My little pony belongs to Hasbro I don't own any locations or characters appearing in the show
Thanks to rainbowstorm1001 for permission to use their character
Chapter 7
《Canterlot castle, POV Princess Luna》
As I sat in my chambers I decided to walk out on the balcony to observe the purple-orange skies that stretched over the horizon, the night will be starting in a few hours, and with it, my duties as a Princess.
It was all so surreal, just short of a month ago after I was freed and everything seemed to be moving at a breakneck pace, everything was so different and yet familiar at the same time, the Canterlot still standing strong even after a thousand years, and even my castle slowly being rebuilt thanks to Rose
Rose.. her visits really helped me out with familiarizing myself with changes that occurred during my absence, she barely changed from the pony I knew all those years ago, always full of energy able to go on for hours with anypony she talks with, not much different from me, heh solitude can do this to ya
'Speak of the devil' I thought as I spotted a blur heading towards the Canterlot balcony
"Carefull there, any faster and you might've broken every window in Canterlot" I teased her with a smirk on my muzzle
"Huff.., My magic is still recovering from long-range teleportation Puff.., I figured it'll be better to just get it over with faster" she said gasping for breath "and I wanted to check out my full speed, I don't get to do that often" she finished, managing a smile of her own
"Ah, I understand, let's come inside" I really did, after becoming a Princess nearly 1400 years ago me and Cel rarely got to fly for fun, now we had to always have guards at our sides and you might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack to find a pegasus who could keep up
"So, long-range teleportation spell? Was that the reason behind that missed visit?" I asked as we both took seat near a burning fireplace
"Uh yes, Kalaha found another one of her gadgets and needed me to get it" she said, hoof absentmindedly rubbing a burnt looking spot
"Hm so there are still some left there, and here I thought we got them all"
"That's the thing with ancient civilizations, there's always more. At least we have two of three alcorn amulets, Kalaha thinks the item we found might help with finding the third"
These amulets were extremely dangerous, I was aware of only two existing, a third one could find itself onto the wrong hoofs and that would be unacceptable.
Possibly nothing my distressed face Rose quickly elaborated
"Oh don't worry Luna, during a few other adventures we encountered an archeologist, Daring Do she calls herself, her 'mission' is to bring any and every artifact out of the wrong hoofs straight to the museum, so even if it somehow slips under our noses we can be sure that if she finds it she'll bring it straight to Celestia"
"Phew, that's good news, at least you're not doing this alone. But even then, you can ask for help anytime and I'll help you to the best of my ability" the last pony to misuse one of the amulets was King Sombra, we can't accept something like this happening again.
"Moving on, what do you want to talk about today? We have at least 3 hours before you'll need to start rising the moon"
"Maybe you could tell me if something changed in the Guard during this time, Cel was always the pacifist I would imagine she would change something during a 1000 years of peace" That was a topic that interested me greatly, even tough I couldn't see any changes at first glance something had to be different
《The Everfree forest, Zecora's hut, POV Twilight》
"Oh, well I think we can help you with that" I said to Zecora, it's the least we could do
"A moment, Twilight?"Just as we were leaving the hut I heard her voice beckoning me to her
"Of course Zecora, what is it?"
She gestured to the outside, deeper into the forest, her face soft as she answered "Friends you may not yet be, acquaintances more fitting would be. Secrets she holds more than anypony. For this shield to break, a lot of time it will take"
"Wha-" She didn't say anything more leaving me confused while I joined the rest of the girls on the outside
"What were ya two talkin' about?"
I sighed "I don't know Applebloom..." this was very confusing, who was she talking about? I decided to dwell on it later, right now we had more important things to do
"Alright girls let's head out" I said as we set out on a path out of the Everfree, hopefully without any flowers on our way
《The Canterlot, Luna's quarters, POV Rose》
"And that's about it" I said as I finished telling the history of the guard.
