My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Game Thread)

[Empyrean]

A description of Maneflow

Maneflow is a small town in Equestria's countryside, established a hundred years ago. The town's buildings are spaced out, rambling all over the meadow it's built on and the hills surrounding it. There's a large, meandering river that flows down the center of town, dividing it neatly in half and crossed by a large bridge. The small neighborhood of Cirrus Heights drifts above, home to the local Pegasi. The lush hills stretching west and east beyond the town are dotted with small lakes and waterfalls, and are home to settlers and small farms. In the north, days away, are a range of high mountains, and to the south are plains that stretch for weeks before reaching the sea.

Notable Locations

Shadowdale Forest: The large forest that ends a day to the west of Maneflow. It's rich in lumber and animal life, so rich that the trees grow together and block out the sunlight for much of the day, hence its' name. A lot of local ponies gather medicinal herbs and sweet fruits and berries from the forest, but few venture deep into the woods without a reason. There is a path through the woods leading to the rest of Equestria proper, but it is seldom-used and not the best maintained road. The Maneflow River flows through here, and is a sure guide to the town for those who are lost, except on moonless nights, when the water is dark and silent.

Cirrus Falls: A waterfall that drops from Cirrus Heights into a small lake on the western end of town. It's a popular gathering spot.

Granny Granite's All-Purpose Shop: Maneflow's general store is built into one of the hills facing the town. It's a sturdy, stone and wood building that seems to grow from the hillside. The old earth pony mare running the place, Granite Crusher, is a friendly sort, with the gift of gab. She was an adventurous mountain pony in her day and she loves to talk about nature. Since she's starting to get a little senile, her teenage grandfilly Rocky can be seen about there often, tending the store.

Ding's Delivery: This ramshackle building is home to Ding Ding, a pegasus who is the closest thing the Maneflow area has to a post service. He's perky, spacy, and always on the move, but he'll get what you need where you need it.

Wyrmhome Range: The mountains north of Maneflow. Rumored to be home to dragons. Granny Granite claims this is true, but few of the locals take her completely seriously.

The Old Tower: Three days east from Maneflow, deep in the hills, is the broken remains of a stone tower. The local colts and fillies claim a mad mare lives there. Some say she lost her love and went crazy. Some say she's an evil sorceress or a criminal of some kind. Rumors and legends swirl around the place but most ponies treat it as an old mare's tale. The young treat it as a place for dares and challenges.









 

[Empyrean]

The purple mare looked out at the grassy countryside, dark eyes wide and a little dazed. Grass. Sky. Water. These things were like distant memories being brought back before her, and their vivid clarity was refreshing and startling both. How could I have forgotten all this? She looked around in wonder, then gasped and sighed as she felt the light, warm touch on her skin. She looked up and smiled.

The sun is so distant from here, but it's so much warmer than I remember. Sister did a good job.

"Princess? We should be on our way." The voice was professional, tinged with a bit of concern. The white stallion that had spoken cantered up, clad in the golden armor of the Royal Guard. Princess Luna nodded, still smiling.

"Yes of course. Just stretching my wings." She then did just that, stretching darkly feathered wings and raising her horn to the skies. With a reassuring look, she got back in the black and silver carriage, and two guardsponies took the reigns. They were just about an hour away from the place where dear Celestia had said she would find a way to get connected to the world again. What was it called again? Oh yes. Maneflow.

She settled back with a contented sigh. She was so looking forward to meeting all the wonderful ponies Celestia had said lived here.

[pendarious]

Sitting in the carriage Watching princess Luna flying about was a young unicorn by the name of Luminescent Dusk. She had been sent with the princess as both an aid and possible "Friend" as both the Arch Mage and Princess Celestia had put it. Her light blue coat flecked with red and purple could hardly be seen under her black cape. The hat she wore stayed nestled on her head the red feather seeming to shiver in the wind. Luminescent Dusk didn't much care for the scenary around them as her eyes focused on the seemingly young princess.

When Luna returned to the carriage the unicorn merely released a sigh and closed her eyes. "your majesty I do wish you wouldn't fly ahead of the guards like that....what if something unexpected were to happen to you?" she was speaking somewhat formally having been a courtier most of her life. She not only had concern for the princesses safety for fear of what might happen to herself should the princess have any tragedy befall her but she did also have some genuine concern for the Alicorn.

[Kunoichi]

Far up in the skies above Maneflow, a white-coated pegasus pony was hard at work pushing clouds into place.  There wasn't any rain scheduled for the day, of course, not on the big day when Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna herself was gracing their little town with her presence, (they needed bright skies to help make the town look as good as possible,) but completely cloudless days tended to be difficult to manage, given the town's local climate.  So, rather than have a small team of pegasus ponies work their hooves off for an entire day just to keep the sky cloud-free, it was decided that Maneflow's pegasus population could save time and effort by simply taking what clouds there were and arranging them in decorative ways.

For instance, spelling out 'Welcome, Princess Luna' in the sky in big, cloudy letters.  The white-coated pegasus, whose name was Sun Shower, had been assigned to take care of all the capital letters, and she was juuuuuust about done with the last one, just needing a few more pieces to make the big letter 'L'...

After that, she'd put herself on raincloud patrol, since nobody else had wanted to do it.  They all wanted to go to the festival and welcome the Princess to their fair town, and while she would have probably liked it as well, she hadn't specifically been looking forward to it, or anything.  There would be plenty of time to get to know the Princess later, after all, since she was staying in Maneflow for quite some time, and the festival itself would probably be a lot of pomp and ceremony.

She did find herself a bit curious as to whether or not the Princess would take an interest in the weather, though.  Other than that, she didn't usually have much to talk about.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash trotted through the Shadowdale Forest, his work harness securely fastened around his chest and back. He stopped at a dead tree he had found last week, and peered up at the family of squirrels still living in it. "I'm sorry, small friends," he said to them, sounding regretful, "but you're going to have to move. I have to pull this tree down, or it'll fall over by itself in the next big storm, and you could be hurt." The squirrels turned up their noses at him and went about their meal of nuts and berries. Either they didn't understand him properly, or they were simply being stubborn.

Sighing, Crash pulled a stick of blue chalk out of his saddlebags and marked a large blue X on the tree's trunk. He would come back to it later, maybe with a friend who could help the squirrels see sense.

He plodded on, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light under the forest canopy. As he passed each old-looking tree, he gave it a tap with a front hoof to gauge its health. After a few minutes of walking, he came to a large tree that still looked healthy to the untrained eye, but Crash could tell it was dying. He smiled. This was a good find - still alive enough to provide good wood for building and carving, but close to the end of its life, so it would not last much longer anyway. He drew a blue X on the trunk and got to work.

Over the course of an hour, Crash wrapped a series of ropes around the tree, fastening some of them into the ground and the others against his harness. He then drew a hatchet from his kit and severed some of the tree's roots, loosening its hold on the soil. Finally, he set his hooves against the ground and strained, muscles bunching in his powerful legs as he slowly walked away from the tree. Several minutes went by as he moved scant inches across the ground, until finally he heard the tree's remaining roots ripping out of the ground.

"TIMBER!" he shouted, more for his own enjoyment than to warn anypony else of the falling tree. He skittered out of the way as the tree crashed down, shaking the ground. He stood to admire his work for a moment, then busied himself at lopping off the tree's branches and bundling them up for transport, before dragging the fallen trunk back towards the Maneflow River.

Soon, he was perched atop the tree trunk as it floated downriver towards Maneflow town. He made sure the bundle of branches was securely lashed to the trunk, and then lay down for a snooze, opening his eyes briefly whenever the tree lodged against the riverbank. Finally, the tree trunk drifted into the vicinity of the town, and Crash stood up, waving excitedly to his friends in town whom he hadn't seen since his last visit, days ago. Come to think of it, wasn't something happening today? An important visitor? Crash couldn't quite remember, so he craned his neck as his tree floated through town, trying to see what was going on.

[Oracian]

     Dark Note was not worried about his father's absence from the theatre that was their home in Mule Orleans. Crimson Note was known for disappearing, and shirking his responsibilities. One of the first times he'd left the theatre, he returned a year later with Dark Note the colt. Now, he was needed to decide a family matter, and his son was sent after him. "Ah, father... Where have these wilds winds blown you this time?" Dark Note pondered as he flew north above the clouds of Equestria. Then off in the distance, a form in the clouds caught his eye.

     "But what is this? 'Welcome, Princess Luna'? How intriguing. I suppose my father could have stopped here to meet a princess. Surely it is worth looking into, at the very least I can have a warm bath and some good food." He changed his course slightly and headed for the quiet looking town on the river. As the distance grew less, and the details of the town took focus, he spied the neighborhood of Cirrus Heights floating lazily above the town, pouring it's falls into the lake below. "That looks like a perfect place to stop and rest," he thought. "Maybe I can find a lovely filly to show me around."

[Empyrean]

Luna looked abstracted for a moment, but then smiled at Dusk. "I'm certain that after a thousand years possessed by evil and trapped in the moon, there's little in this forest that can be a threat. But I do thank you, Miss...Luminescent Dusk, wasn't it?" The soft voice of the Princess trailed off as a resounding crash echoed through the forest and shook her hooves.

"Whatever was that?!" She started out towards where the crash had come from, starting to fly. Then she caught herself in mid-air and turned back to settle near the carriage. "I do apologize but I am curious. Are such crashes normal around here? Let's ask the townponies." She got back in and directed that the carriage start for Maneflow with all speed. Now she was really excited!

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk opened her eyes again as the princess spoke. The Alicorn did have a point however there could be dangerous creatures out here. "yes your majesty it is Luminescent Dusk" she affirmed for the princess. she was about to call out to Luna as she flew out but quickly returned and asked the guards to hasten their approach to the town.

The unicorn was relieved that Luna had decided to remain aboard the charriot and not get too carried away. She was starting to think that at this rate the princess might be the death of her via heart attack.

[Empyrean]

Luna fidgeted impatiently the entire trip, looking around like a newborn foal the whole time. When the carriage finally pulled up to the top of the hill overlooking Maneflow and stopped, she jumped out with relief. She took a long look over the place that would be her new home, wondering what the ponies here would be like, and how she would fit in.

Then one of the guardsponies blew a series of echoing trumpet notes to announce her arrival. With as much royal grace as she remembered from her rearing, she climbed back into the carriage and the royal party set off for Maneflow and the unknown.

[pendarious]

Luminescent dusk noted Luna's impatience and chuckled softly. Though the princess was technically older than she it seemed like she was the older one. "Please settle yourself princess...we shall be arriving soon and you will have plenty of time to explore this beautiful town once the celebrations are over" Though she was only saying this for the sake of making sure Luna did not do anything to terribly rash. As a member of the unicorn race Luminescent Dusk was studious, talented in magic, logical, and by most counts a stick in the mud due to her rationality.  These traits had made her the ideal assistant for the princess as far as her teacher had been concerned.

She watched as the guards blew their trumpeting calls and sped the charriot onward. The poor mare was also hoping she could make friends in this town since her life had been a rather lonely one. Still the town was beautiful and she believed that the princess would enjoy their stay here.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash steered his newly felled tree trunk into a sloping section of riverbank a short distance away from the buildings of the town itself. The tree lodged against the bank with a thud, and he carefully trooted along the length of the trunk until he could scramble up the bank, ropes in tow. He was preparing to drag the tree out of the river when he chanced to look up, seeing the huge writing in the sky.

"Welcome Princess Luna?" he wondered. "THE Princess Luna? The things I miss when I'm out of town. That explains all the running around." He quickly strapped himself into his harness and dug his hooves into the ground, straining against the tree. "I'd better get this tree off to the mill before Princess Luna gets here!"

Just then, a series of trumpet notes rang out, from the direction of the big hill overlooking town. He looked up at the hill, guessing that that might be Princess Luna's entourage arriving now. "Oh, apples," he swore, and redoubled his efforts to haul the log out of the water before he had to go and be presentable along with the rest of the townsponies. Not that he was looking particularly presentable at the moment, with twigs and dirt caught in his mane, and still tied to a log.

[Mac84]

The Sound of the trumpets caught No Mark by surprise. Banging his head against the copper pipes he swore softy under his breath. He spent all last week fixing up a house near the center of town. The plumbing being one of the last things to be done. Crawling out from underneath the newly refurbished home. His plain brown coat was covered in caked on mud and dust. Looking around, he could see the townsfolk around the town square.

"now I wonder what's going on."

He wasn't told why he was fixing up the old place, simply to do it. He reached the edge of the crowd. Not taking notice of all the fancy trappings the other ponies were wearing. Craning his neck he could easily see over the other ponies. What ever it was, was drawing lots of attention as the crowd whispered amongst themselves.

"Who's that?"

The question wasn't directed at anyone in particular but an elder pony remarked all the same as he reached to see.

"Where have you been? That is Princess Luna."

"Princess Luna?"

No Mark Repeated the name as he looked. The Elder pony looked to see who could have made such a remark.

"No Mark, I should have known."

The elder pony looked at the condition of the larger pony next to him. large clumps of mud slid off to fall on the grass below.

"Look at you. Have you no self respect. Course Having no Cutie Mark. I am surprised you would walk around in public much less in plain view of the Princess."

No Mark didn't answer. It was known fact around these parts that he had no Cutie Mark. He didn't think much about it. Right now he wanted to be laying under his favorite shade tree by the river.

"No Mark!"

a shrill voice hissed so as not to be heard by anyone beyond a few feet away. No Mark turned to face an old mare addressing him.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Look at the state of the Garden. Do you think Princess Luna would approve?"

The old mare pointed back to a weed infested Garden just behind the House that He was under not 5 minutes ago.

"But Flower Petal was to take care of the Garden"

The Old Mare was fuming. More out of frustration of some ponies shirking their duties to play than any real anger towards No Mark.

"Well she isn't there, so get it done before the princess sees that mess."

"Yes Ma'am"

No Mark began to walk back to the House. Shaking his coat to get some of the mud and Dust off. Much to the aggravation of the others around him. Reaching the Garden. No Mark set about pulling the weeds up. Much of them growing around the thorny rose bushes.   

[FazzEagle]

It was just another day for the self-proclaimed 'Manliest Pony of all of Maneflow' as he helped the farmers drag a cart full of fruits and vegetables all by himself - all the while with his calm, cocky smile on his face. However, he did notice something different about the rural area today: lots more ponies were running around! He greeted most of the females that came by his way, but all were too busy to stay for even ten seconds to talk to him. Despite the many signs and banners around him that welcomes 'Princess Luna' to their home, Heavy Hoof remained ignorant and thought that the Ponies were in a rush because it was going to rain.

"The clouds don't look that dark..." Heavy Hoof muttered to himself - rubbing his chin while a long banner saying 'Princess Luna' went pass him, "Those weather Ponies must be having a bad day. Hm...?" Just then, in the horizon, several Ponies were running towards his direction - each looking excited. "Well, well, well... Looks like this day just got better! No need to rush, ponies of Maneflow; there's plenty of Hoofster to go around--..." But before he could finish, the crowd of Ponies simply just ran past him, apparently ignoring every word he just said! "Uh... what just happened here...?" Spotting a random male Pony cleaning up the exterior of his house, Heavy Hoof called out to him. "You there - random Maneflow resident - where in Equestria are all the Pony going...? I'm right -here-."

"Huh?" the Pony asked, turning his head around, "Welcoming Princess Luna, of course! She'll be arriving here soon!"

"Princess... Luna...?" Heavy Hoof muttered, raising a brow, "Where have I heard that name before...? It's like there was something important about that name... Something bad - almost 'nightmare-ish'..." A brief silence, before he suddenly freaked out. "Did you say she was a 'Princess'!? I haven't even cleaned my mane; I can't have royalty see me - Heavy Hoof - like this! Out of my way, ponies...!" And just like that, Heavy Hoof quickly dragged the cart and himself away from the scene.

[Mac84]

The garden wasn't near as bad as the old mare was making it out to be. No Mark simply set out to weed. As he worked, the crowd began to move off in one large mass. It would seem the town leaders were giving the new arrival, Princess Luna, a tour of the city. This gave him extra time to work. Soon he was finished and the Garden displayed it's flowers brightly for all to see. This last chore had No Mark covered in scratches and Cuts from the thorny rose bushes. Taking one last look around the building and property to ensure everything was in proper order. No Mark gave a satisfied shake of his mane as he meandered off away from the excitement.

The sun was starting to climb high in the sky as the day grew warmer and warmer. No Mark circled his favorite shade tree but found it was too warm for that just yet. A few feet away in the river a large stone slab protruded from the river bank onto the shore. No Mark waded in and scaled the rock. a moment later he was laying on his side as the cool water splashed over him. The piled on dirt and mud was washed away as the strands of his long tail and mane drifted and floated in the soft current. Every once in a while he would flick his tail. splashing the water onto the part of his body that was not submerged in the water.

"ah, so nice on a Warm day"

In such a position it was very difficult not to fall asleep with the warm sun over head. No Mark was no exception, and soon he too had fallen asleep. He has been found like this many times before and while he was in no danger of drowning or being carried off by the river. That never stopped the casual passerby to think the worst. 

[Empyrean]

With a burst of speed, the guardsponies whisked the carriage down the long, gently-inclined slope towards Maneflow. Luna couldn't help but stick her head out the window to see her new home rushing at her, nor could she suppress a laugh of exhilaration. The wind blew her purple mane out, creating a rain of twilight like a banner as the black carriage sped onwards. Surrounding it was a rumble that shook the earth like thunder as the guardponies charged in unison, their golden armor gleaming.

All too soon it was over. The carriage stopped by the river, near to the center of town. It was black, the color of the night sky, with stars painted onto it. On the front door was a crescent moon done in silver. The guardsponies blew the trumpets again, and then one came to the side and opened the door. With the flick of a forehoof, the stairs were lowered. Once he stepped aside, Luna emerged from the interior darkness of the carriage. She held onto the formal smile of greeting she remembered from her training as a child, but inside she felt both hot and nervous. It was all well and good for Celestia to say that she would get used to being around other ponies, but she just felt so awkward and self-conscious right now.

One of the heralds cantered forward and raised a clear, piping voice that carried far and wide. "Presenting Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna, She Who Raises The Moon! Princess Celestia requests the residents of Maneflow to make her welcome into their town for the duration of her visit!" One last trumpet fanfare, and then a guardpony fell in on her side and rear. The alicorn walked forward slowly, looking to the excited, murmuring townsfolk, and wondering just what her life would really be like here. She raised her soft voice enough to say "Hello everyone. I hope we'll get along."

[FazzEagle]

There was a brief silence after the herald pony made the announcement - perhaps the residents of Maneflow did not exactly know how to talk to royalty face-to-face. Many, however, stared at Her Highness with either admiration or anxiety, and some whispered to one another. Then... just when Luna thought the silence would be the most awkward greeting she would encounter during her arrival:

"Excuse me, coming through!" a manly voice spoke up from the edge of the audience, "Excuse me; hey, how's it going; am I late...?" Then, from the front of the audience, Heavy Hoof squeezed his head through two other ponies, flashing his cocky smile before looking upwards. "On behalf of the... -fine- residents of Maneflow, I welcome you--..." However, the one he saw was not Luna, but instead the herald that was reading the announcement earlier. "... you're more... 'male' than I thought you were... and you're not as pretty as I pictured you'd be." Then, in a soft voice he muttered: "And to think I combed my mane thoroughly just for this." But then in a slightly louder tone: "But uh I welcome you, 'Princess Luna', to our humble home!"

