now that I introduced Shard, comes the real beginning. This here is the end of the prologues. Hope I live to the expectations you guys have of me.
Review, comment and enjoy.
Luna: Thy will say that Micro doesn't own anything. Check previous chapter for full disclaimer. Nos onward with this story!
?POV
I woke up with the creak of a tree outside. Craning my head towards the entrance of the cave, I look and find a fallen pine tree leaning on the mouth of the cave. 'Hope that those guys didn't find me again.' I carefully remove my wing from the petite equine sleeping next to me, head over to the mouth of the cave and move the tree, grabbing some of the bigger branches for making a bonfire(?). I haul...more like drag the branches to where we were sleeping with my tail, avoiding the extra weight on my bruised leg. It takes me some time with my limping, but I manage to make it and place the biggest branches in a circle like pattern, lighting it up with my fire breath. I look over to my equine companion, and she's shivering, her lips slightly blue from the cold; so I decide to cover her up again with my wing and do so until she wakes up. I didn't have to wait long. "Fuaaaahh." She yawned, a cute little one at that; grabbing the edge of my wing, she repositioned it, getting comfortable again and dozing off.
I chuckled and nudge her head with my snout a few times until she woke up. "Mmmmm..." She stretched her legs and groggily looked up at me. "Morning..." Her eyes opened like saucers and she frantically looked around, but calmed down a few seconds later. I twist my head a bit to the side, and she sighs. "I-i'm sorry...I forgot where I was for a moment." I let out the air I was unconsciously holding and she giggled a bit. "Thank you...for everything..." She was hiding her face behind her bubblegum pink mane, a small blush on her face. I nod and stand up from my spot near her and approach the fire, not really knowing what to do. I watched as she went to the mouth of the cave and came back rather quickly. "The blizzard hasn't stopped...I guess that we'll stay here until it blows over."
I nod and place my head on my paws. She looks at me with a nervous expression, at my wing, then back at me. 'Maybe she wants me to cover her again?' I lift my wing and pat he ground under it with my tail, she flashes a nervous smile and hesitantly lays down close to me, and I gently lower my wing over her. "Um, can you talk? I heard you last night and was wondering if you could, or was it me?" I looked at her surprised. 'She heard me?' I took a few breaths to steady myself and built the courage. "Yeah. Although I thought I said it after you fell asleep." A smile got plastered on her face. "You can talk! I've never met a talking dragon before. How did you hurt your wing?...Your leg! How is it?" She was over my leg, checking it over. "It's nothing a day's rest won't fix. I don't want to talk about how I got hurt right now. My question is, how did you get lost in Timberwolf Forest?"
Fluttershy POV
'He doesn't want to talk about how he got hurt...he'll tell me when he's comfortable.' I was sitting next to him, curled up in a ball while looking at him. "Timberwolf Forest? - he nodded- Well, I was looking around for a bad creature with my friends, but came up empty. When we were about to leave, I found footprints of a bunny and went to check if he needed help, but I couldn't find the him. Searching for it, I found the tracks that led me here." He hummed and placed a log on the fire to keep it going. "Hey...uhh...mmm... What's your name?" His mouth fell open. "I'm sorry, I forgot that. My name is...Shard Jethro Firebrand, but you can call me Jethro, I don't like Shard." 'But Shard is a great name...I wonder why he doesn't like it?' I looked at his face, which was downcast. "Ok Jethro. Where are you from? Can all dragons talk? What species are you? Are all dragons like you?" I asked question after question, unaware that they were a bit too many questions. "I'm from a place very far from here. Its a small village, but we managed. Dragons never look alike, even in family...what were the other questions?" He rubbed his neck sheepishly, which made me smile.
"I asked if all dragons can talk, and what species are you?" "All dragons can talk after they grow a bit, and I'm a Nyct dragon. Nyct dragons have some magic power, but not as much strength as other species." I sat in silence, taking in everything he said, and he stood up. "The blizzard stopped for now. You should return to your home, I'll be fine here." I scowled. "I'm not leaving until I'm sure your leg is ok." Getting close, I started rubbing his leg until I found a spot where he flinched. "...This here's a sprained ankle. I'll go get some packed snow to lower the swelling, and apply some pine needles to clean it." Under the hard scales there was a cut, not very deep mind you, but it could get infected anytime soon, so I left, ignoring his calls . I shivered when I stepped outside, grabbing as fast as I could the snow and a few needles of the pine over the cave entrance. I reached him, and shivering slightly, I applied the pine needles I chewed, rubbing it in under the scales and then the ice. "You'll stay off of your leg so it can heal. I'll be back tomorrow to bring you food."