"Hm, well good to know that my sister isn't that caught up in her pacifism to completely disregard it, I'll have to thank Thunderlane later" she looked thoughtful for a moment
"While we're on this topic could you tell me what happened to Grim and the rest of team? You kind of skimmed over that part."
I sighed, this won't be pretty "So... you remember what I've said about what happened directly after your 'banishment'?" She nodded "Well it weren't just some of the Royal Guards that left, the FB kind of.. broke"
"What do you mean?" She asked before shock overtaken her features "no.. they didn't, right?"
"No there weren't any fights, not physical at least. After you left some them just.. lost their drive, some gone to become mercenaries, some returned to their home lives but Capitan Grim stayed, heh.. he was the only reason the Firebolts exist even now."
Luna solemnly gestured for me to continue
"Now, I only have the information I got from rumors but supposedly he gave a very rough talk to Celestia and made sure that all of the guard stayed in top shape, to do that he stepped down from his position as the Leader of the Firebolts and became the most fearsome Captain of the Royal Guard they have ever seen"
Now Luna looked more comfortable than before but the traces were still there, I felt like I needed to set something straight
"Luna, listen. You are not at fault here, no one could've predicted what would happen, believe me if I known what you were going through I would immediately help you. 'Now and again' right?"
《Flashback, Everfree, 1450 years ago》
I walked through the lush forest of the everfree, grateful for the peace it granted, the stars shining beautifully on the night sky
"*sob* *sob*"
I stopped, somepony crying in the middle of the forest? Why would anypony go so deep into everfree?
I pushed through the lush vegetation, the sight was shocking, a green alicorn with a dark red-brown mane.
How is it possible? I thought but that question was unanswered as I stepped closer to the crying mare
"Are you alright?" The words barely left my muzzle as she immediately turned to me and jumped a few meters away from me
"Who are you?! Please don't hurt me" she shrieked, still spilling tears
"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt you, I heard your cry and followed it until I reached you" I explained "what happened?"
Her guard lowered slightly "I... don't know, at one moment I see these white monsters, it was so cold" she shuddered "there was a lot of this green fire and then there was darkness and I woke up here"
She seemed calmer now "What's your name?"
That confused me, who wouldn't recognize a newly crowned Princess? I answered all the same "My name is Princess Luna, what's yours?"
"Rose.." she whispered
"Don't worry Rose, you have nothing to fear, I'll help you"
"Really? You'll be my friend?" She asked
'Friends? She wants to be friends with me?'
That took me aback, besides my sister I was never the popular pony, even after the coronation and becoming a Princess never did anypony ask me such a request
"Yes I'll be your friend" I said, in my mind i was overjoyed, I made a friend, after so long I've actually done it. But right now she needed help and I'll do everything I need to help her
"Promise?" She said her expression more relaxed and bright
"Now and again" I said as she ran at me and trapped me in a hug, I being almost the same size as her got knocked on the ground
As she began to look apologetic I burst out laughing, never did anypony would even think to tackle-hug me and yet my new friend done it almost immediately. As my laughter filled the air, she also joined in.
Today was the best gala night I've ever had
《End flashback》
"Now and again" Luna said, a smile clearly visible on her muzzle "it seems its already time. Thank you for the visit Rose I'll look forward to the next one"
As we walked to the balcony Luna stood there for a moment "You want to wach me raise the moon?" She asked, already knowing the answer
"Of course"
A.N: some may be confused by flashback Rose here
This isn't the same Rose we see in chap 6. Rose now is very different from when she first meet Luna and we'll see more flashbacks picturing how Rose ended up like this over the course of 450 years
A.N 1.5: After nearly 3 months I got around to writing chapter 7, it was a great time. An idea struck me and I just had to take the opportunity so after debating over what should they talk about I've chosen to include Lunas reaction to the fact that an alicorn amulet is on the loose and some fluff towards the end. As this is my first time writing fluff it might be a little wierd
Also thanks to anyone who read this story so far and I hope everyone is having a great day