Then, one of the ponies next to him lowered his head and whispered to him with a nervous look on his face - though with a forced smile. "That's... not the Princess, Heavy Hoof."

"Excuse me...?"

Then, the pony pointed towards the -actual- Princess Luna standing not far behind the herald. To Heavy Hoof, that was a sight for sore eyes compared to the herald he was looking at earlier; this pony was actually beautiful!

"Oh uh... I knew that." Heavy Hood said, shifting his eyes side to side before slowly rising, and in turn slightly pushing the two ponies next to him aside. "I was just testing everyone else is all." Then, a smile was flashed to the herald. "No hard feelings, eh buddy?" Turning his attention to Princess Luna, the self-proclaimed 'manliest Pony of Maneflow' ran his front hoof across his mane before standing strong and proud with his manly chest jutting forward. "As I was saying: the -fine- residents of Maneflow welcome you, and may I say that you look more beautiful than I imagined."

Yes, only Heavy Hoof would dare to flirt with royalty in front of others just like that.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash looked up at the hill as he heard Princess Luna's carriage thunder down the slope, hauled by her guards. He stopped in his tracks to watch the procession, admiring the gleaming golden armour of Luna's escort, and the wake of twilight left by the Princess's mane. So engrossed was he by this sight that he failed to notice the log dragging him back down the riverbank, his hooves slowly sliding through the mud.

"Wow!" he sighed to himself, as the carriage trundled on towards the centre of town. He would have to go and greet the princess along with the rest of town, as soon as he dealt with... Just then, he looked back and saw that his harvested log was pulling him back into the river. He flailed wildly with his hooves, trying to gain purchase on the muddy bank, but to no avail, and he found himself dragged back into the water with a mighty splash.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "Stuck hauling logs while Princess Luna herself is arriving in town, and now everypony will get to meet her before I do. Unless..." he pondered, then clambered up onto the log and shoved it away from the bank. The log drifted out into the current and floated on down the river, towards the centre of town.

Timber Crash flattened himself against the tree trunk as he passed under some low bridges, trying to avoid being dunked into the water again. He stood up and dragged a branch against the riverbank to slow down as he approached the town square, where he could see most of the townsponies gathered around Princess Luna's carriage. The log ground to a halt underneath the town's main bridge, and he hauled himself up onto the bridge itself.

His leaf-green mane and tail were plastered against his body and covered with mud and twigs, and he was still covered in ropes and harnesses, but he bounced up and down on the edge of the bridge like an overly excitable colt as he waved to the princess. "Welcome to Maneflow, Your Highness!" he called out, straining for a glimpse of the alicorn over the crowd.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk stepped out of the carriage behind luna. She was walking alongside the Alicorn as she made her greetings. Then came the brash and arrogant seeming pony. The one who dared to flirt with princess Luna in such a way. however Luminescent decided it best not to address him at that moment. she raised her own soft voice to speak next. "I am Luminescent Dusk the princess's aide I do believe it is our pleasure to meet you fine ponies this afternoon and we are honored to have you all gathered here for our arrival." Her black cape was fluttering lightly in the breeze exposing her light blue coat flecked with red and purple. Her silvery mane streaked with light purple also flowed in the breaze a bit as she spoke.

[FazzEagle]

"Hey!" Heavy Hoof exclaimed, turning his head to see the pony jumping up and down at the bridge, "I was here first!" Despite the fact that everyone else actually arrived earlier.

However, upon turning around, the pony known as Luminescent Dusk stepped up to make her own announcement and greeting. Of course, to the proud and self-loving Heavy Hoof: he thought she was talking to him. "The feeling is mutual... I'm sure," Heavy Hoof said, looking at the new Pony with a cheeky smile while raising and dropping his brows flirtatiously, "And don't worry; there's plenty of Heavy Hoof to go around. Which reminds me!" Once more, the manly-voiced pony straightened himself. "Let me introduce myself: name's Heavy Hoof - strongest Pony of all of Maneflow! There's nothing too heavy or too big for me to handle." A few simple female Ponies in the back sighed in admiration. "So don't worry about running into any trouble here, sweety... Not when I'm around - Heavy Hoof."

[Empyrean]

Luna looked a bit flustered with all the attention of the townsponies on her, but she maintained the smile she'd been taught as a filly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Heavy Hoof. I am certain that we will talk more, and if there are any problems, I will remember to ask for you." She inclined her head in an unintentionally regal manner, even as some of the guardsponies eyed up Heavy Hoof with skepticism.

Luna's attention was caught by the jumping pony who seemed disheveled. She made tiny motions with her head, and the nearest ponies opened a path as she walked towards Timber Crash. "Excuse me. I'm new in town and I don't know all your customs. Is it normal to jump in the water before meeting someone here?" There was no mockery in the mare's voice, and her purple eyes were serious as she looked at him.   

[Mac84]

No Mark awoke from his Nap and stood up out of the water. Shaking his body and mane, drying off as much as possible. It appears that the crowd was parted and a small purple Unicorn with Wings was approaching a rather excited Pony. Timber Crash was his name if No Mark remembered correctly. He waited until The greetings were exchanged before he approached. Two Guardponies clad in golden armor seemed to appear out of no where and stand between him and the small princess. With a barely noticeable nod. the Princess bid the guards to make way. No Mark approached and performed a rather clumsy bow that he had seen others practice that day.

"Welcome to Maneflow, Your...Uh...um Ma-chesty?"

No Mark was not sure how to address a pony of royalty. From the crowd a few stifled fits of laughter.

"I am No Mark. If you have any trouble with your house. Please ask and I'll take care of it"

No Mark didn't wait for a response as he began to shuffle backwards. Not seeing the large rock, he tripped and fell backwards in the dust. His Blank Flank brandished for the world to see. Giving a sheepish and embarrassed grin. he stood back up and slipped back into the crowd.

[FazzEagle]

"Not a problem, I can assure you!" the manly Pony said, waving off his hoof, "Any pony - weak or small - can depend on Heavy..." It was then that the Princess started walking away, moving towards the pony greeting her at the bridge. "... Hoof...?" Before, of course, he noticed the look the guard ponies were giving him. "... what? Oooh! I get it, I get it. You're feeling insecure because you're standing before such a manly Pony, aren't you? Well... I'll be honest with you: the armor makes up for it. I'm Heavy Hoof." He flashed a little grin to the tough and unmoving guard ponies, before he leaned to the side to get a good look at Luminescent Dusk. "And you're welcome to ask for my help when you need it too." He raised and dropped his brows a little in that second attempt to flirt with her, but soon moved away to move closer to where the Princess was.

On his way, he came across No Mark, who had just tripped over the rock. "Eeeasy there, buddy. Watch and how a -real- stallion talk with a pony."

Eventually, the Pony stood not far from Princess Celestia, and looked towards Timber Crash. "That's one of the residents of Maneflow, Your Majesty. His name's... uh... I think it was... 'Timber Dash'... or 'Climber Ed'... And I think his job involves plants... or something." Heavy Hoof raised a hoof to wave to the pony in question. "Hey there! How's it going!"

Needless to say that loud, sudden greeting would have easily hinted the Princess what kind of personality Heavy Hoof had.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash peered over the crowd, seeing Luna being addressed by Heavy Hoof. "Great," he sighed to himself, "if it isn't Celestia's gift to mares." Heavy Hoof wasn't a bad sort, though, and it was nice to have somepony else around who appreciated the value of solid physical labour. He returned the large pony's wave, giving him a grin.

He ceased his jumping abruptly as he noticed that Princess Luna was actually coming to speak to him. To him! He desperately tried to flatten down his mane and brush the twigs out of it as she approached, but only succeeded in grinding the mud into it more deeply.

Timber Crash bowed deeply as Princess Luna addressed him, his muzzle almost touching the ground. "Your Highness! Um..." he pondered. Say yes, it'll be hilarious! he thought, but his natural honesty won out. "No, that's just me. I was upriver, pulling down trees - that's what I do. That and looking after the forest. It's really a lovely forest, I should show you while you're here! Anyway, I was about to take this tree down to the lumber mill, which is why I was in the river, and why I'm still, um... tied to it. Oh, I could show you the mill, too! It's actually a really good way to see the town, riding down the river on a log. If, um, you're not busy, anyway." He grinned awkwardly, his green tail whipping excitedly.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was utterly speechless at the behavior of this "Heavy Hoof" flirting with princess Luna and herself not even moments upon their arrival. Well He had guts she had to admit. Then there was the somewhat Clumsy "No Mark" who had politely introduced himself and turned to leave only to stumble on a rock. the poor stallion. of course there was the matter of the jumping pony to whom the princess was going to see. Luminescent was quick to fallow after however she was a tad behind heavy hoof as he went to talk.

Timber Crash seemed like an amicable fellow what with his offer to float adrift and see the town and all. Luminescent Dusk had to admit that this was certainly going to be an interesting stay. She believed that this just might be the sort of town to readjust the princess to society and to show herself what it's like to have a social life. Though she still held some misgivings about the overconfident Heavy Hoof she believed that those would fade as she adjusted to his brash and overbearing preasence.

[Empyrean]

For a quick moment a thought flashed through her mind. I've seen the like of this Heavy Hoof before. How easy it would be to make a minion of him and conquer this pitiful place. The words, the regal, slyly arrogant tone, sparked a cold sweat on her brow. For just a moment, her muscles spasmed as she remembered the sensation of flight though infinite shadows that caressed her so lovingly. She shook her head, not aware that she was doing that. No, no! Get out of my head! I'm not you and I never will be again!

The touch of sunlight on her mane brought her back to awareness of the present moment. Luna smiled at both stallions, though she did look concerned when No Mark started back into the crowd. "I would be delighted to tour my new home with a river trip, Timber Crash. Is No Mark going to be okay? That fall looked painful." She gestured with her horn towards the direction No Mark had gone.

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof was simply still smiling proudly while the Princess was enduring the personal conflict in her mind, obviously not aware what his actions were putting her through. However, hearing her ask about 'No Mark, the pony mused. "No Mark, No Mark, No Mark... Oh right! The Pony without a Cutie Mark! Sure, sure, he's no problem. Strong... but not as strong as me; people around him call him 'No Mark' 'cause... he has no Cutie Mark - so 'No Mark'. I don't talk to him much though... 'cause he creeps me out." He stared at No Mark for a moment, before once more indulging on himself: "Want to see my Cutie Mark?" He stepped forward a little, showing the picture of an Iron Horse Shoe. "What do you think? Manly, isn't... it...?"

Unfortunately for him, the Princess was listening to Timber Crash the whole time when he was introducing her to his Cutie Mark, and had apparently accepted his offer to take a 'river trip'. "Hey! Stop interrupting me!" Of course, that was addressed towards Timber Crash out of childish envy. Then, once more, his attention shifted towards Luminescent Dusk, and his frown quickly changed into his laid-back smile . "Hey, my little Pony, what about you and I take a tour ourselves?"

[Mac84]

As No Mark was slipping back into the crowd one of the townsponies nudged him.

"Psst, No Mark. The princess is asking if you are ok."

"Oh? Ok"

No Mark returned to the edge of the crowd closest to the assembled ponies. He Heard Heavy Hoof comment but thought it best to wait till everyone was finished talking. It was only polite. Once a opportunity presented itself. No Mark gave a slighly less clumsy bow and commented:

"I am fine, your Mah-chesty. Thank you for your concern."

Something was telling him to best stick around. 

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk saw the princess shake her head but was unaware of the internal battle she had been having. She also listened to timber crash's explanation and invitiation. She also noted No Mark being alright and couldn't help but smile knowing that he was well after all he seemed the friendly sort. She also noted Heavy Hoof's jealousy but when he offered her a tour she spoke softly "well If the Princess does not mind that I take leave of her company for a time...I don't see why not" she then turned to princess luna "shall I meet you at our home later in the evening princess?"

[FazzEagle]

"It will be fine!" Heavy Hoof said, brushing his hoof against his powerful chest, "I mean, what kind of trouble would want to tangle with the Hoofster? You'll be in safe hands, sweety." Then, the manly-voiced pony stepped forward, looking towards Timber Crash. "Well, I hope you enjoy your little boat ride! ... on the water... that could be... really deep..." Heavy Hoof glanced at Luminescent Dusk and the Princess before quickly clearing his throat, apparently shaking off that little scared expression on his face prior. "Of course, I have no problem with it. It's just water, am I right?" He smiled, but soon returned to Luminescent Dusk's side. "But we'll just be taking our own little tour... on the ground. It's easier to see things that's... on the ground and... not underwater." Once more, he looked towards the Princess. "And don't worry! I'll have your 'sister' back safe and sound!"

He finally shifted his attention to Luminescent Dusk. "Isn't that right... Uh... What was your name again...?"

[Empyrean]

Luna looked confused. "She is not my sister. Celestia is. This is Luminescent Dusk, and she is my attendant and hopefully friend whom I will see at home." She looked at No Mark and smiled. "Please, accompany Timber Crash and myself on the river ride?"

As if in answer to Heavy Hoof's boasting, far off in the most remote edge of the village, a shadowy something roiled for a second, unseen by the villagers, and gone soon thereafter. Still, Luna shivered and tried her best to cover that sensation by floating delicately over the log.

[FazzEagle]

"Uhhh... Right. I knew that. It's just that you two are so beautiful I almost thought you two were related." He wiggled his eyebrows at Luminescent Dusk once more before looking over at Luna again. "But I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Heavy Hoof had a silly, cheeky grin on his face when the Princess apparently agreed to allow her 'attendant' to take a tour with him, and of course still unaware of what forces were looming elsewhere or with Luna. He watched as the Princess asked the other Pony 'No Mark' to join with her, and for a brief moment he was just glad that he didn't join in for two reason: he didn't like the water, and the fact he doesn't really get along well with Maneflow's only Pony without a Cutie Mark - not that he had anything against him though; just felt it would be slightly... awkward.

"Well then, 'Lumy'..." Heavy Hoof continued, turning his head to look at the smaller Pony, "Can I call you 'Lumy'? Of course I can; 'Lumy' is a cute name. Why don't we start our tour now? We'll start off with -my- favorite spots. Oh and excuse me for a bit..." Suddenly, the manly Pony stepped slightly closer to the river, and looked towards Timber Crash, saying it a slightly intimidating tone: "You better look after the Princess. DON'T get her pretty mane all soaky and wet!" Suddenly, his tone softened as he looked back at Luna, giving her a little bow. "I'll see you around... and I know you will too. Come on, Lumy! Let's get this tour going!"

Just like that, he finally turned away and started walking away from the river...

[Mac84]

No Mark nodded excitedly. This was a rare treat. He approached the log and took an uneasy step. the log wiggled a bit as he finally got all four hooves onto the trunk.

"I am ready, i think."

He appeared a bit unsteady on the log, but he put on his best "brave" face. which looked rather goofy.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was taken aback by Heavy Hoofs assumption that he could call her "Lumy" but she was a rather shy pony and didn't really have the heart to tell him he couldn't. She found herself smiling slightly at the princess as she mentioned hoping that Luminescent would be her friend.  The unicorn was quick to fallow after Heavy hoof and listened to him prattle on about himself.

Talk about an egotistical pony  she thought to herself as she walked alongside him. In her mind she believed this was going to be a loooooong day.

[FazzEagle]

And so, the ponies went their separate ways for the mean time. While the Princess was in the presence of two well-known ponies of Maneflow, Luminescent Dusk was stuck with another - though -very- different from the previous two. While the princess was probably enjoying a nice time moving with the flow of the gentle river, the princess' attendant was being led around with the cart Heavy Hoof was dragging earlier. True to his word: he took her to -his- favorite spots of Maneflow, and that apparently meant listening to his many 'personal' opinions of the village.

"... and that there's Mrs. Sweet's Bakery." Heavy Hoof continued, pointing towards another small building. "Good ol' Mrs. Sweets... always making sweet cakes and bread. I uh... don't really eat much there." Then, the manly Pony raised one of his front limbs. "Gotta stay in shape... if you know what I mean." And once more, he glanced at Luminescent Dusk through the corner of his eye. "... and I think you do. Now, moving onwards with the tour with the Hoofster..." Heavy Hoof continued to drag the cart around, but soon came to a stop in front of yet another location. "... we now come to the most VILE place of Maneflow... It is said that this place was put under some terrible curse. Any pony who enters will suddenly feel the urge... to sleep - as if put under some dark spell... We'll be fine as long we stay outside though."

And what Luminescent Dusk would see was the big, scary---... sweet, little library.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crach bounced excitedly as Luna agreed to let him show her the river tour. "Thank you, your Highness! You're going to love Maneflow!" He followed the Princess's gesture and peered at No Mark. "I think he's okay, he's... um..." he trailed off, as awkward as most ponies on the topic of an adult without his cutie mark.

"Oh, here he is!" he finished as No Mark came back to join them. He gave the other stallion a wave, then bowed his head to Luminescent Dusk. "That's a good plan - you and Heavy Hoof can go see the town by hoof, and then maybe we'll meet up at the other end of town!" If he noticed Heavy Hoof's reticence to go near the water, he gave no sign of it.

"Okay, so," he addressed the Princess and No Mark as he picked his way carefully down the riverbank underneath the bridge. "The river's pretty calm here, so we'll be safe, although it does get pretty fast towards the middle. If the log starts to roll, just stay calm and I'll get it back under control. You can both swim, though, right?" He watched No Mark climb onto the log, then stepped onto it himself, his hoofsteps sure and steady as he moved to the front of the log and took a branch in his mouth to help steer.

"Mrr you mready, mrr Mrrhness?"

[Empyrean]

Luna tentatively set first one hoof, then another down on the log, trying to find her footing. After a moment she had all four hooves on the log. She was nervous, true, but this should be great fun! Once she was settled, she looked ahead to Timber Crash. "I'm ready! Oh, and no, I don't know how to swim. At least, I don't remember being good at it. But I can fly if we tip over."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk made sure to note the location of Mrs. Sweets bakery and the Library. "Vile? a Library? nonsense" she stated softly after heavy hoof made his opinion of the place known. She being a well read and studious unicorn who loved books. "still if that's how you feel then I see no reason to try and change your mind" she then fallowed him as the tour continued.

[FazzEagle]

"You don't know what it's like in there..." Heavy Hoof said, turning his head to stare eye-to-eye with the princess' attendant, "The books hardly have any pictures...!" Then, he pointed a hoof towards the library again. "NO PICTURES...!" He continued to keep his eyes on Luminescent Dusk's for a moment with that frown, but then as usual his expression quickly shifted to a gentle smile. "But let's move on, shall we?" He started moving away again, dragging the food cart where Luminescent Dusk was sitting in. "Here in Maneflow, things can be really quiet - unless you like that sort of thing. I won't judge; I like some peace and quiet myself - always a good time to exercise these muscles in case someone needs help from the 'Hoofster', you know?" He slowed down a little to look back at her. "... of course you do."

The tour did indeed continue. He showed her various houses and introduced several ponies to her, and surprisingly most of the ponies didn't seem to mind his... overbearing nature - especially the elderly and young females. Of course, for the latter: they were probably blinded by his strong, masculine figure and showing-off nature. One thing Luminescent Dusk would obviously notice, however: Heavy Hoof apparently flirted with most of the females of this village already.