"You don't have to do that, I'll manage on my own." He said. I quickly looked back. "No excuses mister, you better do as I say so you heal. Besides, friends help each other out. You helped me last night, and I'll help you get better... is there anything you want?" He shook his head. "Nothing in particular, anything is fine, just don't tell anyone about me. Dragons aren't very popular around these parts." I nodded. 'I can understand why...not every dragon is as nice as him...maybe if he comes with me to Ponyville when he heals, people could see he's not bad.' "I'll come back tomorrow morning with food. Bye Jethro! And stay off of your leg!" I shouted, well, it sounded more like a loud whisper. He waved at me and I left.
Once home, I met an angry bunny, who demanded to know where I was last night. "Angel bunny, I got stranded in a cave last night. A dragon I met took care of me while I slept as thanks for fixing his wing." Angel bunny raised his little paws and made a fighting gesture. "Oh no. Jethro is a nice dragon. I promised him food, so I should go to town...*gasp* We're supposed to search for the dangerous creature today...which is Jethro! Oh, how am I supposed to explain to the girls that we can't go searching for the creature? And how am I going to explain to them that I made friends with it, a dragon no less?" I kept pacing back and forth in my living room, trying to think of a way to solve this while Angel bunny jumped on a table and was yelling at me. "Angel bunny, I can't think with you yelling at me, so could you please keep it down?" I asked, but he just kept yelling. "Shut up please..." I raised my voice a bit. "SHUT UP!" He finally stopped yelling at me and I sighed.
Knock Knock
"Kyaaa!" I got startled and flew up, hitting myself in the head with the roof. "Fluttershy? You there?" From outside, I heard Sweetie Bell calling. "Just a second." I trotted to the door and opened it. "Hello Sweetie Bell, what brings you here?" She wasn't happy and jumpy like usual. "Well, Applejack sent me to tell you that she won't be able to make it today for the search. Applebloom was supposed to come to town to sell the apples with Big Macintosh and us, but she got sick and had to stay at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack took her place at the cart." "Oh gosh, that's terrible." Sweetie Bell sighed. "Yeah, we were going to try to earn our Cutie Marks with wood crafting." Sweetie Bell turned around and left. 'Well, with no search today, I could get Jethro's food.' I changed my scarf and exited my cottage, closing the door behind me.
3rd Person POV
The butter colored mare walked around Ponyville, and easily found Applejack's apple cart. "Well howdy Sugarcube. What'cha doin round here? There anythin' you need?" Applejack asked. "Well, yes...I need a cart of apples...if you don't mind.. " Applejack's mouth fell open. "A whole cart?! Why yeh need a whole cart for?" The apple farming mare had her hooves on the counter of her cart, leaning forward towards Fluttershy. "Well...I-I need it for a new friend I made in the Everfree yesterday. He's badly hurt and can't get food on his own, so I told him I was going to get him some tomorrow." Applejack held the pegasus by her shoulders. "Did ya get hurt or somethn? You got attacked by the strange beast?" Applejack was checking Fluttershy for any wounds, but the pegasus waved a hoof. "Oh no. I was so caught up with the bunny yesterday that I had to stay in a cave last night and wait out the blizzard. Inside the cave I found this wonderful creature that I thought it was going to eat me at first, but he had crashed while flying and broken a wing. After I fixed his wing, I fell asleep and in the morning today I promised to bring him food tomorrow."
Fluttershy finished her story and Applejack had her mouth agape. "Close your mouth, or flies will get in." The earth pony's mouth was closed by the pegasus' hoof. "If you can get the cart to my house tomorrow, I'll be very grateful, and I'll also take it to him." "Sugarcube, I'll help ya. A cart is not light, and I doubt y'all could drag it throuh the forrest on yer own." Applejack answered after shaking her head. "Oh no...I can't ask you to do it...I don't want to bother you. It would be an inconvenience..." The orange colored mare placed her hoof around her shoulder. "Nonsense Sugarcube. You don't inconvenience me in the slightst. Besides, you bought more apples than I sold 'n this whole week. I'll be at yer house after nine tah help with the cart." "O-ok." The butter colored mare placed the bits on the counter and left to complete the checklist of items to buy she started yesterday, but was interrupted by the search.
(Location: the Moon)
The barren land overlooked the world, a purple-blue alicorn gazing sadly at it, specifically the tallest mountain of her memories. "Thou plan on gazing down at your previous home?" The booming voice sent venom filled words at her. "Well, 400 years is a lot of time to think, and what thy sister Celestia said all those years ago sounds...reasonable now." The purple-blue mare sighed, resting her head on her crossed hooves. "Huh, this comes from the very same alicorn that threatened to bring eternal night, thou disgust me. - The dark blue alicorn made a retching sound, the purple-blue miasma surrounding her image. - Now you regret what you did? Don't you remember that your own sister banished you to this millennial prison? Hath every other pony under your rule slept through the night, adoring your sister through the day and not even thanking you?" The canterlot voice was truly loud, and the purple-blue mare flattened her ears to her head.
