The pegasus pony was very nearly out of control. The stiff tail wind that propelled her well beyond her top speed was almost more than her long, broad wings could manage; but she couldn't slow down, much less stop. The same wind that was sending her hurtling through the clear frosty air, and over unfamiliar mountains was also enabling the dark airship behind her to close the gap she was working so hard to broaden. In just a scant few seconds she would be in range of their net-throwing cannons.

She gritted her teeth, and fought back the tears that threatened to blind her tired eyes. It felt like she'd been flying for days, although she knew she would have collapsed and fallen out of the sky well before now, if that was the case. Even a mountain pegasus like herself couldn't maintain her top speed for so long, no matter what was chasing her.

The only reason she was still alive, and still flying was the world had gone completely mad. The highest reaches of the mountains were always astoundingly confusing, but she'd somehow wound up in a side canyon she'd never been in before – a dead ended side canyon at that. She'd attempted to pull up before she hit the far wall, but she'd had too much momentum and had slammed straight into the jagged rocks, which – if nothing else – was a better end than what the ponies aboard the airship had for her. She should have crashed. Somehow, inexplicably she passed through the wall to find herself tumbling haphazardly high over the mountains, so high the air was almost too thin to breathe.

And the airship had followed. Was still following, though they were impossibly over the crest of the mountains now, driving towards the far southern horizon – something she'd never even seen before, something she had only known existed simply because it had to exist somewhere.

Something exploded to her right, then left, then straight behind. She ignored it as best she could to focus on speed, and that distant, strange horizon. Just a little further! If she could make it just a tiny bit further she could dive, and take cover among the rocky peaks below. At least, this is what she told herself; in reality she was exhausted, her wings and lungs were burning from fatigue and lack of oxygen from the extreme altitude, and she had no idea what was waiting for her in the landscape below. But it had to be better than this – anything was better than this!

The wind shifted suddenly, buffeting the pegasus and the pursuing zeppelin with a powerful blast out of the west. The pony took the opportunity to tuck her wings and dive, allowing the wind to nudge her eastward. She couldn't afford to look back, but she hoped and prayed the airship couldn't follow her at such a steep angle – especially with the shifting winds. Even if they did manage to follow from above, the speed of her dive should carry her well out of range of their cannons.

Gritting her teeth, she opened her wings slightly as the mountain grew dangerously close, adjusting the angle of her dive so that she skimmed the rocky surface to sweep dizzily down the steep, snowy slope.

The mountain rippled, then gave way beneath her, opening up abruptly into a shallow, misty gorge, in to which the wind was blowing strongly. The pony yelped and opened her wings further, flapping them frantically to gain control of her flight, but a sudden, sharp downdraft sent her tumbling into the mist. Disoriented and all but blind, she managed to right herself just in time for one wing to brush against an outcropping of rock. The brief contact was all it took to send her spinning into another rock; then a tree, then finally the ground. She rolled to a stop at the bottom of a hill of slush and scree.

Silence descended upon her; for a few tense moments she held her breath and waited for the whir of the airships engines to sound overhead. While the mountainside was so quiet that every minuscule pebble that came bouncing along behind her rang loudly in her aching hears, nothing lumbered in above. The pony let out the breath she'd been holding, then coughed, and sobbed violently. Once the coughing subsided she tried to stand, but only managed to roll painfully on to her side. Everything hurt, making it impossible to tell where, and how badly she was injured.

She could go no further, she knew. She escaped the airship, but she would die here, far from her family on the impossible side of the mountains.

Alone.

Darkness tugged at the edge of her vision as tears she had been holding in began to stream down her face. She had nothing left but to surrender to the darkness.

As she slid into unconsciousness, something lifted its head above the ground-clinging fog and sniffed curiously in her direction.

A/N: AND SO IT BEGINS. Started writing this a few years ago based on some headcanons that needed to get out in the world in story form. It started out as just a few plot bunnies coming together for a little playtime, then kind of spiraled out of control. Way out of control. Like, over 400 pages of plot bunny orgy out of control.

Yeah. One of those.

I hadn't really written much of anything in a long time, so I've just been rolling with it. And now that it's finally, finally done, I am posting it. Because when you spend several years on a fanfic, and the show hasn't really smashed any (well, except one, but the show's kinda weird on that one… and I get the inkling the movie might mess a few things up) of your headcanons, you post it.