"And so we come to our final stop of our tour," Heavy Hoof said, "-My- home."

From what she could see, it was nothing more than a little farm, where a small little house was located. There were several crops grown around the fields, but not a lot of ponies seem to be around. The barn not far from them also looked like it had seen better days; there were chickens roaming around freely as well. Despite the run-down state of it, Heavy Hoof still looked at it with a little smile.

"It needs some cleaning..." Heavy Hoof said, "But it's really good when you get used to it. The old farmers aren't so bad themselves. Well, not as great as me, but... you know what I mean. I provide the muscles to carry out the crops, you know. Oh, and that reminds me uh... I need to return this back to them." He motioned his head towards the cart 'Lumy' was sitting on. "So... if you don't mind."

[Mac84]

"I can swim well enough not to drown."

No Mark finished his replay to Timber Crash's question with a light chuckle. It took a moment to realize that to others may not have appriecated the comment and he wished he hadn't said it. He couldn't help it, but sometimes his humor can come off as rather dark.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash held the branch against the riverbank to keep the log steady as Princess Luna and No Mark boarded it, then used it to push off into the flow, his tail whipping happily as they picked up a little bit of speed. He set the branch down again so he could speak to his passengers.

"Well, I'm sure I can drag either of you out of the water if you fall in. Now, where are we?" He stood up on the tips of his hooves, craning his neck to see where they were passing.

"Oh, there's Granny Granite's! She runs the general store here in town, where I go to get all my supplies when I come into town. I live a way out west, near the forest, so I need to buy food and things here. She's really good to talk to, is Granny. She used to live up in the mountains. Oh, you can see the mountains after we come around... this bend! Look!" He gestured with one hoof up to the line of mountains making up the northern horizon. "There are dragons living up there, you know! I've never been up there myself, mind you. Plenty of adventure to be had in just the forest."

So absorbed was Timber Crash in his commentary on the local landscape, that he almost ran the log aground against a tiny island in the river. He hastily flicked the branch up into his mouth and shoved it against the island, making the log lurch as it changed course and narrowly missed the island. "Ow," he muttered around the branch, before setting it down again. "My teeth. Sorry about that. Is everypony okay?"

[Empyrean]

She was about to comment on the mountains when the log nearly ran aground and she had to brace herself. Her wings fluttered as she tried to balance. Once she recovered she looked up. "I am fine, thank you." She did a quick check of the other two ponies, then looked to the mountains. "Why do you live so far from here? And what adventures can you have in the forest?"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk had actually chuckled at his dread of books with no pictures. "I find books with few to no pictures quite fascinating after all they leave more to your imagination especially if the descriptions of things are splendid or if you truly wanted you could ignore descriptions all together and put yourself in the position of your favorite character and imagine yourself to be doing all the things you are reading about." She had a contented smile as she thought about it.

She had noticed all the ponies treatment of the "Manliest Pony" and realized that the citizens of Maneflow were entirely used to it and treated it like nothing well at least the stallions and elderly ponies did whilst the young ponies and mares seemed to adore him. She found it all quite strange since she believed him to be an egotistical nieusence. Of course she had listened to Heavy Hoof as he had prattled on about his home. Of course when he mentioned needing to return the cart she simply hopped down "ah yes of course" she stated softly. She didn't see a reason why not but then again his tone had bothered her just a little though she didn't let it show.

[Mac84]

"I'm fine TimberCrash."

It took a bit of fancy hoof work to regain his balance. Looking behind him. No Mark quietly chuckled. It would seem his long tail had been drifting in the river. As Luna and Timber spoke, he contented himself to flick the water with his tail. It was strangely amusing.

[FazzEagle]

"'Imagine myself as my favorite character'...?" Heavy Hoof replied, "'Pffft. 'Imagination' is for ponies who aren't brony enough to do things for themselves! 'sides... why would I need to imagine to be myself...?" He raised one hoof and flexed the muscle a little. "You won't be able to find a beefcake like this in your puny books. In fact, they should have a book called 'Heavy Hoof' - now -that's- a book worth reading!" Of course, eventually they had moved from the library and to Hoof's home.

Once Heavy Hoof dragged the cart deeper into the farm, he would soon return by Luminescent Dusk's side, his cocky smile still not disappearing from his face. "Alright, cart's returned so let's continue with our... little 'date'." Heavy Hoof wiggled his eyebrows before starting to lead her away again. "Think it's about time Her Majesty and uh.... those other two... she's with, to be done with their BORING, little river tour. Don't be upset though - you can always find me here in Maneflow if you want to go for... 'another tour' with the 'Hoofster'. I'll make sure to make time in my busy schedule just for you." Then, he looked away from her, walking beside her with pride. "No need to thank me, of course! Just doing my job. Will you allow me to escort you to -your- place? ... of course you will - just show the way."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash carefully pinned the branch beneath a front hoof, peering out at the watercourse in front of them. "Looks like we're clear for the next little stretch. You can get a good view out to the east here. If you follow the river far enough, there's a waterfall down to a little lake, but we'll be ashore long before we get there, don't worry!"

He gives No Mark a grin and lets his own tail drag in the water like an oversized leaf, then pricked up his ears as Princess Luna addressed him again. "Well, I work in the forest! It's my job to make sure that old, dying trees get pulled down at the right time. If I don't, they might just blow over in the wind, and that'd be very dangerous for the animals, and for ponies! I also make sure that new seeds get planted where the old trees have fallen. If I didn't take care of that, then all the trees might end up growing in the wrong places! Or not at all!" He shudders at the mere thought. "It is such a nice forest, I'd hate to see anything bad happen to it. I also drag the fallen trees back to town for lumber, and do a bit of carpentry on the side.

"Adventures? Why, I've had plenty. It's a pretty dense forest, with a lot of animals, so there's always something going on. It gets even more complicated when there are ponies wandering around too, which they do a lot, for fruit and herbs and things. There was this one time when I was in the forest late in the afternoon, and I found wolf tracks on one of the trails! I don't know if you've ever seen a wolf, they're like dogs only bigger, and hungrier. Normally I'd just avoid a wolf, but there was this little red filly gathering berries for her grandmother, and she didn't get out of the woods before nightfall like a sensible pony would. I found the poor foal stuck up a tree, with the wolf prowling around the roots. So I chased him off with a stick. I felt bad about it - I don't think he was a bad wolf, but he can't go frightening little ponies like that. She was alright, just scared."

He trails off as he realises how much he's been talking. "So, um, yeah. There's always plenty going on in the forest. I'd love to show you later! It is a long way, though."

[Empyrean]

Luna listened to all that was said, and then nodded, with a small smile. "I would like to see it. Sister seems to think that getting out would do me good, and I want to see what's out there. And maybe these mountains too. I remember seeing mountains from a distance as a filly but I never went into them. You know, I grew up in a forest myself." She looked at their reflections in the water. "So I understand that there is a lot of beauty in them."

She looked back at the others. "So where to next?"

[Mac84]

The question snapped No Mark out of his musing.

"Huh? Oh. Um if you want. I can show you where you and your friend will be staying while in town. It took me all last week and up to today to get it ready. Um...your Mah-chesty"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk chuckled softly at Heavy Hoof. "All right let us be on our way then" her soft voice floating on the wind as she spoke. It would be obvious to the "Manliest" Ponie that he was escorting a very soft spoken and dignified sort of mare. Though in his mind it "Might" register as her playing hard to get she herself couldn't be entirely sure how he would take the air about her.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash nodded eagerly at the suggestion of seeing the forest. "That would be great! We'd have to make a proper day trip of it, of course, or even take a couple of days - it is a good way from town. And I'll talk to Granny Granite about a mountain hike, but we'll want to plan real carefully for that, I think."

He pointed out a few more interesting landmarks - a particularly old tree, a tiny lake off to the south, a small cloudbank where some pegasi made their home - and then nodded to the suggestion of showing Princess Luna to her new home. "Good idea. No Mark, if you want to show Her Majesty her house, I'll get this log off to the sawmill. This river trip only goes one way, sadly." He grinned and steered the log into the riverbank, letting it grind slowly to a stop without jolting its passengers. "I'll meet you there when I'm done?"

[FazzEagle]

"And that was how I rescued that cat from the tree," Heavy Hoof said, continuing a story he was telling Luminescent Dusk, "A very heroic rescue... if I have to say so myself."

As Princess Luna's tour had come to an end, so has her attendants - though both could say they had different experience being introduced to their new home. Heavy Hoof followed Luminescent Dusk's directions, and he had no problem following them - once again showing that he, as a resident of Maneflow, was familiar with his surroundings. Once they had reached the front yard of the Princess and Luminescent Dusk's house, he turned around, once again facing his so-called 'date' with a soft grin.

"Well, here we are: one of the best places here in Maneflow," he said, motioning one of his hooves towards the house, "Not just 'cause it's pretty... but also 'cause it's the home of TWO new pretty ponies - if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows, and flashed another cocky  grin. "We'll have to do this again sometimes - maybe over tea. But not too many sugar! Though a little spoon of it... probably won't hurt." He turned to the side, but kept his eyes on her. "If you need me... you'll know exactly where to find me." The 'manly' Pony clicked his tongue twice.

[Empyrean]

"Thank you for the trip. I shall see you at my new home." She inclined her head and flew to the riverbank, waiting for No Mark to join her and take her to where she would be living.

[Mac84]

No Mark dismounted the Log easily enough. Albeit with a bit more splashing than he would have liked. The walked across the town was quiet. Every once in a while No Mark was give Luna a slightly awkward grin.

"We'll be there shortly"

He kept racking his brain as to what to talk about. Heck, what do you talk to royalty about? Eventually he just blurted something out and instantly wished he hadn't.

"So, um. It must be nice to no longer be trapped in the Moon."

He instantly bit his lower lip wishing to withdraw the words that came tumbling out of his mouth. Trying to think of a way out, he noticed that They had arrived and Heavy Hoof and Luminescent Dusk were already waiting on them. Speeding up his pace a bit to open some space and hope that Princess Luna didn't see him turn several shades of Crimson. He nodded to Heavy Hoof and Luminescent Dusk as he opened the main gate. The Manor was rather large and held a simplistic elegance. It was one of the Largest houses in Maneflow.

"Um, I know it isn't has grand as the Palace in Cantorlot, but it is one of the nicest places in this town. The plumbing is completely new and the home is already furnished. The Town Council wasn't sure how many would be staying with you. So they asked me to fix this old Manor up."

No Mark led them through the garden and noted that some of the plants could use some more tending. The Dual front doors had a Fresh coat of White paint and a large Mat that said "Welcome". Upon entering, everyone was treated to the hard work of No Mark. Inside was clean and orderly with the Furniture arranged with care. The Two floors were attached via a curved stairway just off the Main entrance with the Kitchen in the Back. No Mark allowed the Two residents to enter first as he made sure his hooves were clean. The tour lasted about an hour as he showed him all over the house. demonstrating that the fixtures worked properly and where the appliances were and how they worked.

"If there is any trouble. Please Don't hesitate to ask. Is everything to your liking Your Highness, Miss Luminescent Dusk?"

[stjimmyhavok]

Meanwhile, mostly hidden by her position up a tree, a pegasus mare by the name of Midnight Comet watched the group as they escorted the Princess away. She snorted heavily through her nose as they palled around and No Mark clumsily attempted to engage Luna in conversation. SHE would not have been so clumsy. She continued to follow, her navy hide, sapphire eyes and violet and wispy silver mane making her appear as nothing more than a rogue cloud in the sky,,,

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk looked at Heavy hoof as he attempted to set up a "date" and chuckled softly "Perhaps such a thing would be possible Mr. Heavy Hoof granted I can find the free time" She didn't have the time to say anything else as No Mark, and Princess Luna arrived. "Ah Princess and Mr. No Mark this place looks absolutely lovely I must say" she smiled and fell in stride with the princess as No Mark showed them in. She quite liked the place and found it to be quite lovely despite its apparent age.

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof grinned to himself as Luminescent Dusk apparently agreed to another 'date', but soon No Mark and the Princess had returned. "Well, well, well... Welcome back, Your Majesty. And uh... No Mark!" Then, he looked around, trying to find Timber Crash among them. "What... happened to 'Tree Hugger'...? He didn't... fall off the log, did he...? Uh... buddy...?" However, No Mark had apparently fastened his pace for some reason and just moved past him. The Princess and her attendant entered their new home, and Heavy Hoof followed suit not long after anyway. "So that's why you and some others were hanging out at this place; I thought you all came here to look for ghosts." The 'manly' Pony cowered a little, looking around. "There aren't any... right...? HEY, WAIT FOR ME!" Hesitantly, he caught up with the rest, but stayed behind the trio - shifting his eyes back and forth every now and then.

[stjimmyhavok]

(OOC: Sorry all forgot my intro)

Name: Midnight Comet
Type of Pony (Earth Pony, Pegasi, Unicorn): Pegasus
Cutie Mark (if any): A smattering of silver stars that could be mistaken for glitter.
Appearance: Navy blue hide with a violet/wispy silver mane; she has a tendency to blend in with the night sky.
History: A long time resident of Equestria, Comet has long been discriminated for her nighttime coloring and feels a certain kinship with Princess Luna, even though the two have never met. She is very domineering, pushy and jealous, and loves nothing more than flying about the night sky when other ponies have gone to bed. And with Princess Luna arriving in her hometown....who knows how this volatile pony will react.
Personality: Pushy, jealous, obsessive and sometimes downright mean, while also very loyal. Very unusual for a resident of Equestria. Could be a hard personality to befriend, but once you do you have a pony pal for life.

[Mac84]

"Ghosts? No, no ghosts that I seen. Not that I would really know one if I seen one. Just cobwebs and lots of dust"

No Mark calmly remark as he swished his long tail across the floor out of a nervous habit. He started back towards the back of the house when a sharp tug from behind stopped him. Looking back, he saw that his tail was caught in a crack in the wood floor. tugging at it, he tried to get it loose. However it was stuck fast.

"Come on. let go."

Giving it one last flick and tug, the wood released it's grip on the hairs of No Mark's Tail causing him to stumble forward into the side of Luminescent Dusk. While it wasn't a very hard hit. It was hard enough for a good jolt. Instantly No Mark began to back peddle stammering an apology.

"I-I am sorry. It was an accident. I swear." 

[stjimmyhavok]

Comet allowed herself a small giggle as she settled in on the roof of the building the Princess would be staying at. That No Mark was something else. Hadn't even noticed his tail getting caught in that crack. You'd think with such a long tail he'd have seen that coming but no. But what was this about ghosts? She resolved to listen in further, above No Mark's apologies for more information on what could be a possible threat to Princess, her hero...

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was suddenly jarred as No Mark stumbled into her. "Huh...getting caught in floor boards are we?" she asked him shaking her head her black hat shifting ever so slighlty as she did. "Ghosts? If there were ghosts here it would be apparent to the Princess after all Alicorns are quite intune with forces of Equestria that not even we unicorns can comprehend" this was stated in a more factual tone of voice than anything yet she was mentally skimming through spells seeing if she could find one that might reveal hidden beings in case the princess wasn't yet mature enough to sense them.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash waved to the Princess and No Mark as they alighted from the log. He waited until they were clear, then jumped nimbly onto the riverbank. He started the slow climb up the slope, his harness dragging the log behind him, with the bundle of branches strapped to its trunk.

Once he had cleared the bank, he looked around to figure out where, exactly, he was. The trip had taken them quite a way east through the town, and he was in the midst of some cottages. The sawmill, logically, lay on the western edge of town, where it could be reached easily from the forest via the river. He sighed and started dragging the log back to the west. It would be a fair trot through the meadows to reach the sawmill, but the chance to show off the town - and his piloting skills! - to Princess Luna herself was well worth the effort.

He was whistling happily to himself when he finally dragged the log onto the wooden floor of the sawmill. The mill was deserted, its usual occupant probably still milling about the town centre after Princess Luna's arrival. Shrugging, he disengaged his harness from the log and drew out his stick of chalk, drawing a crude sketch of his cutie mark and the letters "TC" on the trunk. The miller would be along soon enough to saw up the log and credit him with its value. He took the bundle of branches to the firewood shed next to the mill, and extracted a few branches to take to the Princess's new home. The rest would be collected by families wanting firewood - he didn't worry about trying to charge for that.

He strapped the branches he was carrying to his harness, and started skipping excitedly down the road towards Princess Luna's mansion. Today was turning out to be a very good day.

[Empyrean]

Luna looked both shocked and troubled when No Mark mentioned her banishment. It was one thing to gently tease Luminescent Dusk in private but she still wasn't sure how everypony would react. Knowing what she was. What she had been. She didn't really know how to respond and fell into a musing silence. Fortunately, there was Luminescent Dusk and Heavy Hoof! She let out a relieved sigh, and then happily fell into the rhythms of the tour, trying to take her mind from the past.

It wasn't easy. The manse was certainly spacious. At one point she commented "I like the work you've done, No Mark. No, it's not Canterlot, but that's not a bad thing..." She trailed off, looking off into the shadows before falling silent for a long moment. Then she shook it off. "And certainly it's an improvement over my last home!" She tried to add that in a chipper tone of voice but senses long forgotten were tingling in her head. The rest of the tour was spent in silence on her part, trying to figure out where this strange sense of foreboding was coming from. It was like a lump in her stomach.

When the tour was done, Luna nodded absently to No Mark's question before giving him a smile. "It is to my liking, thank you." She shivered a bit. "It just seems...well, I'm sure once we get settled in it'll feel a lot more cozy. I just wish I could shake this sense of being watched." She looked around, wings fluttering nervously. "I know something is there, but I can't quite pinpoint it yet." She shook her head. "Maybe it's just me. I'm not used to travel."

Attempting to banish the sensation, she looked at the others. "If you are interested in attending, tonight I will raise the moon for the first time since my return. Sister and I worked this out. I would like to invite you all to this occasion." Her tone wasn't one of command, but of a polite request.

[Mac84]

"Really!?"

No Mark's voice nearly cracked. This was truly something. To actually see the moon being risen.

"I think that would be very cool to see. The Moon looks so big. Is it very heavy? Do you carry it on your shoulders or in satchel?

No Mark began to ramble off questions faster than anyone could answer. after a moment, he realized what was happening and gave another sheepish grin.

"Um. I mean to say. I would like to attend. If that is ok."

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof listened to Luminescent Dusk, but of course - given how he is - he doesn't exactly understand what she meant. "So uh... Are you saying the Princess can... see things that... normal Ponies can't see...? Or... is it the other way around...? With things that we can't see... can see the Princess and..." The pony's train of thought suddenly came into a complete halt, only to crouch down a little at Luna mentioning that she felt like they were being watched. "WHERE...?! I, I'm not scared of you, spirits! I'm HEAVY HOOF...!" Despite his words, he was hiding behind the smaller Luminescent Dusk. Once he realized this of course, he faked a cough and once again stood straight. "Just making sure you're all well-protected."