"Of course thy regret it! Bringing eternal night would destroy the crops and drive the population to starvation" The purple-blue mare looked at the dark blue one, with a matter of fact face. The dark blue mare, towering above the purple-blue one smacked her on the head. "You're naive. Celestia banished you to take over your job, and get all the credit." The smaller alicorn rubber the spot on her head. "You're just jealous that she's older. Thanks to all this time, thy finally understood that the ponies don't shun the night, they enjoy it in a subtle way. Without the night, they would drive themselves to death and the plants wouldn't grow." The taller of the two snorted and walked a bit away. "Pulease, the earth ponies can make them grow if they work hard, and if that fails, we can use out magic to make it grow."
The purple-blue alicorn stood up. "We can't just head to every place they grow trees and use our magic. That would be like driving us to death." "Humph, way better than living here." The dark blue alicorn looked away, a smirk across her face. With her mind, she directed the miasma through the blindspot of the purple-blue alicorn. "What are thou...Ahhh!" The smaller alicorn felt something pierce her flank. "Jajajajajajajaja! This time I'll succeed for sure! I'll defeat thou and when this prison ends, I shall bring eternal night!" Pain coursed through the purple-blue alicorn. "Not if...thy can...help it..."
She felt Nightmare attacking her mind, and she knew that her magic wasn't enough this time. 'I won't win this time...if I can place a spell to lock out my mind...' "Hah! That spell won't work, thou don't have enough time..." Nightmare(the miasma manifested itself as Nightmare Moon) laughed triumphantly. "Don't underestimate thy!" The horn of the purple-blue alicorn shone brightly a cobalt blue, and with a small blast, finished. "Rahhhhhhh! I'm locked out of the core of her mind! But now I can control your body...I don't know if that was brave of you or stupid, Luna."
(Back at Ponyville)
9:30 am
The orange coated mare walked down the path towards Fluttershy's cottage, followed by Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. "How come y'all are followin me?" Rarity decided to answer. "Well, we saw you with this huge cart of apples and figured: she must be headed to Fluttershy's, but the amount of apples is abnormal, and we wanted to check it out." The rest nodded in agreement. "Yep! And also we want to see if Fluttershy found the bunny." Pinkie hopped ahead, knocking very fast on Fluttershy's door. "Fluttershy! We're here!" There was the sound of a falling china, and then a yelp. "Sugarcube, you ok?" Applejack glanced over the window, looking at the shy pegasus' living room, and the door opened a few moments later.
"I-I'm fine. A tea cup just fell." They all looked inside and found the broken tea cup with it's contents spilled on the floor. "I'm really sorry Fluttershy, I'll replace your broken tea cup." She waved a hoof. "Oh...it's ok. Why are you all here?" Applejack spoke up. "They began followin me for some reasons..." "Yeah! I wanted to know what happened to the bunny?" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Well...I couldn't find him..." Fluttershy replied sadly. "Awwww..." Pinkie's smile dropped for a second. "Too bad. Maybe we can find him now that spring's here." "Maybe you're right Pinkie." Fluttershy seemed more joyful now. "Can ya show us where yer friend is so we can delivr the apples?" The orange earth pony asked. The butter colored mare looked down, shuffling nervously. "I don't know...I told him I wasn't going to tell anyone about him..." "Worry not darling, we shall keep this secret and carry it to our graves if we must." Rarity said, placing a hoof on her chest. Pinkie Pie made her mantra "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!", she even poked her eye with a hoof...painful. Applejack promised not to tell and Rainbow did as well. With a small voice, she told the rest to follow her.
They all walked following Fluttershy, but Applejack struggled to drag the cart. "Hey AJ, need any help?" Rainbow got next to Applejack and hitched herself to the cart. "Now it'll be easier." The farmer smiled. "Thanks Rainbow." They continued in silence, except for Pinky Pie, who sang an unknown song.
Aaaaaauuuuuhhhhhhh!
Every single one of them huddled close to the cart. "That t'was a Timberwolf..." "W-we're not far away...let's hurry to the cave." Fluttershy's trembling voice urged them to move. When they were a few meters from the cave, three Timberwolves surrounded them. "Oh my gosh...what are we to do?" The three wolves circled them, ready to pounce at any moment.
ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRR
The three wolves looked at the cave, terrified, and slowly backed away, leaving the five ponies standing still. "Jethro!" Fluttershy flew inside the cave. "Fluttershy! Don't go in there!" Applejack called, but was ignored. "What should we do? She went straight to that dangerous creature!" Rarity panicked, not ready to fight. The two pulling the cart unhitched themselves and looked at the cave. "We have to go in there and rescue Fluttershy!" With a unanimous nod, they charged inside. There, it was completely dark, but what made them stop in their tracks was a growling that sent a chill down their spines. Inside, their minds told them to run as far away from there as possible, but their muscles didn't react to them. "Now Jethro, these are my friends. Calm down."