Oh yeah, according to Ponder Stibbons of Unseen University on Discworld (Terry Pratchett), thaums are a sort of unit of magical measurement. I have borrowed them for the time being. Also octarine (the color of magic). Both will pop up later.

Anyhoo, this starts out just after season 3, and kind of runs partway into season 4. It's mostly OC-centric, but canon ponies pop up from time to time. I'm gonna try to get a new chapter up at least once a week. Maybe twice for exciting stuff, unless I'm feeling sadistic.

SUPER EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO MIDORI FOR READING THIS MESS AS I WAS WRITING IT. Seriously. I am eternally grateful! [bows forever]

2. Chapter 1

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 1

"This is strange news indeed." Princess Celestia flicked an ear towards her sister, then reluctantly turned from the antics in the courtyard below to regard Princess Luna. "Distressing news, as well."

Luna pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded slightly, her eyes flicking across the scroll she was reading, which she was holding up with telekenisis. Celestia had read the scroll a number of times herself, wearing a similarly concerned expression.

"I have forgotten how eventful it was a thousand years ago." Luna murmured. She sighed, closed her eyes for a moment, then jerked her head up as she used her magic to roll the scroll up and set it on the table next to her.

"I will go. I am more familiar with Roanamia than you."

Celestia shook her head. "Too familiar, I'm afraid. I doubt your magic will work there, and if it does, it may lead to the darker pathways."

Luna frowned, and furrowed her brow. "You cannot go, your magic may well trigger another cataclysm. Or worse."

Celestia nodded grimly. "Princess Cadance is strong enough, and young enough to not be recognized, but her magic isn't well suited for this. She also works best with Shining Armor. Unless things have changed, no earth, pegasus or unicorn ponies can breach the Broken Mountains."

Her gaze drifted out the window again, to where Twilight Sparkle and her friends were holding an especially fancy tea party in a lower courtyard. It was Rarities birthday, she recalled vaguely. The unicorn had been absolutely tickled pink to be treated to a tea party at the palace. Celestia would be down there now, if not for the sheriffs department from a small town north east of Griffonstone's strange and unsettling discovery. The territory the little town occupied had once been part of Roanamia, but despite its distance, had been under the jurisdiction of Equestria for a millennium.

"Sister, you're not thinking of sending -" Luna started, following her gaze.

"Goodness no!" Celestia gasped, snapping her eyes back up to Luna. "She is nowhere near ready for such a task! And if worst comes to worst she – all of them – will be most needed here. Besides, Twilight has the same problem as Cadance: she works best with her friends, and they cannot go."

Celestia didn't want to say it out loud, but she had an inkling that while Twilight Sparkle was powerful enough for this quest, she was… well… too innocent for it. She and her friends had faced many foes, but none of them were as cunning, vile, nor ruthless as whom had been festering in lost Roanamia all of these years. A bright, pure hearted young alicorn with a strong sense of justice and fairness would not last long. It certainly hadn't made a difference before. Quite possibly it made things exponentially worse. Cadance was in the same boat, now that she thought about it. Both their powers were based on love and friendship. They would need someone clever, cunning and perhaps even jaded to pull this off. Someone who could make exceptionally difficult decisions and live with the consequences. Someone who also happened to be an alicorn too young for the various spells and curses enshrining the Broken Mountains to recognize, and who wasn't needed elsewhere.

Judging by Lunas expression, she was likely thinking the same thing Celestia was. They stared sourly at one another for a few long moments. The problem with alicorns was that there were very few of them. Perhaps two dozen in all. Most were heads of state, and likely otherwise engaged with their magical duties, in addition to ruling and protecting their respective domains – which were scattered across the world. Although she and Luna could not go near the Broken Mountains for fear of causing another magical catastrophe, those of the old guard generally steered clear of it as a precaution. Too, many of them had retreated to lives of meditation and seclusion, largely withdrawn from the world. Most had traditionally been reluctant to get involved with things outside their domains, anyhow.

"There's Prince Windstone." Luna said abruptly. "His mother still wears the crown, so his domain can be without him for a while."

Celestia wrinkled her snout. "He's a bit callous and headstrong. This is an extremely delicate operation that will require the utmost stealth, and if necessary, astounding diplomacy."

"Mmm." Luna grunted. "He is something of a brat, still."

"Princess Mayweather?"