Soon, the subject of Luna's powers to raise the moon was brought up, and eventually the big Pony wrapped one arm around No Mark. "Bro, the lady said we're 'invited' - like I always do in parties - so you know what that means, don't you? .. of course you do - PARTY TIME! You know... I always thought you were weird and creepy because you didn't have a Cutie Mark - like mine - but you're alright! Anyone who can work hard is my Brony! HEADBUTT!" Just like that, he bashed his own hard head against No Mark's before letting go, smiling once more to the Princess and her attendant. "Sure! We'd love to go. Allow me to escort you both... it's safer that way."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk looked at Heavy Hoof "I mean the princess can see things most ponies cannot." She was a little agitated when the princess mentioned they were being watched. However being invited to see the moon raised intreagued her. "You know I'd attend princess after all it is quite an honor to see"

[Mac84]

No Mark was unsure what to do when Heavy Hoof wrapped his Hoof around him. He wasn't used to this kind of attention. Normally he was being shoo'ed away. Being unprepared for the Headbutt. He took a couple steps back as he started shaking stars from around his head.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash trotted down the path that led to Princess Luna's newly refurbished manor, his gait easy and carefree. The branches on his harness felt as light as a feather. Today had been such a great day! He was still worried about the squirrel family, though.

He walked up to the gate and nudged it open, admiring the front garden of the manor. He had heard that No Mark had been spending a lot of time working on the manor and its grounds, and it showed. He walked happily up to the front door and knocked politely. "Hello? It's me, Timber Crash. Are you ponies here already? I brought some firewood!"

As he waited for a response, he started working at the buckles of his harness with his teeth. It wouldn't do to let his muddy harness leave a stain inside Princess Luna's new house, after all! He soon had the harness hanging from a tree branch in the garden, and was holding the bundle of firewood in his teeth.

[Mac84]

being closest to the Door. No Mark was able to open it the quickest.

"Welcome Timber, Sorry that I didn't wait on you for the tour of the house."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash waved to No Mark as he opened the door. "Hey, No Mark!" he greeted his fellow earth pony, talking awkwardly around the rope in his teeth. "It's okay, I'm more interested in the garden, and it looks really great!" He carefully wiped the mud off his hooves on the grass, and trotted into the front entry.

"Wow, you really have done a great job with this place!" he exclaimed, looking around. He deposited his bundle of firewood next to the hearth, and followed the sound of voices to where the other ponies had gathered.

[Empyrean]

Luna inclined her head. "Thank you." She looked to the skies, her eyes twinkling for a moment. "You can come along as well, up there!" She waved a forehoof to Midnight Comet, and then started towards where Timber Crash's voice had come from. "Ah, Timber Crash. Just in time. Would you care to accompany the rest of us to my first moon-rising in a millennium?" She seemed strangely cheerful in her tone of voice and the small smile on her face.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk looked up as the princess invited another pony however this one she had not noticed. This didn't bother her but she was unsure if it was wise to do this. However she remained silent because the princess had been the one to extend the invitation.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash trotted over to meet with Princess Luna and the others, giving the Princess and her assistant a polite bow, then waving to Heavy Hoof. "Hey everypony! Sorry I took so long to catch up." He looked around the manor some more now that he was here, still visibly impressed.

"Raising the moon? Oh, that would be wonderful to watch! I don't normally stay up long after sunset, I'm up so early most mornings. I actually thought you'd been raising the moon yourself all this time - was your sister doing it until tonight?"

The young stallion hopped from his left hooves to his right, tail swishing eagerly at the thought of such a momentous occasion.

[Empyrean]

She nodded. "Yes. Celestia always raises the sun and brings the day. During my, well, absence, she took over raising the moon and bringing the night as well. Now that I'm back we've agreed to split the duties once again. I can't imagine how hard it's been for her, having to do both tasks for all these years. I hope this will give her a rest finally."

[FazzEagle]

"Uh... Am I missing something here...?" Heavy Hoof asked, suddenly coming to stand between the Ponies, looking at them one by one, "'Absence'...? Did uh something happen between you and your sister, Princess...?" Apparently, out of all the Ponies here, Heavy Hoof was the only one who wasn't aware of the royal sister's 'previous situation'. "I mean I don't mean to pry! I'm not that kind of Pony - I'm not a prying... Pony. Prying Pony... That's a funny word."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk knew that heavy hoof wasn't much of a reader but hearing this nearly floored her. She didn't think it was possible for a pony of his age not to know about the old story. It was inconcievable to her. "You honestly don't know?" she asked him staring in utter shock at his ignorance.

[Empyrean]

She blinked, looking at Hoof in shock. "Sister said it had become a legend by now. The Mare in the Moon it was called. I thought everyone knew." She looked at the ground suddenly, then at the others, a bright blush of shame and regret on her cheeks. "If you don't know, I can tell you. You have the right to know who I am before you decide if I'm worth your friendship."

[FazzEagle]

"Mare in the Moon..." Heavy Hoof muttered to himself... He mused strongly... only to shake his head. "Nope! Never heard of it. I wasn't the kind of filly to hear bedtime stories... I uh... had other things to do." Apparently, it was possible for some ponies not to hear about it. However, when the princess mentioned if she was 'worth his friendship', he suddenly holds up one of his hooves. "WHOA whoa whoa, let me stop you right there, Princess. To me, it doesn't matter what or WHO you used to be - all that matters is who you are now. What kind of friend would I be to judge a Pony from where he's from, right?" Then, he looked towards the male ponies. "Right?" Then, specifically No Mark. "Bro Hoof me, Bro."

[Mac84]

No Mark tentatively returned Heavy Hoof's "Brohoof". He wasn't sure if this was practical joke like that which were played on him so much as colt. However, it was a pleasent feeling.

"Mr. Hoof is Right. For what's worth, I would like to be friends."

He gave another goofy smile, something that was coming for frequently since accompanying this group of ponies

[pendarious]

"your majesty even knowing about that...it matters little for I will be by your side.......I wish to be your friend" Luminescent Dusk remarked to princess Luna whilst bowing slightly. She meant every word of it too.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash listened intently to Princess Luna's description of the royal duties, then looked surprised when Heavy Hoof revealed that he didn't know what had happened, either in the distant past or recently. He nodded in agreement with Heavy Hoof's statement, though. "Definitely right, Heavy Hoof." He held up his front right hoof to Heavy Hoof for a brohoof, but turned to face Princess Luna.

"I have to admit, the last solstice was kinda scary. Actually... really scary. I wasn't at the celebration in town, I was at my house by the forest, but I stayed up anyway because that's what you do, right? I remember thinking about how nice the moon looked, and then the Mare in the Moon disappeared. And then the sun didn't come up, and... well, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to get caught out in the meadow by myself if something happened, so I stayed in my cottage and watched the trees.

"But then you let the sun come up and everything was okay! And now the sun and the moon are fine, and the trees are growing and everything is good! And you let me talk about trees all day, and normally ponies get bored of that pretty quickly. So... whatever happened, it's alright now. I like you, and I think all the ponies here like you, so... yeah! I could do with another friend, and ooh! The forest isn't really safe at night, but I bet if you were with us, it'd be safe, and I'd really like to see what it's like at night. We could... oh, sorry, there I go again. I do want to be your friend, is the point."

He gave Luna a bit of a goofy grin, swishing his tail from side to side.

[Empyrean]

Luna looked at the ponies assembled before her in a visible expression of shock. How could anypony want to be her friend, given what she was? What she had tried to do?! But as she stared at them, it slowly dawned on her that they were being serious. A pinkish blush rose to her cheeks. She looked at her hooves diffidently. When she could trust herself to talk, it came out in a choked whisper. "Thank you all."

After a moment's silence she started towards the town itself at a full gallop. "Come on friends! Time to watch the moon rise!" In that moment she was neither Princess nor Night Goddess, but a young mare who was truly happy with the world. Her mane flowed about her like a banner as she raced towards the highest hilltop in Maneflow, ready to give her new friends front-row seats for the first night-summoning she'd done in a millennium. She was actually laughing as she went.

[FazzEagle]

He listened to the others as they agreed with him about becoming friends with the Princess. They all each had their reason, but in the end it doesn't matter what the Princess was or used to be - they would have accepted her for who she is nevertheless. Heavy Hoof smiled back in return towards the Princess as she thanked them, Hoof glancing at the others who he hoped was thinking what he was thinking: staying quiet to let the Princess have her moment - showing that there was some form of understanding within that egotistical exterior. As the Pony of royalty raced out of the mansion and towards the hilltop of Maneflow, Heavy Hoof glances towards his 'friends' as well. "Well, you heard the lady. Onwards, bronies and ponies...!" And the Pony started chasing after the Princess at full-gallop, with Heavy Hoof apparently looking like he was leading the others to her.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk smiled as the princess thanked them all for expressing friendship to her. her smile grew a bit wider as the young Alicorn called them friends and then sped off. She herself began to gallop right after Heavy Hoof. The unicorn's cape and mane billowed in the wind behind her as she galloped towards the hill top to watch Princess Luna's first moon raising in a thousand years.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash beamed happily as Princess Luna's expression changed from shock to joy. He neighed happily in agreement with Heavy Hoof's exhortation, galloping after him towards the hill. He fairly skipped between bouts of galloping, Luna's mood obviously rubbing off on him. "This is so exciting!" he exclaimed to the other ponies near him as he ran. "It's like the first day of spring, or the Running of the Leaves, but it hasn't happened in over a thousand years! I can't believe I'm here for this!" He watched Luna and Heavy Hoof ahead of him while he galloped along, admiring the flow of Luna's mane and thinking about how much it resembled the night sky.

[Empyrean]

Luna's wild gallop took her through the town center, where ponies had already begun to go about their business after the grand entrance. Those who were still present stopped and stared as the alicorn flew past, and even the guards who had accompanied her were caught flat-footed. Murmurs grew and rose, and soon ponies who had already left were coming back to see what all the fuss was about. As had always been true in small towns, word spread fast.

When she reached the hilltop, she stopped and looked to the sky for several moments. The sun was already lowering to the west. She bathed in it's light as it went, closing her eyes. For a time she almost seemed to be in communion with something or someone. The wind slowly picked up around her, carrying the scents of wildflowers. Her purplish mane flowed like a banner.  She took several deep breaths, then lifted her face to the sky. Red, orange, and pink light streaked over the village and the watching ponies as the sun seemed to rapidly disappear past the horizon, faster than normal.

Luna remained an impassive statue for a moment in the sudden gloaming of dusk. Then she opened her eyes and looked at the twilight sky. The veil of purple and blue rippled, flowing through shades of light and dark. The clouds above parted slowly, allowing the world to see the first gleam of starlight far above. Then came another, and another. As the minutes pass, the sky cleared to reveal a glimmering field of stars blazing against the blackness.

Everything fell silent then. For a moment it seemed as if all was done. Then the crescent moon cutie mark at her throat and flanks began to glow with silver light. Her wings spread wide and her horn raised high as she took to the skies. She stood in silhouette, outlined by starlight. Then her horn began to glow with silver light. Behind her, slowly, majestically, the full moon arose in a white-and-silver blaze over the night sky. Full darkness settled in as it rose, and with it came the sounds and cries of nocturnal animals and birds as the night truly began. Luna let out an exhilarated, passionate cry that echoed over the hills and the town.

The citizens of Maneflow were left agog with wonder and excitement down at the bottom of the hill. All save one tiny filly, who looked at the night sky with tears in her eyes before trotting away sadly.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash galloped along with the others, jumping nimbly over rocks and bushes that he could just as easily have steered around, but just jumped for the sheer pleasure of movement. Princess Luna's enthusiasm was clearly contagious. He skidded to a halt as Luna stopped on the hilltop, sensing the princess's mood change to one of deep concentration. He backed away slowly, not wanting to be quite so close to the alicorn when she was exercising such great power.

He watched the sun dip below the horizon, wondering if it were moving faster than usual. Probably just my imagination, he mused, since he couldn't usually see the sunset from his house anyway. It's not like Princess Celestia would get the sun out of the way more quickly for... ooh, maybe. For the first time, he wondered what the relationship between the two princesses must be like these days. Having no siblings himself, he probably couldn't relate.

Timber Crash looked up at the sky as Luna concentrated, then gasped as the sky rippled and the stars began to shine. Not in all his life had he seen a night sky of such beauty. He was quite certain there weren't usually this many stars in the sky. Watching the stars intently, he was taken aback when the moon itself rose from the east, casting its silvery light over the hill. He gazed at the majestic orb in wonder, as if truly seeing it for the first time. When Luna gave her cry of triumph, he stomped his hooves in applause, tears welling in his eyes.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk halted not far from Princess Luna as she watched the Alicorn shift into a state of concentration. She watched the sun sink below the horizon and then as the stars began to blink inot view. Soon the moon rose into the night sky and the princess cheered in triumph as she rose the moon for the first time in a melinium. "Bravo your majesty" Luminescent Dusk called in a tone that was barely louder than her usual speaking voice. She had a bright smile on her face as she stared at the Alicorn.

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof watched as the Princess did what she had said she would do, and though he thought her claim earlier was farfetched, he had to eat his own words when he actually saw the moon move up into the sky as if by Luna's will alone. Then came the stars. A lot of Ponies around him started to get emotional over the whole thing, and he can't help but feel those same emotions rubbing off on him. "I've seen the night so many times but..." Heavy Hoof said, only to stop midway to stop himself from letting tears flow, "... manly Ponies don't cry... manly Ponies don't... OH, who am I kidding...!" He pulls both No Mark and Timber Crash to his side in a tight hug. "It's so BEAUTIFUL...! IT'S OKAY TO CRY TONIGHT, BROS...!"

[Mac84]

When the other ponies let out of the manor. No Mark was at a lost on what to do. He seemingly trotted in place for a moment. His mind and body on two different wave lengths. He had figuratively kick himself to get himself to run after the others. Like Princess Luna, he also was very inexperienced with "friends".

"W-wait for me!"

He burst through the entrance way of the manor and was nearly out the garden before he realized that he left the front door wide.

"Oh dear. That won't do."

Sheepishly he turned back and closed the door. Now he was running behind and had to catch up. He sprinted as fast as he go. His long tail and mane fluttering behind him. However, running was not one of his strong suits. He made it to the hill just as the last rays of the setting sun slipped beyond the horizon. He managed to find Heavy Hoof and the others in the dim light.

"Thank goodness. I am not late."

He sat there speechless as Luna raised the moon and summoned the night. He was amazed. Such a small pony could do such a thing.

"Wow"

It was the only thing he bring himself to say. His mouth hung open as Heavy Hoof put his hoof around his shoulder.

[Empyrean]

Luna floated down to the others, face flushed with triumph and a pleased embarrassment. She hadn't given way to such emotion since her return, and certainly not in public. Yet somehow, she couldn't bring herself to feel bad for it. She smiled at the others present, blowing a stray bit of mane from her face.

She looked at her new friends and smiled. "I hope you all liked it." The sounds of other ponies approaching and the clamor of the townfolk could be heard, but for this moment, it was just Luna and her friends on the hilltop.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk smiled at princess Luna "Very well done your highness...I hope that didn't put too much strain on you" The unicorn's smile didn't fade as she spoke. She was proud to have been preasent for the event and for the first time since she was told she was going to be coming here she was glad she hadn't stayed at canterlot.

[FazzEagle]

"Oh, I definitely liked it," Heavy Hoof said, stepping forward - apparently having wiped off the tears from his eyes earlier and wrapping one forearm around the back of Luminescent Dusk's neck, "It was almost... 'romantic'..." He shifts his eyes towards Luminescent Dusk once more. "... wouldn't you agree?" He kept his sights on her for a moment as if waiting for some form of validation before he suddenly turns his attention towards the two male Ponies. "And uh... about what happened earlier: I'd appreciate it if you two don't... mention it to anyone else. NOT ONE WORD!" He points to Timber Crash. "I'm looking at YOU, Tree Lover." Then, the big Pony suddenly smiles again, wrapping both his forearms around his bros, flashing a smile to the girls. "Now then... on behalf of the Bronies present here, I'd like to thank you for showing us something so amazing. If there's anything you'd like from us in return, just name it - we'd be glad to repay the favor. We uh... probably can't raise the sun or the moon for you... but you get the idea."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash allowed himself to be pulled happily into the hug with the other stallions, putting a foreleg around Heavy Hoof's shoulders. "It's just so beautiful, isn't it? I can't believe I haven't been paying attention to the sky until now! I'll definitely take the time to watch the moonrise from now on. I can't really see it setting from my house, what with the forest."

He nodded eagerly to Princess Luna's query, watching her flight admiringly. "It was amazing! You really have a gift, Your Highness. I haven't seen anything so beautiful in my life. You must have... must have missed doing that so much..." He found himself sniffling again, and extricated a foreleg from the group hug to wipe his eyes. "I think... everypony is glad to have you back."

He chuckled at Heavy Hoof and butted the huge stallion's shoulder with his head. "Come on, you said it yourself, it's okay to cry. Not many ponies will ever get to see anything like what we just saw." He nodded in agreement with his next statement. "What he said, Your Highness. We want to show you how much we appreciate what we just saw."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk rolled her eyes at Heavy Hoof and his "romantic" remark. She then listened to the other two talk about doing anything in return for the princess showing them the moon rising.  She then looked at Heavy Hoof "you honestly are such a softy arent you?" she had an amused expression on her face.

She then looked to Luna "we should get home now your majesty you have to get up early for a meeting with the mayor" She really hated being a stick in the mud right now but she was Luna's assistant which of course meant she had to keep Luna's schedual which fortunately for the princess didn't consist anything other than meeting the mayor. After that there wasno real schedual until Luna made one herself.

[Mac84]

No Mark excitedly nodded his head in agreement with both Heavy Hoof and Timber Crash. It was quite a sight and left him speechless. While he didn't say any thing. He too wanted to express his gratitiude to the princess for only showing them such a wonderful sight, but also becoming one of No Marks very first friends.

"how bout we throw a "Welcome Princess Luna and Luminesent Dusk" party?

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof looks to the side, grinning weakly to himself. "What can I say?" Heavy Hoof said, "The Hoofster looks after his friends and Bronies. My muscles are far from 'soft' though!" Heavy Hoof steps forward, flexing one forearm. "Come on, give it a feel." However, his attention was once again shifted when he heard No Mark's idea, Hoof turning his powerful neck to look at the Pony with - at first - an unamused expression, before a smile would form. "Say... That's not a bad idea! ...I like the way you think, 'Blank Flank'." Heavy Hoof looks towards Princess Luna and Luminescent Dusk. "Alright. Let's have a 'Welcome Party' for the Princess - and her lovely assistant, Lumy - tomorrow! We can use the barn back at my place. It will be awesome!" Apparently, Heavy Hoof didn't even think he had the need to ask the others if they were fine with the idea - he apparently just decided it to be so on his own.

[Empyrean]

Luna blushed, her cheeks turning a bright blue at the praise. "I think a party would be lovely! Dusk, can you handle the arrangements? It sounds like I'll be busy in the morning with the Mayor. But I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! And then maybe we can prepare for that expedition to the mountains?"

As she finished speaking, the townsponies reached them, filling the air with excited clamor and hoof-stomping applause. Luna blushed again under all the attention, but she stuck close to her new friends and didn't let the crowd pull her away.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk nodded "Certainly princess. I'll take care of arrangements and the likes" she smiled to Luna. She then watched as the crowd of townsponies made their way up the hill towards them. She couldn't blame them for being excited but she believed they needed to calm down at least a little bit. she then looked at Heavy Hoof "That barn is clean yes?"