They could hear Fluttershy, but her voice came from deeper in the cave. The growling died down, and after finding their strength back, the four trotted closer to where they heard their friend, finding a bonfire in the middle of a chamber. "Fluttershy, you ok?" Rainbow Dash asked worried. Seconds later, she appeared from a corner of the same chamber. "Girls, this here is Jethro...come out now, they won't hurt you." All of them looked in the same direction, and gasped, Rarity fainted. "Sugarcube, why's a d-dragon here?" The crimson red dragon stepped into the light of the fire, showing himself. "Well...he crashed and hurt himself. I helped him and now he's my friend." They were all skeptical about a nice dragon. "That's true you know. She healed my wing, and now my leg." They all watched as he shook his leg.
"So you won't hurt Fluttershy or us?" Pinkie Pie was up to the dragon's snout, poking it with a hoof and a angry face, and he nodded. "Great! We need to throw you a party!" The rest sighed, not knowing how could she trust so easily.
At Celestia's Castle
"Princess Celestia, I bring dire news!" The pegasus guard ran in, breathing heavily. "Relax young one, now tell me, what are these news you bring?" Her soft, but regal tone really worked wonders, as the pegasus calmed down. "News from the border. What looks like a squad of dragons flying into Equestria, approximately four." The alicorn looked surprised for a moment. "Thank you. Do not worry, I'll put the best guards on this, you may leave for a rest." The armored pegasus bowed. "Thank you, princess." He left, leaving the princess to her thoughts. 'Why would dragons come to Equestria? To take revenge on what happened 1000 years ago?' The princess' horn glowed yellow and a parchment with a quill hovered in front of her. "My dearest sister...Luna..."
(A week later)
The packing of winter had happened, and they were late to bring spring. The more time passed, the more Fluttershy got worried. "Can you get another cart of apples for Jethro? Wrapping up winter took more than we expected, and we didn't give him food for this many days." The orange mare looked at the sky, thinking. "I could bring it, say, tomorrow mornin by yer house?" This pleased the shy pegasus. "Great, I'll see you tomorrow then." Fluttershy gently flew away. "She's too kind fer her own good sometimes..."
Next day rolled by, and the five of them were walking towards the cave where Jethro was. "He simply must be starving, how come we didn't think about this?" Rarity had gotten over her initial fear and now could mingle with the creature. "We simply forgot, I'm sure he's fine." Rainbow reassured, but mentally she was worried. They all arrived at the cave, and found the empty cart at the entrance. "Jethro! You in there?" Pinkie shouted, but didn't wait long for an answer. "Stay away! I'm a monster." The voice was raspy and didn't sound very well. "Jethro, yeh aint a monster, yer a dragon and our friend. So we're comin in." "Noo!" Fire came out towards the entrance, and they all shrieked, hiding behind some trees. "Jethro, you sound sick...what happened?" Fluttershy was at the entrance of the cave, worry painted all over her face. "Get away Fluttershy...you won't like what I've become..." The shy pegasus looked back at her friends and gestured for them to get closer. "Wait here." She said and walked inside the cave. "Jethro, what do you mean by a *gasp* What happened?" Fluttershy flew close to him and inspected his scales.
Their crimson color was now grey-ish, there were spots where they had completely fallen off, and his horns were cracked, one of them fell off." Get away from me Fluttershy, you shouldn't see me like this." The rest of her friends arrived and were shocked. "What happened to you?" Rarity was trying to contain herself. "Well, this happens when a dragon reaches the end of his life cycle..." Tears welled up in the mare's eyes. "So...this is...the end?" Fluttershy asked between sobs and sniffles. "I'm afraid so Fluttershy...but don't worry, we'll meet again soon..." The sentence broke the last bit of her resolve and she collapsed, hugging his neck while crying. Rarity brought a hoofkerchief with her magic and cleaned her tears; Pinkie Pie joined Fluttershy in hugging Jethro; Rainbow was trying to be strong, but failed miserably and Applejack hid her face under her hat. Using all the strength he could muster, he pushed both mares that were on his neck away. "Well, this is goodbye for now...I'm glad you're here to see this..." The butter colored mare extended a hoof to him, but was stopped by Applejack. "...there's nothin we can do Sugarcube..."
She sniffed, while the shy pegasus kept crying. Jethro walked over to the bonfire he kept in the chamber and laid down around it. At first, nothing happened, but then he burst into a massive flame, swallowing the small fire. Rainbow finally gave in and began to cry softly; while the rest either looked away, or lowered their gazes to the floor, droplets of tears falling on the ground. Five minutes passed until the fire finally died down. In it's place, a pile of ashes lay, bringing sorrow to the five mares. They all turned around and exited the chamber, Fluttershy carried by Applejack.