"Studying with the griffons." Celestia shook her head. "And she will be inheriting the crown almost as soon as she gets back, I feel."

Luna frowned. "Princess Sunwish?"

"Just gave birth."

"Princess Gleneden?"

"Queen Gleneden. Just took over for her ailing father, and her mother withdrew from public life a few years ago."

There was a long pause. Laughter echoed up the walls of the castle as a warm breeze shifted the gossamer curtains.

"Princess Starshine?"

Celestia opened her mouth, then shut it again, tilting her head to the side.

"Trot has two princesses, and Queen Astromida still holds the throne."

"I will compose a letter at once." Luna nodded stiffly, then turned to leave. She paused half way to the door. "You said they have two princesses? Both alicorns? I can't recall a second foal."

"Yes, Princess Starshine, and Princess Moonstruck. I believe they have a son, as well, but he didn't inherit the wings." Celestia mused.

"Colts rarely do." Luna remarked. Indeed, there was only one male alicorn at the moment, and there hadn't been one for some time before he was born.

Celestia nodded, then continued. "Starshine is the oldest. She's of noble bearing and very level headed. She's in line to rule, so I've spoken with her a few times during official negotiations."

Celestia furrowed her brow and gazed out the window again, down at the ponies playing in the courtyard.

"Now that I'm thinking of her, I don't believe I've heard much of Moonstruck since she was a foal. I have met her, but she was very young. She's a dragonslayer, I believe."

"A dragonslayer?" Lunas eyebrows traveled up towards her mane. "In her family line?"

"Yes. Strange, I know. It was rather clever, actually. What she did." Celesta shook herself then focused on her sister. "Well, get the letter drafted. I'll start preparing the mission outline."

Every day at about the same time, Princess Celestia brought he sun into the sky. On this particular day, some hours later in the tiny country of Trot, Princess Moonstruck accidentally woke herself up by falling out of bed. She blinked her large, reddish eyes a few times, keenly aware that she was balanced precariously on the side of her face; the rest of her body proppped against the plush mattress but otherwise in the air. It was a rather undignified position for a pony – much less a princess – not to mention uncomfortable. She didn't care much about dignity, but she did care to be comfortable, so she carefully sorted herself out.

Once she was seated properly on the floor, she shook her head to clear it, then squinted at the clock on the far wall. She hadn't slept as long as she wanted, but her unfortunate tumble out of bed had ensured that she wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon.

Letting out a weary sigh, she got to her hooves and ambled groggily out of her room. Hot breakfast was long past, but she knew there was always cold cereal and/or fruit down in the kitchens. She rounded a corner to be bathed in warm sunlight. All of their living chambers were arranged around a private garden her mother tended, and it was in full glory this fine spring day. Later, when she was more awake, she would appreciate it, but now it was just an irritatingly bright light and too many loudly singing birds.

"You're up earlier than usual."

"Fell outta bed." Moonstruck grumbled. She paused as she realized that was not her mothers voice coming from the garden, although it would have been more shocking if it was. She turned her head and squinted into the glare. There was indeed someone sitting in the center of the garden under an ornamental maple tree – usually her mothers favorite spot. It was not a tall, elegant silver and gold alicorn mare wearing a pair of bifocals and squinting at a book or scroll. It was a skinny, gawky golden unicorn colt with a two toned green mane and tail. He had his back to her, was looking at the spot in the grass that their mother used to occupy on mornings like this.

"She's not coming back, is she?" He asked without turning around, his voice cracking slightly.

Moonstruck frowned, then stepped off of the marble flooring and onto the plush grass path that wound its way through the flowerbeds.

"I dunno, she might eventually."

"Eventually?" He snorted, turning to scowl at her as she sat down next to him. "It's been over three months!"

She shrugged. "That's not a very long time in the grand scheme of things, Acorn. Especially when you remember how old Mom is."

Acorns scowl darkened as he nodded grimly. Then he grimaced and ducked his head. "You don't think that she… well she is old – I mean, you wouldn't know how old she actually is and… did – do you think she leave to… to die?"

Moonstruck shook her head. "No. If Mom was dying, she would have said something. This is…" she scowled, "this is retirement, I guess. Maybe a long vacation."

"I still don't understand!" Acorn stood up and began pacing back and forth. "If she needed a vacation, why didn't she just say it? If she wanted to retire, why didn't not just retire!? Why'd she have to just disappear out of the blue!?"