[FazzEagle]

"Well, with a little bit of--" However, the growing crowd and the noises they made were drowning his voice, forcing him to make a sudden halt of his sentence. "With a little bit of--...!" Again, his voice was drowned, but this time the big Pony turned around, facing the crowd and the noise. "KEEP IT DOWN! Can't you see I'm trying to talk here!" The crowd seemingly heeded his words and toned down their volume, and just like that Heavy Hoof's expression shifted back into a gentle smile. "... thank you - love you Ponies. Stay cool." He once again turned his attention back to Luminescent Dusk. "As I was saying... With a little bit of cleaning and moving, the barn will be as clean as you want it to be. But don't you worry your pretty little hooves: the Hoofster will take care of that. Besides... If 'Blank Flank' here can clean up a whole mansion, what's a barn to him, right?" He turned his head, looking over at No Mark. "Isn't that right, Bro? Of course it is. High hoof me." He raised his hoof, offering it to the quieter Pony.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash nodded excitedly at No Mark's suggestion of a party. "What a great idea! This is definitely worth celebrating! See, look how excited everypony is!" He turned to look down the hill, impressed at the size of the crowd that Luna's display had drawn. "Party at your barn, then, Heavy Hoof? Sounds good to me!"

He turned back to Luna and bowed his head to her. "I'm glad your return has gone so well, Your Highness! Yeah, we should probably all get some sleep... except... I kinda figured you'd be nocturnal, like the owls and the wolves and things? I mean, it's none of my business, I just remember that's how it was in all the old stories about Equestria." He shuffled his hooves awkwardly, but still grinned, evidently high on the excitement and joy of the evening.

[Empyrean]

Luna smiled at Timber Crash's enthusiasm. "It's okay. Actually, neither Celestia nor I need sleep really. But it is nice, and yes, I usually am nocturnal. But ever since I've been back I've been trying to adjust to how life in Equestria works, and since most ponies seem to be about by day, I've been staying up more. Sister has been talking about us sharing our rulership duties again once she feels I'm recovered, and I want to be sure I'm used to functioning on the same time as everypony else. Sometimes I still wish more ponies stayed up to enjoy the night, but I've come to see that there is a balance to things, and the world needs its' rest times as well as its' active times. And speaking of rest, I don't want to keep you all from yours."

She proceeded down the hill, exchanging polite greetings and small talk with the assembled ponies. But she never stopped. She was on her way back to the mansion, to prepare for whatever the next day would bring.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was quick to fallow after Luna a small smile on her face. "I was unaware of your ability to not sleep...so i've been wondering if you wouldn't mind allowing me to perform some studies on Alicorns while we are here in maneflow?" she was speaking softly as they trotted along together. The unicorn was a night owl by nature however the prospect of studying an alicorn was so very fascinating to her. None the less she went with the princess towards the mansion contemplating her methodolgy for the study.

[FazzEagle]

"No sweat, Princess. The Hoofster can stay awake as long as he wants." Heavy Hoof watched as Luna and Luminescent Dusk made their way down the hill, parting the crowd of Ponies that were eager to greet the Pony of Royalty. Once they were distant, the strong Pony stepped forward to stand between No Mark and Timber Crash, looking towards their two new 'friends'. "I'm not very clear on the whole... 'sister' thing going on here," Heavy Hood said, "But... the Princess must really love her sister. That's nice. Well, since she'll usually be around at night, that means the Hoofster will need to extend his curfew!" The Pony, however, soon let out a huge yawn. "... starting tomorrow. Besides..." He started to walk ahead, heading back to the village. "... we'll have a party at my place tomorrow! Better get some rest so we clean the place up. Four in the Afternoon! Sharp! Got that?" He looked back at his two 'comrades' before yawning once more, and he continued on his way through the crowd.

"Alright, alright!" he said, "Nothing more to see here! Back to your homes, Ponies! Big day ahead of us! Big day!"

[Mac84]

Early the next Morning, No Mark nearly leaped from his small cot. Most of the other ponies weren't even up yet as he made his way over to Heavy Hoof's farm. He was hoping that he wasn't too early, though he was very excited at the prospect of setting up a party for the Princess and her friend Luminescent Dusk.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash nodded, feeling his own eyelids growing heavy. "Sleep is sounding pretty good right now. I'm gonna head over to the mill - the miller always lets me crash there when I'm in town. Not literally, I mean." He turned to smile at the other two stallions, tossing his mane in an attempt to stay awake. "Sister thing? You know that Princess Luna's sister is... is..."

The young earth pony shook his head as a loud yawn escaped his lips. "Augh. All this talk about sleep is making me sleepy. Sleep tonight, party tomorrow! Sounds great!" He raised a front hoof for a brohoof with Heavy Hoof and No Mark, then trotted down the hill towards the sawmill.

[FazzEagle]

"You got that right, Tree Lover!" Heavy Hoof replied, returning the Pony's brohoof with his own, "So better get lots of sleep 'cause we won't be sleeping early tomorrow!" And so, Heavy Hoof continued down the hill while still keeping some light conversation with his two 'bronies'. "So Tree Lover, what you said earlier... About you 'crashing'. It's funny 'cause it's like your name! Timber 'Crash'! Did you get the joke, Blank Flank? Of course you do - it's hilarious! I got a joke too! Why did the chicken cross the road?" Eventually the sounds of their voices died down the further down they go down the hill, and soon all the ponies went their separate ways for the night, getting ready for a brand new day.

The next morning, as No Mark arrived at Heavy Hoof's farm, he would soon realize that he was not the only Pony to wake up early. Heavy Hoof himself was already up and awake, but at the moment he was moving around with a rope tied around the nuts of the yoke around his broad neck, dragging a big, heavy rock. Any average Pony would have a hard time doing such a feat, and while it still looked like Heavy Hoof struggled, he was still able to move it one step at a time.

"Just five more steps, Hoofster!" Heavy Hoof said to himself, "Five more steps! And then PUSH-UPS! Yes! YES! YOU CAN DO THIS...!" And not long after, Heavy Hoof did it, and he simply threw the yoke around him by a simple throw of his neck. "YES! WHO'S THE BRONY!?" However, before the Pony could continue, No Mark's presence caught his attention. "What the...? Blank Flank, what are you doing here this early? I said four in the afternoon - not four in the morning! I know you're eager but as you can see... I'm kind of busy." He flexed one of his forearms. "I'm working out - the Hoofster needs to take care of his muscles." He chuckled, lowering his forearm. "'cause if it's not me, who would, right? No one, that's who."

[pendarious]

While the two male ponies were up discussing what time heavy hoof had mentioned to be at the barn to set up the party Luminescent Dusk was sound asleep. Lost in memory like dreams. Her childhood perhaps flashing through her mind as she slept. She was quite comfortable under the quilts and snuggled into the soft bed. Though princess Luna was her charge the Unicorn couldn't stay awake at all hours like an alicorn could well not without suffering the consequences of fatigue anyway.

She wouldn't rise from bed until 7 'oclock am. "Mmm....morning is always such a pain" she mumbled to herself as she stumbled out of bed and quietly made her way to the bathroom. Here she took a quick shower, Brushed her teeth, Mane, and Tail after which she made sure her coat was also groomed. she then pulled on her cape and hat using her magic. She then went downstairs and began to prepare some breakfast for herself and the princess whenever she woke up if she slept at all that is.

[Empyrean]

Luna had spent most of the night awake, watching the progress of the moon and the stars as the night passed. It was a peaceful time, her night. Everypony was asleep, but the animals were up and about, and she enjoyed watching them scurry about on their nocturnal errands. She'd eventually settled in after bringing down the moon, sleeping for a few hours. It was good to get back in the practice of it.

When morning came she trotted down to the kitchen. "Oh! You're up early, Dusk! I was going to see if the larder was stocked." She smiled. "So are you ready for today?"

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash staggered back to the mill, yawning at the late hour. He stumbled up into the mezzanine overlooking the sawmill's work area and flopped onto the straw pallet set aside for just this purpose. He mused on the day's events in the few moments it took him to drop off to sleep, thinking about the beautiful moonrise and night sky the Princess had shown them, and the infectious joy of the Princess herself.

The next morning, he managed to sleep through his body's usual dawn alarm clock, instead being woken by the sweet refrain of a log being driven through the sawmill's main blade. He rolled to his hooves, waving at the miller pony on the floor below. "Good morning!" he shouted over the sound of sawing, but the miller could hear nothing underneath his heavy earmuffs.

Timber danced down the stairs and checked that his log was still there, then picked up a small pouch of bits marked with his cutie mark. "A good day's work, that one!" he commented to nopony in particular, slipping the pouch into his saddlebags. He gave the miller another wave and trotted down to the river for a bath, then set out towards Heavy Hoof's farm, shaking his mane free of water as he walked.

[FazzEagle]

Though No Mark arrived early, Heavy Hoof continued his daily work-out routine - though forcefully getting the Pony with no Cutie Mark to join in by helping him count the number of push-ups and jogging laps he did. Nevertheless, once the manly Pony was done, he straightly went to the barn along with his 'new friend', pushing the doors open to reveal a big room made slightly narrower due to so many farming tools and various boxes left unorganized.

"The old man and his wife used to raise cattle here," Heavy Hoof said, "Until, of course, their poor weak old bones just couldn't handle it anymore - makes you wish the Hoofster moved in a whole lot earlier here, doesn't it?" Then, once only three seconds had passed, the Pony quickly turned his attention back to No Mark. "Anyways! Time to work out your 'cleaning magic', Blank Flank! Get rid of all the cobwebs and the dust, and I'll do they 'heavy work'. Get it...? I will do the 'heavy' work because I'm 'Heavy' Hoof." Heavy Hoof let out a short guffaw. "... just a little humor - now let's get to work! Come on, we have to get this place cleaned and ready up before the Princess gets here!"

Noticing Timber Crash just arriving outside, Heavy Hoof momentarily turned around to greet his other friend. "Well, well, well, look who's here... Tree Lover, you came just in time! Blank Flank's already here. Come on! Let's get this place in tip-top shape! YEAH, let's do this!" And just like that, Heavy Hoof trotted deeper into the barn, expecting the other two to follow after.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk heard the princess enter and question her about being up. "Yes of course. I have a rather unhealthy sleeping habit I must admit...I have always loved the night and stay awake late studying or stargazing and then sleeping for 3-4 hours  before being up again. However when one does this for years on end they grow used to it"  she then smiled at the princess turning away from her cooking for a moment to do so.

[Empyrean]

"I'm glad somepony enjoys the night. You know, I used to think no one did. That's what led to all that unpleasantness between me and Celestia. Now I know it's just a different kind of enjoyment." She started levitating some oats and a tasty-looking bunch of carrots down from the larder. "So you said I have a meeting with the Mayor today? Do you know what it's about?"

[pendarious]

"I do believe it's just the customary welcome to town bit though I'm not entirely sure" Luminescent Dusk responded with a thoughtful expression on her face as she sat down with the blueberry waffles she had been making. She then floated the maple syrup over and drowned the pancakes in it. she began to eat.

[Empyrean]

Luna eyed the blueberry waffles, then her own breakfast. She looked back and forth for a few minutes, then sighed. "From now on, you do the cooking around here. I never had the talent for it." She smiled ruefully and then settled into her breakfast with a dainty, delicate air.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk chuckled softly at the Princesses remark. "To be honest I only picked up the knack for it in recent months....this is probably only the third batch of decent waffles i've ever made" she then took another bite of her food. Though Luminescent's air was nowhere as dainty or delicate as Luna's while eating it was definitely dainty enough for the royal court.

[Mac84]

No Mark set about the task of cleaning with zeal. He enjoyed being of use, and wanted to make his new friends happy. Trotting about he used his long tail to dust. Once he finished dusting. He helped Heavy Hoof and Timber Crash moving some of the larger farm equipment.

"I sure hope the Princess and Luminescent Dusk like the party. Should we invite the rest of the town?"

[Empyrean]

Once she finished, Luna telekinetically wiped her mouth with a napkin in a quick patting gesture, then waited for Dusk to finish. When she was done, Luna smiled. "Well, let's get this meeting over with! We have a party to attend later after all, and Celestia's gone to the trouble of making a beautiful day, so we should enjoy it!"

[FazzEagle]

"Didn't take you as the Party Animal, Blank Flank... I like that." Heavy Hoof went on to push a stack of crates aside with no problem. "Sure, why not? The more, the merrier. 'course, we'll need to provide more snacks. Makes me wonder if Princesses eat ordinary food though. Maybe some greens? Vegetables...? Well, let's just make sure to get some sweets... and some greens on the side - some Ponies need to watch what they eat, if you know what I mean." Heavy Hoof finished pushing the crates aside before planting his hooves firmly on the ground, his chest pushed forward. "You don't get a body like this by eating sugar all day. Hey, Tree Lover! Since you like plants so much, why don't YOU be in charge of picking out the good ones to eat? And Blank Flank... you're in charge of the snacks." He trotted closer, helping the Pony move a heavier, larger equipment. "I'll go and invite every pony who's every pony. They can't refuse if the Hoofster invites them - especially the ladies." And just like that, the Pony just stood there, smiling to himself.

[pendarious]

After finishing her meal and cleaning her mouth Luminescent Dusk fallowed after Luna "hmm..I suppose your right Luna....ah you don't mind me speaking so informally while in maneflow do you?" she asked quickly. Though it had been hammered in her head to always address royalty formally she believed that if she were to be the princesses friend she might be able to get away with the informality at least outside of canterlot.

[Empyrean]

"Of course you may! Is that not what friends do?" She seemed to be asking an honest question there.

While she waited for an answer she trotted along at Dusk's side, strolling slowly through town and nodding pleasantly at those who greeted her.

[pendarious]

"so they say" Luminescent Dusk smiled "I only ask because you are a princess and it is hammered into courtiers heads to be formal with royalty."  She explained this with a bit of a chuckle. She was being rather honest with her newfound friend. "Keep in mind that anytime we return to canterlot I'll revert to formal speech patterns"

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash followed Heavy Hoof and No Mark into the barn, squinting against the dust in the air. "Hey, this is actually really nice. There's a lot of space here! Or there will be once we clear this stuff out." He drew a length of rope out of his harness and trotted into the gloom, attaching himself to a small plough leaning against the wall. "Let's show the Princess and Dusk what us Maneflow earth ponies can do with a bit of work!" he commented as he dragged the equipment out into the sunshine.

He worked steadily along with the others, chattering away regardless of whether anypony was listening or not. He let No Mark handle the dusting and cleaning, spending most of his time walking in and out with farm equipment in his mouth or strapped to his harness.

He nodded eagerly at the idea of inviting the rest of the town to the party. "Great idea! I'm... not sure what Princess Luna eats either. I mean, she doesn't sleep. I can't imagine not sleeping. She probably eats hay like everypony else. Really good hay, though - I bet they have all the best clover and lucerne in Canterlot. I usually buy a couple of bales of hay when I'm in town, then just graze a bit on whatever I find in the forest." He hummed to himself, pondering. "I'll get some hay - that's a good standby, everypony likes a bit of hay - and round it out with some apples, carrots... ooh, oranges are in season too, that'll liven things up a bit. I'll mix in some herbs, as well, there's a really nice mix of wild oregano and garlic that goes great with hay and apples." He hopped from hoof to hoof excitedly as he came up with ideas. "This is going to be great!"

[Mac84]

No Mark nodded to Heavy Hoofs recommendation.

"Miss Sugar Cane could help us with the snacks"

Trotting across town, he saw Princess Luna and Miss Dusk across the town square.

"Good Morning Princess, Miss Dusk"

No Mark hardly ever raises his voice and he very surprised at the fact. No Matter however, as He waved.

Continuing on, Sugar Cane was just opening for the Day. She was startled to see him waiting outside her shop.

"Oh, No Mark. This is...uh...a surprise. I never see you around the shop, or eating sweets for that matter. What can I do for you?"

"Good Morning Miss Cane. Mr. Heavy Hoof, Timber Crash, and myself are throwing a welcome party for the Princess and Miss Dusk. I was asked to find snacks. The whole town is invited."

"A PARTY! My stars, what do you want. Cakes, fudge, candy?

Sugar Cane began to bounce in excitement.

"uh, uh. A cake and some small snacks would be nice."

No Mark began to back away slowly, obviously uncomfortable with the overly excited pony.

"Sure, No problem. what time is the party?"

"4 o'clock, Ma'am"

Sugar cane gave a huge smile.

"It'll be my best work yet.

After thanking her, No Mark went off to find Timber Crash to see if he needed any help.

[Empyrean]

Luna waved to No Mark and smiled when she saw him, then continued on her way, nodding to Dusk. "Of course. I understand. The court can be most unforgiving of breaches of protocol. I think that's why 'Tia loves pranking them when she can."

She proceeded towards the mayor's office, only to see the elderly stallion come running out, his face sweaty. Spotting the Princess, he did a cursory bow, blanched a white that was vastly different from his brown fur, and then stammered for a moment before regaining himself.

"P-Princess Luna! Err...I'm sure it's nothing. P-please wait for me here! D-don't follow!" With that, he turned and galloped off towards the hills.

Luna looked at Dusk in confusion. "Please tell me that this is not an example of normal behavior in the modern day."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk waved and smiled back at No Mark as well when he happened to have called out to them and waved. Then the princess made her remark about celestia's trolling the court whenever she was able to. This mad the unicorn chuckle. she did so love how the princesses sometimes behaved.

The mayor came running out in a panic pale and sweaty. He bowed and then bid they not fallow them leading to the prinecesses confused question. "NO this is rather uncommon...in fact as far as i'm aware such things only happen when there is some sort of trouble brewing in the town and the Mayors do not wish to involve the court unneccisarily"

[FazzEagle]

"That's right; we're brewing up a party in town and we want every pony to be involved."

Most of the Ponies of Maneflow - except those tending to their homes and stores - had already gathered at the center of their home, called out by none other than Heavy Hoof himself. Having finished all their work cleaning up the barn, all three of them had went their separate ways, each doing the job assigned to them. Being a Pony of charisma - at least to most of the Ponies' eyes - Heavy Hoof had no problem persuading the ponies in attendance to attend the party, promising them free food and meeting the Princess herself. Once his announcement was done, all the Ponies started chatting it up among each other, trying to decide what to do or wear for the occasion.

Needless to say, Heavy Hoof was proud of his work.

"Hoofster, you've done it again," he said to himself before directing his voice back to the Ponies, "Alright, let's make this a party the Princess will never forget!... oh hey, look - it's the mayor." Spotting the Mayor galloping in their direction, Heavy Hoof smiled in greeting. "Hey, Mayor, we're going to have a... party... this after... nooon...?" However, the Mayor simply continued his gallop away from the scene, leaving every pony in silence for a moment. "... huh, must be a busy day for him - s'not easy being Mayor. .... his loss though." He then looked back at the rest. "Alright, who's with me!"

And just like that, the Ponies cheered excitedly.

[Empyrean]

Luna frowned. "Well I think the court is about to become involved." She spread her wings and started into the sky after the Mayor. "Follow on the ground!"

The next fifteen minutes were a blur as she shadowed the Mayor outside the town limits, into the hills. The land was green and rolling, spotted with wildflowers and small streams. Luna paid little attention to the scenery until the flowers suddenly died and the grass turned brown and flaky. The stretch of dead land continued for miles around, surrounding a massive silo.

As the Mayor arrived, he scanned behind him and above him quickly. Luna dived behind a cloud just in time and so evaded him. Then he turned to the ponies who were lying around the base of the silo. Even from this distance, Luna could see that the ponies were groaning in pain and their faces had an unnatural greenish pall to them. She snuck closer, pushing the cloud along slowly, just in time to hear the Mayor.

"-you did good to tell me. Keep these ponies here out of sight. I'll think of something to tell the townsfolk and the princess. Remember, not a word to anypony until I say different! Can't have this getting out now."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk fallowed after Luna as instructed. She chased after the Mayor. She ignored the scenery. She ran a bit behind the princess who was flying. when they arrived at the silo and the mayor started looking around Luminescent Dusk cast an invisibility spell. She completely vanished cape, hat and all. She watched and listened to him speak.

Her mind was racing. what could he be talking about? what danger could have been unleashed that would have this effect on ponies and teh land around us?    She was utterly stunned as she stared blankly. Her eyes scanned the scene before her and she was trying to figure out if she would be able to help them.

[Empyrean]

The ponies in their immediate line of sight were still lying down, groaning. The Mayor was speaking to a pony with the same slate-gray color as the rocks in the hills, who bore the image of a round shield on his flanks. The gray pony was nodding as he heard the words.

"Winter's gonna be bad Mayor. If'n they live that long. Gonna be hard to keep this quiet. How are we going to sneak these sods back into town without the ponyfolk runnin' wild? Or Her Highness seeing it?"

"I know, I know! Err...say it's...say it's a sickness!" He was pacing nervously. "And that's why we had to get rid of the silo. That ought to do it. And forbid anyone from coming anywhere near here. I'll...uh....hmm. You stay here Silver Shield, keep an eye on the place. I'll go and see about getting a cockatrice or a parasprite out here. Say there was an infestation. Yeah, that ought to do it. And just pray to Celestia nothing worse happens."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was appalled by the mayor's choice of words. First of all something was incredibly out of place here. Second the mayor's willingness to risk bringing parasprites or a cockatrice into the area? what was he thinking?
She didn't want to get too much closer to the scene unsure of what had caused the ponies to even be in this condition in the first place.

If this was somethng that was contageous she wanted to be nowhere near enough to catch it. However the proximity of both the mayor and this Silver shield raised some doubts about it being contageous. She was trying to get a look around the clearing without moving closer. Her invisibility spell only worked on sight not sound.

[Empyrean]

Thunder filled the sky with no warning. A powerful wind picked up, blowing dead grass everywhere. Lightning flashed behind Luna as she descended, swifter and darker than the bolts. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Her voice echoed over the thunder, audible even in Maneflow.

The Mayor cringed and the guard turned pale. They were both shaking and stammering, and it seemed neither was in any condition to answer. If someone was to get answers, it wouldn't be Luna, not like this. Not now.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was startled quite a bit by the display and lost focus thus negating the invisibility spell. She walked forward slowly and began to examine each of the ill and groaning ponies. She was using magic now to see if she could find any hints of magic in use.

[Empyrean]

Each pony Dusk inspected with her magic had traces of magic about them. This magic was sick, a roiling blackness that stank of poison, decay, and sickness. The ponies were alive, though in terrible pain. But the magic was hours old as well. It just lingered about this valley.

[pendarious]

"Magical poisoning?" She pulled back in disgust. She however she had to pause to think about what sort of poison it seemed to be. It had familiar traces to it yet a few traces that were unfamiliar as well. A hybrid poison perhaps? or maybe there was some rapid decay to the spell itself that left such a horrendously mixed residue. She started pacing back and forth as she considered the possibilities.

[Empyrean]

The eyes of the mayor and the guard tracked Dusk's hooves as she paced back and forth, their teeth still chattering. The mayor reached a hoof out to try and grasp at Dusk's cape out of nervous fear.

[pendarious]

The blue unicorn stopped and looked at him with a frown on her face "yes?" she asked since he had grabbed onto her cape. She really didn't want either of the two stallions touching her right now but with the hoof on her cape she couldn't just ignore him....unfortunately.

[FazzEagle]

Meanwhile in Maneflow, Heavy Hoof was once again back at his barn, having already persuaded most of the Ponies present in town to attend the party. Timber Crash and No Mark were still busy with their work at the moment, leaving the 'Hoofster' some free time of his own. Leaning against the fence, his attention was placed on two local female Ponies who happened to pass by, and in typical Heavy Hoof fashion he just couldn't help but flirt a little with them.

"That's right, ladies..." Heavy Hoof said with a flirty grin on his face, "The Princess herself will be at the party later. Who knows? Maybe the Hoofster can give you two some time to talk with---" However, the sudden lightning startled the three, with heavy Hoof almost losing his 'manly' composure as he quickly leaped over the fence to hide behind the two females. Realizing it was actually just lightning, Heavy Hoof quickly straightened himself out before the Ponies looked back at him. "... it's just a little lightning, ladies - no need to be afraid. The Hoofster's still here."

Like a cue, Luna's voice could be heard.

"What was that??" one of the female ponies asked, flustered.

"T-That didn't sound like no rain!" the other continued.

"Uh... why don't you two pretty little ponies run along back home first?" Heavy Hoof suggested, motioning his hoof in 'shooing' manner, "I'm sure it's nothing; just make sure you and the others are ready for the party, you hear? Leave this to the Hoofster to check things out."

"You're so brave, Heavy Hoof..." one of them sighed.

And just like that, Heavy Hoof was left alone once again. Waiting for the two to leave, he turned his attention to the forest, squinting his eyes. He was about to go out there alone until the dark, ominous cloud spooked him too much. "... m, maybe I should go find the guys. Yeah - they'll probably want to see this." Heavy Hoof turned his back from the forest, making his way back to town to hopefully come across either Timber Crash, No Mark, or hopefully both.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash trotted out from Heavy Hoof's farm and made his way into town, skipping with excitement every few steps. He made a beeline for Lucerne's Hay and Herbs, the best place for edible plants in Maneflow. He sometimes made trips into the forest for Lucerne, to gather wild herbs for her, since he was always happy to help other ponies out with plant matters. That was definitely the only reason he did it.

The bell above the door rang as Timber Crash stepped into the shop, and the green-coated earth pony behind the counter greeted him merrily. "Hello, Timber!" she called to him, smiling warmly. "Here for your usual order?"

Timber grinned stupidly at the one pony in Maneflow who could render him speechless. "Hi, Lucerne," he mumbled, his eyes following the curve of her mane as it blended from bright green to a dull yellow like grass in autumn. "I, um, er... no! I'm actually, um, shopping for a party this afternoon! You'll never guess who it's for!"

Lucerne tilted her head to one side and hazarded a guess. "Princess Luna?"

"Oh. Um. Yeah, Princess Luna." Idiot, everypony knows about that already! Don't try to be clever, it doesn't suit you! "So... we'd like to order all of your best hay. Do you have any of last week's clover left? And your best lucerne, of course! Nothing but the best for the Princess. And if you've got some garlic and oregano, and some apples and carrots, I can do that salad recipe everypony seems to like."

Lucerne scooped up a pencil from the counter with her tongue and held it in her mouth, taking down Timber's order. "Mmhm. Mmhm. Mmmhay."

"Anyway, everypony's invited to the party, so do you want to go with me?" he asked, but only on the inside of his head. What came out was: "Anyway, everypony's invited, so I hope you can make it! Bye!"

Lucerne gave him a wave and an amused smile as he slipped out the door and back towards the farm. Nice going, Logjam, he berated himself with his old nickname. Way to sweep her off her hooves. Regardless, there was preparation to be done for the afternoon's food. He was just going over the utensils he'd need for cooking for so many ponies when thunder crashed in the distance, accompanied by Luna's voice.

"What was that?" he asked himself as he ran towards the farm, hoping to rendezvous with the others. "There are no thunderstorms scheduled all week! And was that the Princess?" All thoughts of lucerne - and Lucerne - were pushed aside, his hackles rising in anticipation of something seriously amiss.

[Empyrean]

The Mayor tugged more insistently on Dusk's cape and spoke in what he thought was a whisper. It was more like a shout to be heard over the raging winds. "You're her assistant! Talk to her! T-tell her we meant no harm! T-t-tell her not to hurt us!"

[Mac84]

No Mark jumped in place. The sudden bolt of Lightening and being able to hear the Princess startled him. Plus, she didn't sound happy. He trotted out of the Barn as he saw Heavy Hoof shooing some fillies back to their home. Looking around the sky. He saw a dark patch that looked out of place. It was also the direction from where He heard the Princess's voice emanating from. Without thinking he bolted from the barn in the direction of the dark patch of sky. He ran as hard as he could. Fearing that the princess might be in trouble. He didn't want to risk losing a new friend.

Seeing a Silo in the distance, No Mark changed direction towards it as the Dark clouds were circling over it. As he approached, he had to stop. the air grew foul. His instincts told him to keep away, but he forced himself to continue. Thoughts of the possibility of his new friends in danger spurring him onward.  Reaching the clearing, he saw Luna floating in Mid-air as the Mayor and Silver Shield cowered behind Miss Dusk. He trotted up, the worry very evident in his voice.

"What's wrong?"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk glared at the mayor as he made his plea for help "What do you mean you meant no harm? these ponies were poisoned with magic and then instead of trying to find help you decide to leave them? what's worse is that you planned to either bring a cockatrice or parasprites here to hide it? what's wrong with you?" her voice was soft but menacing as she spoke. She had an outright disgusted expression on her face.

Suddenly No Mark's voice cut into the clearing though it didn't stem the fury of the caped unicorn. She continued glaring at the two cowering ponies waiting for the Princess to pass her judgement on them.

[Empyrean]

"B-but...you don't understand! If this gets out, if the court comes down here...we'll be ruined! Our only hope to expand is the honor of hosting the Princess. If word gets out about the trouble then...then...oh Celestia preserve me! I can't imagine the amount of trouble, for all of us! I don't know how to tell the people they won't be eating this winter as it is!"

Luna snorted, silvery flame coming from her nostrils. "Too late for that." Her tone had returned to normal, but the anger was still there. She turned to No Mark when he arrived and gestured with her horn towards the Mayor. "Something has sickened these ponies and the Mayor here wants to cover it up. For the town's image." Her sarcasm was matched by her contempt for the Mayor's ploy. "But he hasn't told us what exactly happened yet." 

[FazzEagle]

Spotting Timber Crash, Heavy Hoof had a relieved look on his face. "There you are, Tree Lover! Yeah, that... sounded like the Princess, but it can't be, right?" Heavy Hoof chuckled. "No way some Pony like the Princess would ever have a voice THAT scary - it just won't mix." However, he soon showed doubt in his eyes as he looked back at the direction of the forest and then back at Timber Crash. "'course... it won't hurt to find out. And the Hoofster will gladly accompany you so there's nothing to be afraid of! Oh, hey..." This time, he spotted No Mark in the distance. "There's Blank Flank, right now. Hey, Blank Flank! We were wondering if you'd--..." However, the Pony was already galloping his way towards the dark patch in the sky - this irritated Heavy Hoof a little. "Hey! Don't you ignore me! Come on, Tree Lover, let's check it out! Hi-yah...!" The Pony stood on his back legs for a moment before quickly bursting into a fast gallop, showing how his muscles granted himself to be one of the fastest Earth ponies in Maneflow.

Eventually all three of them arrived on the scene with No Mark having arrived first. His attention soon shifted to the Princess, and then Luminescent Dusk. "Oh, hey, if it isn't Lumy - how you doing?" His smile of ignorance soon came to fade when he saw the sickly Ponies not far from them. "... whoa, those Ponies don't look so good. And... Mayor? What are you doing here? ... and why do you look so scared? And who the hay is that Pony?" He pointed at the guard. "... could someone PLEASE tell me?"

[Empyrean]

Luna lowered her wings, though the thunder still rumbled overhead. Every so often a flash of lightning would flicker amongst the clouds.

"I'm glad you're all here." She looked at her friends, and then at the Mayor. "I don't know what's going on myself. All I know is that the Mayor seems bent on keeping it from us and from the people of Maneflow. I think it's time we learn why."

The Mayor looked around, then sighed in defeat. "All right all right! Look, I don't know how it happened but there was some kind of...something early this morning. Silver Shield here guards the silo where we store extra food for the winter. When he came on duty this morning, the night watch here..." A hoof went to the various sickened ponies "..were like this. He sent somepony to get me and I was trying to avoid a general panic in town! Now there's talk of black magic and you all know things, and I don't know how we're going to keep Maneflow from going crazy! Or worse, having word get out to Canterlot. I thought if I hushed it up long enough I could set up some kind of a deal to get food from somewhere and nopony would have to know." He hung his head. "Guess that's not happening."

Luna looked at the mayor, then at her friends, clearly waiting for their advice and input before she spoke.

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof shifted his eyes from one side to another, looking at his friends as well. The whole situation was dire and surely every Pony present was filled with questions that needed answers. However, being the slow Pony he was, Heavy hoof didn't exactly quite follow as soon as the others would. Instead, the only response he made to all that was:

"Sooo... we're not going to party today...?"

Before leaving the rest to continue.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk listened to the mayor quietly and then noticed Luna look at all of them. "Although you tried to hide this from the princess.....I have to admit trying to avoid a panic from the citizens of maneflow was indeed a wise course of action." Though she was a mage in training she was well versed in politics. "It also seems that you are honest in your lack of knowledge of the ponies being poisoned so we cannot hold that against you...." She turned to Luna "Princess the only wrong the mayor has comitted today is contemplating bringing dangerous creatures to this spot"  Her anger had dwindled as she took these things into consideration.

"Also if I can study the magic around them and figure out just what the poison is I can have a cure prepared for them soon.....I recognize what sort of spell was used...what I havent figured out though is just what form of venom was used in tandem with the spell......" she had a concerned expression as she stated this.

[Mac84]

No Mark stood in quiet contemplation. Silver Shield was probably one of the most, if not The most, respected guard in all Maneflow. He was told stories as a Colt of his heroism and valor. His bravery and Honor. It was hard for him to think that Silver Shield would do something deceitful. Not with a very valid reason. However, if what the Mayor and Miss Dusk say are true. this could spell disaster for the ponies of Maneflow. Making his way past the stricken guards. No mark peered into the Silo. Almost instantly, he was assaulted with that same foul smell as he noticed when he arrived. the smell was coming from the stored food. All of it. He snorted to get the scent from his nose. 

"the Food is tainted. We have to do something otherwise we won't be able to eat this winter."

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof followed after No Mark to check after the Silo, but he didn't need to get too close to it to catch the foul smell radiating from within. "Sweet pony of mercy, that smells AWFUL! Now I KNOW we won't be serving THAT for the party. Or at ANY time." He turned his powerful neck to look back at the rest. "... it's not healthy." And he peeked a glance at the sickened Ponies. "No offense." The Pony then stepped closer to the group. "Either way, the Hoofster will not stand for this! I never leave any friends behind or risk getting them hurt." He looked at the Mayor. "Mayor!" And then to Luna. "Princess!" And then to Silver Shield. "Stranger!" And then Luminescent Dusk. "Lumy. The Hoofster is here to help and lend his strength! No Ponies will get hurt on my watch! ... except those Ponies - I wasn't uh... watching them. Just give out the orders and we'll hop right to it! Ain't that right, Bronies?"

Of course, he was referring to Timber Crash and No Mark, once again being included in his attempts without their concent.

[Empyrean]

Luna's eyes smoldered for a moment, then the storm suddenly dissipated as if it had never been. She lowered her wings and nodded to Dusk. "Very well. We'll have a long talk about those dangerous creatures later though."

The Mayor perked right up at news of a cure. "O-of course, Miss Dusk. Study as much as you wish! I'll just cordon off the area so no one can disturb you." He edged around the group warily, headed towards the entrance of the valley.

Luna turned to Heavy Hoof. "Could you please help him? I'm going to help Dusk with the studies and see if we can make a cure. No Mark, Timber Crash, could you reassure the townponies that everything is fine? Just a bit of a unscheduled rainstorm over this way. Nothing to worry about."

[FazzEagle]

"No sweat, Princess - just leave it to Hoof." Heavy Hoof pointed at himself before moving calmly after the Mayor, but not after talking to Luminescent Dusk for a moment. "... heh, you're cute when you're frowning. Come on, Mayor! Hop to it! Maybe we can finally discuss of some of the ideas I had this whole time." And just like that, the 'manly' Pony left the scene with the Mayor, making sure to keep him company and making sure he doesn't try anything stupid like running away.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash galloped after Heavy Hoof, doing his best to keep up with the well-muscled stallion. The lumberpony was very strong himself, of course, but he lacked the full-body musculature that Heavy Hoof earned with his rigorous exercise regimen, and so fell behind him a short distance.

As the three stallions ran on, Timber noticed a line on the ground where flowers had wilted and grass had died. He skidded to a halt, motioning the others to go on ahead. He lowered his head to the brown grass and was about to take a nibble, when the overall sense of wrongness of the situation struck him. "This isn't natural at all," he murmured to himself, sniffing cautiously at a dead flower. "Somepony must have done this deliberately... or there's something else going on. This hill wasn't like this yesterday. What could this mean?"

He scraped a bit of dirt from the dead area into a pouch on his harness, being careful not to get any in his mouth or nose, and then galloped after Heavy Hoof and No Mark again. He arrived at the scene of the silo about half a minute after Heavy Hoof, snorting heavily, sweat lathering on his flanks. He folded onto his knees for a moment, catching his breath while the others spoke.

Timber looked up at Heavy Hoof's proclamation. "Of course we'll help! Whatever we can do." He hauled himself up to his hooves and bowed to Luna. "I can see that this is in good hooves... you will stop this, won't you? All this dead grass... it's just not right." The young stallion shuddered, looking around at the wasted landscape.

[Empyrean]

Luna smiled at Timber Crash. "Of course. Dusk and I will get to the bottom of this, you can count on it."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk nodded quietly at Luna. She completely ignored heavy hoof as he made his silly comment. "It's disturbing to see how effective this was...though I wonder what pony if any would do something like this?" She was lost in thought as she looked back and forth around the clearing.

[Mac84]

No Mark was his usual quiet self as the other ponies spoke. He nodded in agreement with Heavy Hoof's proclamation that the three Earth Ponies would help.  When Luna asked him and Timber Crash to assuage the fears of the other ponies, he eagerly agreed

"Of Course. Timber Crash and I will do our best."

No Mark set out for the town. He was thinking how best to deal with this. As he looked at the sun, he guessed the time was nearly 4 in the afternoon and the thought of the Party popped in his head. He changed course and made his way to Heavy Hoof's farm. even from a distance, he could see a good majority of the town has already arrived. He stopped himself just outside the gate and waited till he caught his breath. it would be hard to convince others that nothing's wrong if he looked like he had just ran a marathon. after a few minutes, he lazily walked up the trail towards the barn.  Almost instantly he encountered the over energetic Sugar Cube.

" Hey No Mark. I got the Cakes, I got the Candy. When will Princess Luna be arriving"

Sugar Cubes over excited nature was started to unnerve No Mark.

"Oh, Oh. what was all that thunder and Lightening earlier? Did you see it? Did you hear it? I thought for a moment i heard a voice as well. Huh Huh"

her Mention of the storm snapped him back to the task at hand.

"Oh um. That wasn't really anything. I guess the Weather ponies wanted to surprise everyone with a rain burst."