"I dunno." Moonstruck sighed. "You know how she always kept things to herself, and we all know she hasn't been the same since Dad died. Even she couldn't hide that from us."

"It's like we don't even matter to her." Acorn groaned.

Moonstruck couldn't bring herself to agree with him out loud, her mind drifting back to the last time she's spoken with their mother. She pushed the memory aside and decided that changing the topic was probably a good idea.

"You're doing a great job on the garden, by the way."

"I promised myself that I'd keep it the way she always did. So that it'll be like nothing changed when she comes back. If she comes back." Acorn said softly. His cutie mark was a mighty oak tree growing out of a small acorn. He was already well on his way to being a master gardener.

Moonstruck nodded, then stood up, no longer able to stomach sitting in her mothers garden.

"I'm gonna go rustle up some breakfast."

"I left some pancakes for you in the fridge." Acorn grunted.

"Thanks." Moonstruck nodded once, then trotted away, leaving him to fuss over the flowers. At least by tending the garden he had something to do. Unfortunately, one of the other things he did to keep himself busy was remind her that their mother, Queen Astromida, had gone missing just after the last snow storm, and had named their oldest sibling as her successor via a letter left on her desk.

No one was really surprised that Starshine inherited the throne – she'd been more or less preparing for it for many years, and she really was the best suited for it. It was that the queen had said she was going for a fly with the implication that she would be back before dinner, and hadn't been seen since. The only way they knew that nothing terrible had happened was that the aforementioned letter naming Starshine as the new queen was written in an ink unique to Astromida that could not be used under enchantment or duress. She had to have been quite calm when she'd written the letter. Although Moonstruck didn't dare mention it to her siblings, she suspected that their mother had written it quite a while ago, and was just waiting for the right time to go.

Why now – or rather, the middle of winter – was the right time Moonstruck couldn't even guess. She was also more than a little annoyed that mother hadn't left any sort of instruction for she and Acorn. Granted, Acorn didn't really need much guidance; he'd had his hooves in the dirt since he was old enough to help in the garden. She, on the other hoof, could have used a few clues. Her abilities were fairly specific, which unfortunately meant she didn't have much use around the queendom until or unless a particular problem arose. That problem hadn't arisen in some time; news traveled quickly among dragons, it seemed. They hadn't been sighted over Trot for several years.

She shuffled into the kitchen, nodded sheepishly to the staff bustling around within, and opened the refrigerator door with magic. Sure enough, a short stack was sitting off to the side with her name on it. She stared at it for a few moments, was just about to magic it out of the fridge, then decided she didn't want to spend much time in the castle today. She shut the door, snagged a couple of bananas out of a bowl in the center of the main counter, and trotted out the back door.

"I'll be over at Heather Patch's, if you need me."

Time moved in unexpected directions in the Broken Mountains. Sometimes it ran in circles for a while, quite enamored with its own tail. While two weeks had passed in the outside world where the events of the next few days had already been reacted to, for one pony lying unconscious on a lonely mountainside, things had only just begun.

The creature that had been near by when the pegasus pony had made her rough landing stepped out of the mist and sniffed curiously in her direction. Most would agree it was a dragon of some sort, though it didn't much resemble the usual wyrms seen flying around from time to time. It walked on two muscular legs; had clawed hands instead of front paws; balanced lightly on an outflung tail, and had a pair of large, feathered wings. It was not much taller than the injured pony lying at its feet.

"That was rough." The dragon murmured. He didn't usually get involved with pony affairs, but an escape like the one he'd just witnessed was quite the feat. It felt wrong to leave the poor pegasus to die after she'd tried so hard to survive. Besides, he'd never seen a pony come over the north side of the mountains. Usually getting lost up there was a death sentence for them.

There was a pony village about a days flight from here. The hunting up here had not been good lately, and he intended to head down to lower altitudes. The pegasus was small, and underfed. Likely light enough to fly with. Since he was heading down anyway, he may as well make a side trip. The dragon gingerly lifted the pegasus onto his shoulders, then started off down the slope.

They never searched for survivors. Either ponies met up with the clan later, or they didn't. The clan would not risk time, resources and possible capture to confirm if those who didn't come home were taken or killed.

It was a harsh but effective rule. It kept the clan hidden. It kept the clan safe. She respected the rule. But this time, she could not follow it. Not after loosing her only surviving daughter to illness over the winter. Not when she herself was no longer of real use to the clan, and canny enough to slip unnoticed up the maze of canyons below the impossible peaks to where the ships had surprised her granddaughters hunting party.

They had been six strong. Four were captured, one limped in two days ago, but her granddaughter was missing. The sole survivor had seen her granddaughter narrowly escape a catcher, and dive recklessly into the canyon below the mountain with the broken top. He had no idea if she was captured or killed.

But the old pegasus gliding silently along the canyon rim could not turn away. Could not accept that her granddaughter was gone. Not without some kind of closure. So she slipped out after dark to search.

For three nights now she'd surveyed the canyon, following its twists and turns, plumbing its depths, daring to venture higher up the dried riverbed to seek the more unstable areas where magic ran wild, and everything was confusing. There was a chance – a slim chance, that her granddaughter had escaped up there; into the impossible parts of the mountain range where the catchers would be hard pressed to follow. There was an even slimmer chance that she would make it to the other side of the mountains and escape this horrible place forever.

The old mare was not sure which she preferred.

After many hours of searching, she glided in to a landing on a knob of moonlit sandstone. Although her face was heavily lined, her mane and tail were gray, and her coat was dull, her age did not extend to her movements. Every adjustment of her wings was crisp, and fluid, and her landing was light as a feather.

She stared up the canyon, towards the mountain that stood dark against the faint stars. Nothing moved, even the wind had died down, leaving the chilly spring night silent, and still.

It pained her to admit it, but she was the only living thing for miles.

3. Chapter 2

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 2

Time seemed to slide by very slowly, as of late. Although winter wrap up was over and done only a few weeks prior, it seemed ages since the weather ponies had moved in some warmer air, and started directing some of the naturally occurring storms away from the island chain. The days were pleasant, the nights were mild, the rain was being tapered off, and one day oozed placidly into another, making it increasingly hard to tell how much time had actually passed.

About the only way Moonstruck kept track of things was by Saturdays. Her best friends both had Saturdays off, so that was their goof-off day. The rest of the week was something of a blur, but Saturday? Saturday had card games, and hunts for new bakeries they hadn't tried, and sometimes trips up the coastline to their favorite beaches, if the weather was agreeable. This particular Saturday was quite pleasant, but they were content to spend it in Trot City huddled around a worn but well cared for table in their favorite saloon.

"Aces and eights," Moonstruck grinned, dropping her cards on the table. "Read 'em and weep!"

"Oh sonnova..." her opponent, a grizzled stallion flung his cards on the table. He had a pair of tens. "You cheated!"

"I never cheat, it would tarnish my good name." Moonstruck sniffed haughtily, then grinned mischievously, using her magic to lift the pile of chips at the center of the table and arrange them into neat stacks next to her.

"There's no way you could have won that! I'm the best dang card player this side of Equestria! Even I don't just win six hands in a row like that!" He huffed, standing up and stamping a hoof.

Moonstruck gave him an exasperated look. "What would I gain from cheating? This is all for charity. No matter who wins, the money goes into the donation fund. It's…."

"The library." The earth pony to her right – Heather Patch – supplied helpfully.

"Right, the library this week. Last week it was the animal shelter."

"Next week it's the farm school." Patch added.

"Besides, I have money in the pot too, you know. It's two bits for three hands, and I always match funds."

The stallion ground his teeth together. "So this is all a publicity stunt! A scam to get people to spend their hard earned money on a bunch of moldy old books!?"

Moonstruck lifted a brow. "It's printed on the sign. You even dropped your money in a big pickle jar that says 'donations'."

"You flea bitten royals!" He spat, half turning. "If you're not taxing us, you're scamming us out of our hard earned money to fund some sissy causes." He stormed off, kicking his stool out of his way as he went.

"It also makes me feel really awesome when I win all the time!" Moonstruck called after him. A few of the other saloon patrons chuckled.

"Talk about a sore looser." The pegasus sitting to her left – Spring Breeze – stuck her tongue out. "He wasn't even that good, even Patch coulda played circles around him.

"Hey!" Patch huffed.

Moonstruck righted the wayward stool and slid it back to where it should be before settling back down at her spot and collecting the cards. Once she had the began shuffling them.

"How long are you gonna keep this up, anyway?" Breezy asked, taking a sip of her ginger ale.