No Mark hoped that this would believable"

"Oh OK"

Sugar Cube bought it hook, line and sinker.

"What about the Princess? When will she be arrive?

"Uh, She is looking into something, but she expresses her apologies and asked if we can postpone the party for another time"

"And She said this to you I presume?"

No Mark spun around at the sound of the Haughty Voice. It belonged to Silver Spoon. A pony that was the only son to one of an influential Family in town. He believed himself superior to other ponies cause of his status.

"I find it very doubtful that Her Grace would bother with an embarrassment such as you. to be seen with one without a Cutie Mark at your age. It is simply, well, Disgracful.

No Marks ears and Tail drooped as the other ponies began to gather round. No Mark never liked being the center of attention as it was usually about his being without a cutie mark. He bit his lower lip and summoned his courage.

"She is my friend."

Silver Spoon let out and Arrogant guffaw as if he caught No Mark in some sort of Trap.

"I am sure she was simply pitying you. Your most likely bothering her and should leave her and her true friends be"

With that, Silver Spoon walked off. His arrogant laugh hanging on the air.   

[Empyrean]

Luna bent her head to examine the magical residue. It was...haunting. Something about it seemed familiar. It teased and danced at the edges of her senses but at the same time a part of her mind rose up to block it out. She shook her head as if in pain, trying to think through the sudden pounding that had erupted in her head.

Dusk could see that the black traces of magic formed a semi-circle around the valley. It started where the grass withered, entered the valley, then darted to the right and made a shallow crescent before charging right at the silo. Then it became a cloyingly thick knot around the silo and the guard ponies. But if she strained, she could just make out a tiny trail of magic, black hoofprints in the withered grass, leading behind the silo and away into the distance.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk studied these black hoofprints "Princess.....come look at these" she was slowly fallowing them as she spoke. it bothered her that these hoof prints were radiating the same venomous magic that the ponies around them radiated. it was the most bizzarre thing the scholarly unicorn had ever seen.

[Empyrean]

Luna came over. "Yes Dusk?" She peered down at the hoofprints. "This is...troubling. Either this means a pony did this, or a pony's been contaminated by the magic. At least, that's what I think." She looked at Dusk. "I'll go get the others. Please, don't follow this on your own. We should investigate together, and no one should be left behind."

With that, she would take wing to Maneflow, to find each of their friends and let them know about the discovery.

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof had just arrived at his barn once more after safely bringing the Mayor back to his house, and now it looked like Heavy Hoof had the ponies who came for the party to deal with. As they spotted him, most of the ponies - especially the young females - greeted him, and he greeted them back in his usual cocky and confident nature.

"Hey, looking beautiful. Save me a dance? Haha. Right back at you, buddy. Thanks for coming." Then, upon spotting the less popular No Mark, the manly pony trotted closer, suddenly slapping No Mark's back in greeting. "Well, looks like you got things under control here, Blank Flank! Now leave the rest... to the Hoofster." He proceeded to make his way to the center of the barn. "Hey, ponies, listen up! The Hoofster's got something to say!" As if completely in control, the Ponies all around him went silent and turned their attentions to him. "Hey... how're you all doing? Sorry to tell you all this but there might be a change of plans! There'll probably be no party today." The ponies all moaned and groaned in dissatisfaction. "I KNOW, I KNOW, but hear me out! The Princess may not be able to show up today but uh..." He looked around him for a moment as he tried to find an excuse. "... but she said we could still party in her honor! YEAH!"

And just like that, the ponies around him cheered and confetti were thrown across the room, and music was soon playing in the background while Heavy Hoof himself backed away to No Mark, motioning to him to follow him out of the barn. Once they were outside, he closed the barn doors behind him and the pony sighed.

"That'll keep them busy for now," he said, "Now to wait for the Princess and Lumy. Where's ol' Tree Hugger anyway?"

[Empyrean]

Luna descended just as Hoof was wondering that. "Heavy Hoof! There you are! There's been a new development. Dusk found some hoofprints, and I think that means there's a contaminated pony out there in the hills somewhere. Have you seen Timber Crash and No Mark? I think all of us should go together to investigate. Strength in numbers and all."

[FazzEagle]

"Uh... Blank Flank's right here." The Pony stepped aside, revealing that he was apparently hidden behind Heavy Hoof's bigger structure. "Not... exactly sure where Tree Hugger went though. Eh, probably enjoying another one of his... water... river... tour... things. Anyways, you're saying there's a sick Pony out there? Then we'd better hurry and find 'em before he ends up like those others. Ugh, I wouldn't want to, that's for sure."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk stopped in her tracks when the princess suggested she wait until her return with the others. " well this is troublesome" she sighed. Her hoofs were tapping idly as she walked back and forth.

[Mac84]

The suddenness appearance of Heavy Hoof banished the darkening thoughts from No Mark's mind. The encounter with Silver spoon was in the past and he was needed in the present.

"Yes Princess. Please lead the Way."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash trotted into view from the direction of Maneflow's market, harnessed to a wagon laden with hay and vegetables. He picked up his pace as he saw everypony else gathered outside the barn, quickly coming to a halt near them.

"Sorry I took so long, everypony. I thought I'd canter down to the marketplace so I could spread the word that everything was okay there. Told everypony it was an emergency thunderstorm to make up for the clear weather we set up for the Princess's welcome. That works, right?"

He looked from the barn to his friends. "There's a sick pony spreading this... this contamination?" His voice dropped, his usually cheerful expression sobering to one of deep concern. "That's awful. You're right, we really need to stop everypony from finding out about this until we know more. Just let me drop this food off and I'll be right with you."

Timber Crash dug his hooves into the ground and dragged the wagon the last few steps to the front door of the barn, and knocked. A herd of excited ponies swarmed out and emptied the wagon even before he had released himself from the harness. He shoved the empty wagon against the side of the barn and trotted back to his friends. His long green tail lashed from side to side in agitation. "Alright, let's do this. The sooner we start on this, the sooner we can put an end to it."

[Empyrean]

Luna nodded to Crash, and then spread her wings. "Then let's go everypony!" She would lead the way back to where Dusk was, setting a fast pace but not a punishing one. Who knew what was up ahead after all. They'd need their strength.

When they arrived, Luna smiled quickly to Dusk. "Okay. Lead the way Dusk. We're counting on you to guide us to the sick one."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk nearly jumped out of shock when the princess returned. "Yes of course" she turned and started fallowing the trail of the glowing hoofprints. She didn't know what to expect. Would it be a sick pony or would it be something more sinister? she didn't know but she'd be damned if she let anything happen to her friends.

[Empyrean]

Dusk could see the hoofprints leading off into the hills beyond the silo. Luna followed behind her at a moderate pace, walking instead of flying. It would be a long hike, at least two hours, before the trail of devastated nature began to pick back up in a shallow grove of trees. Anyone familiar with the area could have sworn these trees were healthy and strong just a few days ago. Now they looked as if they had been dead for centuries.

Up ahead, just beyond the bushes that covered the hillside bordering the grove, was a light that fluctuated in pale greens and purples and caused Luna to shiver for a reason she couldn't explain. All was deathly silent about them, with no trace of animal or even plant life now. 

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash turned his head up to gaze at Luna as she took to the air, and cantered quickly after her. Surely somepony as old and wise as Princess Luna will be able to fix this, he thought as he ran. And I'll be able to help!

He waved to Dusk as they arrived back on the scene, trying to remain cheerful despite the gravity of recent events. He trotted along behind Dusk and Luna, swinging his head from side to side as he walked, paying close attention to the scenery.

"This isn't right," he muttered as they reached the devastated grove, eyeing the dead trees. "I was up here just a fortnight ago, and everything was fine. These trees... look at the branches where they meet the trunks. See how they look shrunken. These trees have been dead for years... but they can't have been. I don't like this one bit." He kept his attention on Princess Luna, and altered his pace to trot alongside Heavy Hoof. His eyes kept drifting to the tree mark on his flank as he walked.

[Mac84]

No Mark was the trailing the herd, but kept up with the others. Unsure of what use he could be. Looking at the trees, while not familiar, he could tell something was not natural about them.

As they reached a group of bushes. No Mark saw the fluctuating light as did everyone else. Even with fear screaming in the back of his mind he approached the brushes and the Light. Putting himself between it and his new friends. He would protect his friends even at putting himself at risk.  He stamped the ground hard in a show of force.

"C-Come out and Answer for what you have done!"

Never being one to raise his voice. No-Mark hoped he sounded brave and not scared out of his wits like he truly was. 

[FazzEagle]

"Yikes," Heavy Hoof said as he scanned his surroundings, looking at the various dead trees and shrubs that should not have been, "Now these plants could use some exercise.. they're all so fragile! Even more than Blank Flank here." He stopped to glance at No Mark for a moment, but then smirked as he thumped his No Mark's side with his hoof. "I'm just messing around! You're alright, Blank Flank. But I agree with Tree Lover over there: these trees look like they didn't have anything to drink for a long time. "Hey, Princess!" He turned his eyes towards Luna, walking somewhere behind her and Luminescent Dusk. "What did you say was causing all this then? Is it... some kind of disease going around or... some kind of hockus-pockus thing of thing...?"

[Empyrean]

"I'm not sure." Her voice was hesitant. "It feels strangely familiar but I can't quite place it."

"THEN ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN!" The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Luna tensed. Seconds later, the dead trees blasted apart, showering them all with splinters and branches. From the valley below rose the pale light. It kept rising until it stood before them atop the hill, fully revealed.

It was...a filly. A tiny green unicorn filly with a flaming red mane and tail. She had a black circle for a cutie mark, and where the whites of her eyes should have been all was black. The pupils were gold flames that leapt and guttered sporadically. She didn't even come up to the forelegs of any of the ponies there. The hazy purplish-black aura that surrounded her choked the air with the stench of decaying flesh and vegetation. 

"I AM PESTILENCE AND I HAVE COME TO AVENGE MYSELF ON ALL WHO HAVE THWARTED ME!" The black aura flared higher, dimming the sky. 'EVERYPONY IN MANEFLOW WILL DIE FOR THE WAY THEY HAVE TREATED ME, AND THEN I'LL BRING PUNISHMENT TO ALL EQUESTRIA! HAHAHAHA!" The voice was the squeaky voice of a filly who hadn't reached full marehood, but at the same time it was overlaid by a deeper, more sinister and resonant voice. The flaming gold eyes turned to Luna and narrowed. 'AND YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR REJECTING ME!"

Luna looked confused. "Have we met?"

The filly snorted, pawing the ground as if she would charge. "FOAL! I WAS YOU FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, NIGHTMARE MOON! DID THE ELEMENTS STRIP EVEN THE MEMORY OF ME FROM YOU? WELL DON'T WORRY. I'LL REMIND YOU! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL AND THEN THEY'LL BE SORRY FOR MOCKING AND REJECTING US!" She reared up, the aura flaring darker and filling the air with dark smoke. Her laughter spiraled up with the smoke, cracking and breaking shrilly, as if she couldn't control it, or wasn't used to vocal chords.

Luna meanwhile, had reared up in shock. Then she'd gone extremely pale before collapsing to all four knees and bowing her head, stunned and disbelieving.

[FazzEagle]

"LOOK OUT...!" Heavy Hoof instinctively stepped forward in front of both Luna and Luminescent Dusk as the trees were blown apart, shielding them from the incoming splinters with his larger body - thankfully nothing serious happened. "What in the name of Hoof WAS that??" He looked back at Luna and Luminescent Dusk for a brief moment, a misplaced smile on his face. "And you're welcome."

Though soon the mysterious voice startled him, and with widened eyes he looked towards the filly that rose. He watched and stood silent as the filly and the Princess went into what looked like an argument, but of course Heavy Hoof could not exactly follow what was actually going on.

"That's real nice," Heavy Hoof said, stepping closer to the filly with confidence and a feel of authority, "Kid, you're a good actor but we grown-ups are kind of busy at the moment. Now why don't you run along back home before your mommy and daddy gets---"

As the filly's dark aura grew intense, Heavy Hoof quickly took a step back, watching as the clouds above darkened in tone and color.

"HOW IS SHE ABLE TO DO ALL THIS...!?"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusks cape was all a flutter with the wind caused by explosion and her hat was knocked clean off her head. "well I must say that was quite a blast" she remarked dryly as she telepathically retrieved her hat. Once it was back on her head and dusted she looked to see the green filly and listen to her rant for revenge. "Quite fascinating to see you in the body of a filly Nightmare Moon."

Luminescent Dusk was holding her head straight and was speaking rather sarcastically to the former dark Alicorn who had caused mch terror. Despite the power the little creature was emitting her sarcastic nature seemed to prevent her from being alarmed by the tiny body that was using all of this power. "So you plan to poison and starve us to death?"

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash grew more anxious as he regarded the sickly green light. "That can't be natural," he muttered.

He ducked his head as the dead trees exploded, whinnying in horror and fear. Trembling, he raised his head to watch the light rise to the peak of the hill, then let out a neigh of surprise when the monster was revealed to be a tiny unicorn filly. He recoiled at the stench of decaying vegetation, raising one fetlock to cover his nose.

He stared in amazement and horror as Pestilence made her speech, his mind racing. This filly... this creature... had something to do with Nightmare Moon? Did Luna bring something evil back with her from the moon? In any event...

"Pestilence?" he growled, staring at the unusual creature. "This is all your doing, isn't it? The dying grass, the dead trees..."

"NO!" Timber Crash bellowed, leaping forward and stamping at the ground in defiance. "Nopony touches these woods! This is our home and our fields and I don't care if you're a unicorn or a princess or Nightmare Moon herself come to gobble us all up, I'm not going to let you do this! And neither are my friends, especially not..."

He looked over his shoulder, to see Luna on her knees. He turned back to the unicorn filly in rage. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE PRINCESS?"

[Empyrean]

The little filly's laugh scaled down as she looked at the group before her. There was an arrogance and contempt in her golden eyes that mocked them but her voice became softer.

"I didn't do anything to your precious Princess. Not yet anyways. She's just realizing that I was born from her. You see my little ponies, I am that which lurked in her heart for a thousand years. All the hate, rage, and insanity. I was her only companion on the moon. I drowned out that little weak voice that spoke about her sister's love or the admiration of her subjects. I kept her mind and spirit intact on that miserable rock! If it weren't for me, she'd have died in despair, miserable and alone!" She turned her burning eyes on Luna, who had started sobbing. "And for all that she couldn't stay loyal to me when I needed her. She let Celestia's foalish little pawns purify her. They threw me out of her and she allowed it with her idiotic weakness! She let that little purple one rant on instead of just destroying them. It's her fault I've taken this body. They cast me out of her and thought me destroyed but I escaped. I escaped then and now I'm in this fresh new body. Now I'll finish the great work of laying this miserable world low, and this time there is no pony who can stop me!" The filly reared up, laughing.

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was taken aback by the philly's announcement "what a crazy plan youve got there" she couldn't fight this creature with magic she didn't have that kind of power. She wasn't twilight sparkle so she didn't have the elements of harmony at her disposal. "this....may be bad" she muttered softly. All signs of bravado had faded as she realized that Luna had been effected in such a manner. "Princess..." she stated softly as she started to back away from the little philly.

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof looked at his companions, especially the Princess who appeared to be the most affected by the little filly's words. A frown soon took over Hoof's expression, and he straightened himself up as he turned his attention back to the strange young Pony. "Now wait just a minute there, kiddo!" Heavy Hoof said with a voice of authority, "I may not have been paying attention to most of that... 'cause frankly if it wasn't for all this mumbo jumbo, I'd be paying attention to Lumy and the Princess. But that's not the point! The point is... if the Princess didn't have any friends then - well, she has the best friends anyone could ever ask for now! ... oh and there's Tree Lover and Blank Flank over there too - they're alright."

He motioned his head to the other two, apparently showing that they weren't forgotten.

"Now I suggest you come down here and stop whatever you're doing!" Heavy Hoof said, "Because I spent a LONG time setting up this party. You have ANY idea how hard it is to get all that food and props? REALLY HARD."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash started to go pale as the horrifying filly made her speech. He narrowed his eyes, forcing himself to stand his ground beside Heavy Hoof. "You're... you're what's left of Nightmare Moon?" he gasped, looking back at Luna again. "That's impossible! You... she was..." he trailed off as he realised that he didn't exactly know the full story of how Nightmare Moon became Princess Luna again.

He turned back to the filly and snorted, stamping at the ground. "I don't care where you came from or how powerful you are. The Princess is more powerful than you, and if you touch one more of these trees, I will personally drag you all the way to the edge of the world and push you off! So you'd better change your tune or you're going to regret it!"

The young stallion trembled like a leaf, wanting to recoil from the filly's disturbing aura, but rage at the deforestation had filled him with adrenaline, and he couldn't let himself back down no matter how much he wanted to.

[Empyrean]

Pestilence looked at the lot of them, anger growing in her eyes. "SO YOU DON'T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY BECAUSE MY HOST BODY IS A FILLY? YOU THINK YOU CAN TALK DOWN TO ME?! ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU WHY YOU SHOULD FEAR!" The little filly swung her head towards No Mark and her face lit up with an evil smile. Her horn glowed a sickly black-green and No Mark started to rise into the air protesting.

There was a flash of black-green light. No Mark screamed once, then vanished.

Pestilence looked back at the others with the same nasty smile. "ANYONE ELSE CARE TO MOCK ME?!"

Luna finally got back to her hooves. "Run. All of you. Get back to Maneflow. Together I know you can stop her. I...I'll hold her here." Thunder began to gather and lightning to flare as the alicorn princess stood before her newfound friends to shield them with her body and magic. 

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk frowned though her bravado had faded she needed to stand tall next to the princess. "Princess I cannot leave your side" Her horn lit up as she began to collect magical energy her cape fluttering around her. She really didn't want Luna to fight alone and as her friend and Aide she couldn't leave her side either. This battle could be the end of her but that was fine as long as she did her job.

[FazzEagle]

"Whoa...! Where'd Blank Flank go??"

The pony was startled and he cautiously took a step back. This filly actually meant what she said.

But, when Luna offered to hold the Pony off on her own, Heavy Hoof stood his ground, sharing Luminescent's decision.

"No can do, Princess," Heavy Hoof said, "Heavy Hoof doesn't run from anyone! ... even if that 'anyone' is a crazy filly with unbelievable magic that could make Ponies disappear. If you need the strength, the Hoofster's at your service! Besides..." Heavy Hoof looked back at the filly and straightened himself, puffing up his manly body forward and keeping his hooves firm on the dying grass. "Friend. Stick. Together...! ... wow, that sounded more cheesy than I thought."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash looked up at No Mark with shock as his fellow stallion screamed and disappeared. He whinnied in fear, his eyes rolling back in his head as he turned back to face Pestilence. "What did you do to No Mark?" he shrieked, taking two steps backwards.

He turned to Luna as she gave her order to run back to Maneflow, then nodded along with Heavy Hoof's assertion. "We don't want to leave you here, Princess! I'll... I'll go back to Maneflow if there's something there that can help you... but what?"

[Empyrean]

Each of the three ponies could feel a warmth growing within them. It was soft at first, then it suddenly burst into a bright blaze. The blaze surrounded each of the three in a different color light. Luminescent Dusk's was a faint dark purple. Heavy Hoof's a radiant yellow. And Timber Crash a deep forest-green. Luna looked at the three of them in shock, then her eyes widened as Pestilence backed up a step or two.