"This charity thing? Eventually you'll run out of ponies who'll want to challenged Maverick Moonstruck. I think you've already played half the ponies in Trot."

"Yeah, and most of the charities don't actually need much help anyway. They're pretty well funded." Patch added. "By taxes, incidentally."

"I dunno." Moonstruck shrugged. "I might try entering some high stakes games in Equestria or something. I dunno if I want to hit the celebrity circuit though. I mean, I only really get away with it here 'cause Trot is so small. Everyone practically knows everyone anyway."

"Yeah, that's true." Breezy wrinkled her snout. "Probably not proper for a princess to get wrapped up in celebrity poker out in Equestria."

"It'll probably be okay, since she'd be playing for charity." Patch mused. She took a sip of her cider. "It's your royal pet cause."

"And my best idea of all time." Breezy beamed.

"Your one good idea." Moonstruck smirked and finished shuffling the cards.

"I've had a few good ideas! This was just the best of 'em so far!" Breezy barked, as Patch giggled.

"Another round while we wait for more victims?" Moonstruck asked, absently using her telekinesis to float the cards in ornate patterns over her head. Her friends laughed and nodded, so she gathered them up again, gave them one last quick shuffle, then dealt.

The game progressed smoothly; it was a friendly match, so Moonstruck didn't try particularly hard to beat them. Patch and Breezy were a cut above most ponies when it came to poker, but she was usually a cut or two above them.

Midway through the second hand, one of the castle guards marched into the saloon, his polished armor reflecting the dim lighting with a dull silver and copper sheen. Although castle guards were not an uncommon sight in Trot City, the saloon-goers fell silent. The pegasus stallion stopped by their table and swept into a low, wide winged bow.

"Princess Moonstruck, your sister, Queen Starshine requests your presence at once."

"I dunno what it is, but I didn't do it this time." Moonstruck grunted, not looking up from her cards. "And why so serious? Take a seat, Windwake, I'll deal ya in."

Breezy and Patched giggled, while a few nearby ponies smirked.

Windwake scowled, giving the three of them a reproachful look. "Some of us have to work today."

"Hey, everybody knows I don't work Saturdays." Breezy quipped before taking a pull off her ginger ale. She ruffled her wings.

"I only work weekends during the busy season." Patch added, smiling sheepishly.

"And we all know I haven't had anything to do in a long time." Moonstruck smirked, eyeing him over her cards.

Windwake sighed irately, straightened up out of his bow, and gave her a flat look.

"Fine, fine, sheesh." Moonstruck sighed. She let her cards drop to the table and stood up, stretching lazily. Patch took a quick peek at her hand. "Where is she?"

"Her office."

"Drat, I can't teleport there." Moonstruck grumbled. She ambled around the table. "She keeps moving all of my nodestones, so I can't get an accurate enough location to just pop in."

"Yes. I know. She makes us sweep the room for them every morning." Windwake grumbled.

Moonstruck giggled. She let the tall, lean pegasus lead her out of the saloon.

"Be back in a jiffy!" She called over her shoulder.

She was surprised when Windwake broke off into a swift trot as soon as he was outside. She scrambled to keep pace, huffing and puffing all the way. She needed to get out more. They trotted in silence (aside from Moonstrucks heavy panting) to a more open area where they could take off without hitting the trees that arched over the roadway. Moonstruck wondered what was so important to pull her out of a game on a Saturday. She didn't bother asking Windwake, he probably didn't know. Starshine could be pretty tight lipped about things – even more-so since she'd taken over the queendom.

They reached the intersection at the end of the street, and Windwake took off, bounding into the air in one smooth leap. Moonstruck scowled and lumbered into the air after him. She'd never been very good at taking off. She was a strong enough flier once she was actually in the air, and she had no trouble landing; gravity just seemed reluctant to let her go without a fight.

She made a mental note to take up jogging or something to build up leg strength as Windwake set a swift pace. Surprisingly he led her to the balcony nearest her sisters offices – something that was rarely done. Normally she'd be escorted to the main entrance, then forced to climb several flights of stairs.

Trot Castle was a modestly sized castle, so it took little time to make it up to the royal offices where her sister had set up camp in the months that their mother had dropped off the planet. Windwake pushed the door open, announced her, then left promptly as soon as Moonstruck was inside the spacious office. She sauntered over to the loaded desk and squinted through the gap in the tower of books and papers to spy her sister laboring away on the other side.

"'Sup?"

Starshine didn't immediately reply, was scowling down at something she was writing.

After a sufficiently long pause, Moonstruck levitated some of the books and papers on the desk so that she could see her sister more clearly. "Hellooooo?"

"Moonstruck, don't mess those up!" Starshine gasped, throwing her a stern look, "I heard you the first time."

"Yeah, well, you also didn't say anything for a long time." Moonstruck gently set the paperwork back on the desk and sat down. "Out with it, I was in the middle of a game."

"You're always in the middle of a game. You spend too much time at the Green Dragon." Starshine muttered as she came out from behind the desk. She stared sternly at Moonstruck for a few long moments, then heaved a sigh.

"I'm afraid there's no way around it."

"Pardon?" Moonstruck furrowed her brow.

"I have been summoned to Canterlot to meet with High Princess Celestia."

Moonstruck sat up a little straighter and blinked a few times. "Really? Cool! Does this mean I'm in charge while you're gone?"

"No." Starshine shook her head, still eyeing her sternly. "I cannot go. Mother didn't leave everything in working order as we previously assumed. Actually things are quite disarrayed… I fear she hadn't been focusing on work for some time."

She frowned, her gaze shifting to the side for a moment before she snapped her eyes back to Moonstruck.

"And somepony didn't inform Canterlot of her departure."

Moonstruck grinned sheepishly, her mind racing back to a sheaf of paper, ink and quills that were gathering dust on her desk in her room. She knew she'd been forgetting something these past few months.

Starshine closed her eyes. "There's simply too much for me to do here. I am going to send you in my stead."

"WICKED!" Moonstruck bounced to her hooves and fanned her wings. "Breezy and Patch are gonna flip their lids! Weekend in Canterlot is GO!"

She hunkered down and focused on the crystal she left embedded in the outside wall of the Green Dragon Saloon, was about to cast her teleport spell, when Starshine snapped her wings open dramatically and stamped a hoof.

"They cannot come! You must go alone!"

"Huh? Really? But - "

"No. This is official business. You will not have time to play with your friends. You have a job to do!"

Moonstruck straightened up out of her crouch. "What?"

"You are being sent on a mission. I was not given any details, but it is exceedingly important." Starshine let out a sigh akin to a growl and began to pace, the sun reflecting off her snow white coat, and silver mane and tail. She was tall and lean, like most alicorns, and unlike Moonstruck, whom had always been on the short and chubby side. She also seemed to have gotten most of the good mane and tail genes, since both had a nice, natural wave to them. Moonstruck, by contrast, seemed to have scooped up all of the messy curls the gene pool had to offer.

"Before your mission, you may well be representing the Queendom of Trot in the royal Equestrian court. This is not a game."

"What's going on?" Moonstruck asked, feeling like a little filly again at the prospect of having to hob-knob with Canterlot royalty – most of whom she had only met once when she was a foal. She'd never been very good at the nitty gritty bits of being a princess; like the diplomacy, and responsibility, and the paperwork, and the part where she had to stand around and look majestic to inspire her subjects, and which fork to use during fancy meals, and the paperwork, and negotiating trade deals that didn't involve drunken karaoke, and the paperwork. Did she mention the paperwork? She really hated the paperwork.

"Princess Lunas letter was vague. You will be briefed when you reach Canterlot." Starshine hesitated a beat, then continued pacing the length of the room.

"All I can tell you is that an alicorn is needed to undergo a quest. And it can only be an alicorn. She requested me, but I cannot leave our ponies at this time. Which is why I am sending you. As a Princess of Trot, you have a responsibility to represent our family and ponies with strength, grace, and dignity. And as an alicorn, you have a sacred duty to do what High Princess Celestia asks."

Moonstruck felt even smaller. "This is serious. Like, really, really serious, isn't it?"

"Yes, I fear it is." Starshine stopped pacing and closed her eyes for a few moments, gathering her thoughts. "I know… we haven't always gotten along. And, I know that as the second sister your position is… how do I put it…."

"Superfluous." Moonstruck supplied dryly. "Pointless. Expendable. Mostly unneeded."

"I wouldn't put it that harshly." Starshine frowned. "At any rate, I am grateful for you, just as I am grateful for our dear brother Acorns Promise. Without you two around, I don' think I could begin to take over for Mother."

"So please do this. Treat it as the most important thing in the world. And come back safe."