Luna looked at her three friends in awe. "I've only ever seen a glow like that twice in my life." Her voice was a soft whisper. "Once when my sister and I used the Elements of Harmony to defeat the tyrant Discord, and once when the Elements were used to defeat Nightmare Moon." As sparks of lightning flickered between the three Luna stood in between them all. She never noticed a faint silvery-black light starting to shine from her. "We have to get you out of here! You might be the best hope Maneflow, and Equestria, have!" She closed her eyes and focused hard. A light started at her horn and as Pestilence howled, the four friends disappeared in a flash of light.

Seconds later they reappeared in Heavy Hoof's barn. Luna stepped back and wiped a hoof over a sweaty brow. "That was close! I was so afraid I would lose you all!" Tears of emotion welled in her eyes.

[FazzEagle]

For once, the pony was silent.

There he was with his new friends standing up for another when suddenly he felt something happening to him. He wasn't quite sure how to describe it but it felt like a warm embrace, and at the same time made him feel braver to further stand his ground. At a quick glance to the side, however, he was surprised when Luminescent Dusk and Timber Crash started to glow. And he did too! He looked over himself, wondering if this yellow glow around his body was something conjured up by the magical filly.

That was, until the Princess explained that she had seen it... and she herself was glowing in her own different color!

"What's going on here??" he asked, but as soon as he looked back at the filly...

... everything flashed before his eyes. Before he knew it, he was back in front of his barn, hearing the familiar music coming from inside.

Though he can't help but feel a little dizzy from the aftereffects of the magic.

"Warn me next time before... *ULP*... you do that again." And he collapsed towards Timber Crash.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash tossed his head in confusion as the deep green glow began to emanate from his body. He looked up at Pestilence, also suspecting that this was the evil spirit's work, but a grin spread across his face as he saw the creature backing away from them. He fixed his glare on Pestilence as he listened to Luna's commentary, his eyes not leaving the filly until Luna whisked them away with her magic.

He spun around as the scenery changed, but quickly oriented himself again. "How did we get back here?" he wondered out loud, but a quick look at Luna confirmed the obvious conclusion. "That was close! What do we..." he cut off as Heavy Hoof collapsed, and he quickly shouldered the large stallion's weight, planting his hooves on the floor of the barn. "... do now?"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk was surprised as she felt the soft warmth. She soon noticed the aura around her and blinked before looking around. She could see each of her three remaining friends was also aglow. "what?" she asked softly. She soon found herself and her friends warped back to Heavy hoofs barn.

"Princess we are here and you needn't cry" she stated softly as she approached luna. She placed a hoof on the alicorns shoulder "together we are all friends and we can get through this your highness I'm sure"

[Empyrean]

Luna wiped at her eyes with a hoof, unable to still the outpouring of emotion. She managed a smile though, at Dusk's words, and came over to check on Hoof and Crash.

"I don't know exactly what happened just now. I've only seen glows like this three times in my life, and all of them involved the Elements of Harmony being used. But since the Element-bearers are in Ponyville, I don't know what would cause such a glow to come from you three." She showed no awareness of her own glow. "But maybe we can use this to help fight Pestilence. First though, we should make sure the three of you are alright, and then see to the ponies of Maneflow."

[pendarious]

"Princess you yourself emitted a similar glow" Luminescent Dusk remarked idly as she sat down where she had stood. "I'm alright though I'm not so sure about the other two"

[FazzEagle]

"We're fine." Heavy Hoof said as he slowly got off of Timber Crash, to whom he flashed an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, about all that glowing ..." Heavy Hoof said, rubbing the back of his head, "What -was- all that anyway? Tree Lover was glowing; Lumy was glowing; you were glowing... and -I- was glowing. It felt so weird... like I was grabbed by a giant warm hand... whose warmth reached the deepest part of my soul..."

Heavy Hoof stopped himself there realizing how he almost rambled on like a poet, and he cleared his throat before moving towards the barn.

"... I mean, let's go see how the other ponies are doing...! Poor ponies must be tired from all that partying."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash straightened up as Heavy Hoof took his own weight again, and gave the other stallion a playful nudge with his nose. "Yeah, I think we're all alright."

He looked around the barn, remembering what had just happened. "What about No Mark, though? Do you have any idea where he might be now, Luna? Is there anything we can do for him?" He hung his head as he paced around. "I'm sorry I got so angry, everypony. I just... saw what that thing was doing to the forest, and I couldn't stand it. I'm not normally a violent pony..."

Timber leant against one of the walls of the barn. "Anypony mind if I wait here for a bit? I want to calm down a bit before I go talk to anypony else."

[Empyrean]

Luna looked at Crash sadly. "I can't say for sure where he is now. Pestilence has a cruel sense of humor. If I had to guess, I would say the Moon, but I can't feel him up there. Either she's hiding him from my senses or he's somewhere I can't sense him at all."

She looked away, then at the other two. "I was glowing too? I...I'm not sure what that means. I can send to sister with the news. I'd prefer it if we handled this problem ourselves but she should know, just in case. And maybe one of her scholars can tell us more about the glow." She raised her head, hearing the sounds of the party getting underway. She sighed, then started towards it. "Crash, of course you can rest. You can all rest if you'd like. I'll go and break the news to the other ponies and calm them down before any panic starts. We need to devise a strategy and any head start you get on that would be helpful." She started out of the barn towards the party.

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash nodded in gratitude to Luna and let himself slump to the floor, stretching out his legs. "Thank you. I just... don't like being angry. I don't like the way it makes me feel."

He reached out with his front legs and dragged a pile of hay under his head. "Okay, we can figure this out," he said, mostly to himself. "Those poor trees... we have to do something. So who is Pestilence and why is she doing this? Who... wait." He looked up at Luminescent Dusk. "If that was the thing that made the Princess into Nightmare Moon... then... who was Pestilence first? She was a unicorn... green coat, red tail... black circle where her cutie mark should be, that's weird. If she lived around here, we should be able to figure out who she was... and maybe help bring her back."

He stopped and drew himself up onto his knees. "Wait a minute. She said she'd kill us for the way we'd treated her. What's that supposed to mean? That must be a clue."

[FazzEagle]

"Well, I'm pretty sure -I- haven't done anything to her," Heavy Hoof said, "... unless she was one of those little fillies who wanted to date little ol' me and I told them they were too young. What can I say? The Hoofster is manly to all ages. Seriously though, if you ask me..."

Heavy Hoof pushed open the door to his barn, only to stop midway.

"Uh... Tree Lover?" Heavy Hoof asked, "... where did you say you got the food from?"

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash hauled himself up onto his hooves, pressing his forehead against the wall of the barn. "Okay, I'm good to go. Maybe we can ask around and see if anypony knows about a missing filly. You'd think her parents would have told the Mayor she was missing by now, though.

"The food?" He tilted his head to one side, pondering. "I bought it all from Lucerne's Hay and Herbs... wait." He ran to the door, peering out. "You don't think any of the tainted food got into the party, do you? Lucerne keeps her own stock - that food would have been in her shop for a few days at the very least, right?"

He turned back to Luminescent Dusk. "Dusk!" he called. "You can trace this taint, right? Can you tell if any of it got into the party food?"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk had watched the whole conversation unfold her mind drifting back to the words of Pestilance. However Timber Crashes alarmed question brought her mind back to the preasent. "Well I can detect it yes..." her horn began to glow and she looked into the barn trying to determine whether or not any of the taint had indeed gotten into the barn.

Her mind was aswirl with the image of No Mark vanishing and of the tiny filly that Pestilance was using as a host. However the filly's words still haunted her mind. The fact that she wanted revenge for the way everyone had treated her. That made her wonder. If the words were to be believed then NightMare Moon wasn't gone just yet.

[Empyrean]

Luna returned after a good half hour of trying to calm the panicky ponies down. It had never ceased to amaze her, how quickly ponies could panic in a crisis. Still, she'd gotten the mayor and a few brave ponies to go out and corral the masses in the town square. She'd spent another good half-hour reassuring the people of Maneflow that things would be okay and they would not be left defenseless against this powerful foe that threatened them. Then she had stepped back to let the Mayor handle the nerve-soothing while she went off in a private corner and fell into a trance. In that state she could reach out with her magic and the special bond that had always been there to contact her sister.

Dusk in the meantime had discovered no trace of the taint in the food.

When Luna came back to the others could see the strain of the last few hours in her eyes. Her voice was all business, however. "Okay. I've prevented a riot from breaking out and the Mayor is helping to calm things down. I've contacted Celestia. She's put her staff and her prize pupil to work finding answers for how Nightmare Moon could have lived on to become Pestilence and what happened to us when we escaped her. For now, I suggest you all get some sleep. We'll need all our strength in the morning. I'll remain on guard through the night and alert you if there are any more problems." 

[FazzEagle]

Heavy Hoof would have lent a helping hoof to the Mayor into calming the ponies down, using his familiar charisma and presence to assure them that everything will be fine - though the stallion himself faced difficulties here and there such as being trampled on in an attempt to stop a stampede. However, in the end, the ponies were gathered in the Town Square, where they all continued to chatter and worry about what was going on. Once Heavy Hoof himself arrived, he would soon meet up with the rest of his friends, and of course the ever-growing tired princess.When Luna suggested that she would stand guard for the night so the rest could replenish their strength, Heavy Hoof stepped forward from the others and said:

"No can do, Princess," the mighty stallion said, "The Hoof thinks you're the one who needs to get some rest. Sides, 'strength' is my specialty - I got tons of it always awake and ready!" Then the Stallion would lean to the side, grabbing Timber Crash and then pulling him closer by force. "And of course... Tree Lover here will stand on guard with me! Isn't that right, Tree Lover? Of course it is. SO BRING IT ON!" He squeezed the stallion with his mighty arm for a short moment before letting go and looking over at Luminescent Dusk. "Hey, Lumy. Make sure the Princess here gets back home and make sure both of you get some rest. Don't worry - we'll tell the other Ponies to go back to their homes and leave everything... to the Hoofster! ... oh and Tree Lover too."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash spent some time mingling with the townsponies - not addressing them as the Mayor and Heavy Hoof did, but going from family to family, sharing his faith in the Princess with them and assuring them that everything would be alright. He also quietly made inquiries to whether anypony knew of a young unicorn filly going missing.

He nodded as Princess Luna outlined her plan. "We'll solve this together, everypony. I know we'll get to the bottom of this, and we'll get No Mark back from wherever Pestilence sent him. Let's get some... urk!" He was cut off as Heavy Hoof grabbed him, but leaned his head against the larger stallion's flank companionably. "Uh... sure. We can split the night, though. Change over at midnight, I think? I'm really not a night owl, know what I mean?"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk smiled softly "No there are no traces of the poisons in the food." however her smile faded as they were stuck dealing with the riots. Finally things settled. She was lost in thought as the others discussed luna's plans and their own. "Princess You should rest tonight You seem to have suffered more than the rest of us....I will rest by your side if you so desire"

[Empyrean]

She looked hesitant. "Are you certain? As Princess, my duty is to protect my subjects. But if you insist then I will rest. Just raise me when it's time to lower the moon, okay?"

[FazzEagle]

"Won't be a problem, Your Majesty," Heavy Hoof would say. "Me and ol' Tree Lover here are going to make sure no.... magic filly will ever cause trouble to this town. So you just rest up and we'll report to you first thing in the morning!" Then, he turns to face Timber Crash again. "Alright, at ease, soldier! This is going to be a very long night but we're going to get through it! Why? Because you're in one of the best teams in all of Equestria, that's why! ...Team Hoofster. You're going to rest up for a few and I'll wake you up at 0300. Then you can keep a look out for the rest of the night. Do I make myself clear, soldier?!"

[HopeFox]

"We're sure, Luna," agreed Timber Crash. "And you've got a better idea of what's going on than any of us, so you need to be at your best."

He stood sharply to attention as Heavy Hoof addressed him, looking momentarily confused. "Uh... that's right, we are the best!" he chimed in. "I'll be up bright and early at... when's three hundred?"

Timber Crash started kicking together a pile of straw for his nap, giving Heavy Hoof a confident smile. "We won't let anything past us! If I see anything, I'll wake everypony up and we'll deal with it! Because we're awesome, that's why!"

[pendarious]

"Come on now Luna they are reliable I'm sure we can leave it all to them" Luminescent Dusk remarked gently. She was obviously rather amused by the two ponies antics but she also believed that as Luna's retainer she should get the princess to rest. "As your retainer I also believe it is my duty to see to your health and right now you seem like you need to rest so lets get you home and rested up for tomorrow shall we?"

[Empyrean]

Luna let herself be led away by Dusk, seeming a bit more tired than she had let on.

The rest of the night passed without incident, save for Luna's tossing and turning in her bed. When roused, Luna lowered the moon and the sun rose soon after. When she came out to see her friends she still looked tired, but she smiled. "Good morning guys. Were you okay on watch?"

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash fell into an uneasy sleep on his pile of straw, dozing fitfully. Every so often, his hooves would flail and he would mumble something about the forest. When Heavy Hoof woke him at "oh three hundred", he raised his head muzzily, his leaf-green mane strewn about messily. "Hmm? Me already? Okay. Couldn't sleep anyway."

He stood on watch until dawn, pacing around restlessly, his mind still consumed with thoughts of Pestilence, No Mark and the blight on the trees. When he spotted the sun rising in the eastern sky, he breathed a sigh of relief, letting the sun warm his face.

He kicked Heavy Hoof awake as Princess Luna arrived. "Good morning, Luna!" he greeted her, trying to keep the exhaustion out of his voice. "No problems on watch! How did you sleep?"

[Empyrean]

"Terribly." The protocol that had been drilled into her growing up protested at this admission of weakness but she stifled it. "I got a little sleep but I kept having flashbacks to my time imprisoned on the Moon and my life while possessed by Nightmare Moon." She shook her head, then a determined look came over her. "But that was then. Right now we need to focus on stopping Pestilence from creating any new nightmares for anypony!"

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk sighed heavily "Princess you are not the only one who did no sleep well" the archmage in training looked as though she hadn't slept at all "I spent the entire night with my nose buried in books trying to see what i could find about the kind of powers that pestlance displayed but I could find nothing except for the combination used to create that toxin." she then moved in a faint circular pattern "and furthermore I've developed a hypothesis regarding those lights that shone before we were teleported to safety"

[FazzEagle]

The stallion muttered a few as he was literally kicked out of his slumber, quickly spring up to all hooves in a cautious pose. "I'm awake! Where is she!? I can take-- Oh... It's just you, Tree Lover." He lets out a big yawn before looking towards the Princess and Luminescent Dusk. He just stood there, listening about what they may or may not have found from what happened yesterday, but it's what Luminescent Dusk said that caught his attention. "Ha! I knew it! ... I'm secretly a unicorn, aren't I?"

[Empyrean]

Luna looked at Dusk in surprise, then a smile came to her face. "Any information would be helpful Dusk. What do you think happened to us?"

[pendarious]

"well to answer Heavy Hoof first.....No your not a unicorn, you never have been and unless some bizarre act of magic occurs you never will be" she then turned to Luna "considering the amount of power i felt when that glow formed and it seemed to branch from all of us.....Perhaps there are more than just the six elements of harmony that we are familiar with?"

[HopeFox]

"More Elements of Harmony?" asked Timber Crash, jumping around to pay close attention to Luminescent Dusk. "Like the ones that helped Luna get away from being Nightmare Moon? That's great! That means we might actually have a chance at this! I have to admit, I really didn't know how we were going to stop Pestilence with the sort of power she showed us. Do you think we can turn her back into whoever she used to be?"

He started prancing around the barn room, his fatigue and worry melting away. "We can do this! We can! I still think we need to figure out who Pestilence was, though. There's got to be a reason she got picked by... that thing."

[FazzEagle]

"So it wasn't that I was secretly a unicorn that made us glow like that but it's because of this... 'Elements of Harmony', then?" Heavy Hoof asked before rubbing his chin. "I don't what that is... but it sounds SO AWESOME!" His voice rises a little at those last two words before he looks back at Luna and Luminescent Dusk. "And Tree Lover's right: we can do this. We WILL do this! Because the Hoofster's in your team and EVERY pony knows that you ALWAYS win when you have the Hoofster along." He then steps forward. "Well, what are you waiting for, Lumy? Tell us how to make us all glow like that and we'll teach that filly a lesson about respecting her elders!"

[Empyrean]

"More elements?!" Luna looked genuinely shocked. "I...I don't....I mean." She frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose it's possible. Sister and I found the original six over a thousand years ago. It's possible there are some that we missed. It was a very desperate time in our history, and we couldn't do a detailed search. As it was we just barely had enough time to find the original six and learn how to use them before our enemy Discord found us out. We had to strike as soon as he discovered us or he would have destroyed us. And afterwards, well, the Elements were put in our castle. We never did look for any others. There seemed no need."

She looked at Timber Crash. "As for Pestilence, whoever she was before had a weakness, like I did. The thing that possessed us both works like that. It finds something inside you where you feel weak or lonely, then it worms in. It pretends to be your friend and offers solution to your problems. But as soon as the crack is wide enough it slithers in and takes over completely, trapping the real you in your own mind. You can see, feel, and hear what its' doing but you can't respond. It used to gloat to me about how it did that to me, using my jealousy of my big sister and my loneliness when I thought that nopony liked my nights or me. So whoever Pestilence was before, she had some weakness in her heart that let the creature in. If we can find that we might be able to find who she was before. And if Dusk is right, maybe we can use these new Elements of Harmony to free her just as Twilight Sparkle and her friends freed me."

[pendarious]

Luminescent Dusk frowned "As I stated It's only a hypothesis and I do not fully understand how it could have happened if I'm right." She was walking around in circles as she spoke considering she didn't really have a clue just how accurate her thoughts may be. "Of course if I'm right we do have a chance however it's not a simple task for it to just happen...further more weaponizing them like The princesses did against discord and Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle both did against Nightmare Moon.....to use it on a pony so young housing that demon could be rather dangerous..."

[HopeFox]

Timber Crash listened closely to Luna's recounting of her use of the Elements against Discord, nodding solemnly as she related stashing them in the castle. He paid close attention as she described how the corruption entered her and must have entered this filly as well. When she finished, he trotted carefully over to her and laid his head against her neck. "It's all right, Luna," he assured her. "You won't have to be lonely like that again.

"And nor will this filly once we free her from Pestilence. She said she was angry at the way ponies had treated her. And why 'Pestilence', exactly? Was she training to be a doctor or something? Why would a little filly want to poison everypony's food?"

The young stallion snorted and pawed at the floor of the barn. "I'm sure she doesn't want to hurt the forest, but she's stuck behind this thing that's making her do it!" He walked around the barn for a few circuits to calm himself down once more, quivering with concern for his beloved forest.

He nodded quietly as he listened to Dusk's analysis. "So, that light we saw... that won't be enough, right? We're going to have to find the... big crown thingies that go with the Elements? I guess... we need to be careful not to hurt her, because she's just a filly, not a Princess."

Timber Crash came to a stop in his pacing. "Alright. I'm going to ask around and figure out who she is underneath Pestilence. That's got to be the key to both defeating Pestilence and making sure the little filly doesn't get hurt."