Moonstruck stared at the floor. It's either this, she thought, or back to the Green Dragon to try to heckle ponies into playing poker while I wait around for a dragon – or any kind of monster – to try to start trouble.

She loved card games, and card tricks. And winning. But, Breezy had brought up a good point earlier; what would she do when there was no one left to play? She probably actually had played half the ponies in Trot. She'd already toured the tiny queendom twice in search of new opponents and smaller causes to support.

Back when she'd first started there were lines out the door to play a few rounds of cards with her, but now she was lucky if two or three ponies decided to give it a shot on the days she set up shop in the Green Dragon – or any of the other saloons around the country. Would it be the same in Equestria? Would the celebrity circuit be any better, or would ponies get tired of her winning all the time, and stop paying attention? Would she even be allowed to compete? Did she even want to?

She focused on her reflection on the smooth stone floor; noted vaguely that only her eyes had any color. Her shimmering periwinkle mane was washed out, and her dark gray coat had lost its luster in this lighting and the imperfect mirror of the white marble floor. She looked as hollow as she wouldn't admit to feeling as of late. She let out a breath and looked up, her forelock hanging half over her face.

"Okay, I'll go. And I'll try my best."

Moonstruck was pensive when she teleported back to the sidewalk outside the Green Dragon, very much inclined to simply look at the street for a while, a strange sense of finality settling deep in her guts. Like she'd never see this place again. She did look, for a few moments, noted that the oak trees that lined the street were leafing out spectacularly, and the moss and ferns growing on their branches were bright and green and healthy. The painted wooden sign of the saloon needed to repainted, although she had a certain affinity for its faded gold lettering, and coiled green dragon sipping a flagon of frothy cider.

She shook herself then pushed the door open, pausing a moment in the entry to let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting. Breezy and Patch were right where she'd left them, playing a game of war, from the looks of it.

"Yeah, apparently I have to go on a quest." She said once she was back at the table.

They laughed, then quieted when she didn't laugh with them.

"Really?" Breezy asked, furrowing her brow, as Patch pulled her ears back.

"Yep. They're already prepping a carriage for Canterlot."

"We get to come with you, right?" Patch asked.

"No, not this time. I have to go alone." Moonstruck shook her head. "Top level stuff, I guess. I don't even get to find out what it is until I get there."

"And you agreed to go!?" Patch gasped.

"You, on a quest, by yourself?" Breezy narrowed her eyes. "Aren't you too lazy to walk? I mean, you're a decent flier, and good with magic, and you can do the thing with the woosh, and the KABOOM and the rawwwww!" She reared up on her hind legs and flailed her hooves for a few seconds.

"But you've never left Trot, and Trot isn't even that big!"

"Hey! I go to Vanhoover sometimes!" Moonstruck was feeling a bit attacked, though Breezy was not wrong.

"Vanhoover's just across the strait, it doesn't count." Breezy huffed.

Moonstruck gave her a sour look. "Yeah, well, it's something only an alicorn can do, and everyone else is busy, so I get to go."

She shrugged uncomfortably. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn't really cut out for questing. Sure, there was the whole dragon slaying thing, and she played some tabletop RPG's and some fantasy card games, so she understood the theory of proper questing. She'd just never felt the urge to leave the queendom, aside from zipping across the Orca Strait to haunt Vanhoover from time to time. Vanhoover had cool stuff. She did like camping, at least.

"Oh, that makes sense." Breezy said into her thoughts. "And you don't really have anything to do most of the time."

Patch nudged the pegasus and gave her a reproachful look.

"How very reassuring." Moonstruck grumbled. "I guess I'll be gone for a while. Better grab what munchies you can from the castle kitchen 'cause I don't think Starshine 'n Acorn'll let you in to raid the fridge whenever you feel like it."

"You really are going!" Patch gasped, as Moonstruck plopped a few coins on the table and started gathering up her poker stuff.

"Yup."

"And we're really not going with you?" Breezy gasped.

"Nope."

"They're definitely not gonna let us into the castle for no reason, are they? Even though they know us."

"Highly unlikely."

They exchanged glances. "We'll help you pack."

"Ah, perfect timing, the carriage is almost ready." Starshine said as Moonstruck came down the last flight of stairs to the main courtyard with full saddlebags, and an extra pack on her back.

"It will take you the rest of the day, and most of the night to get to Canterlot, provided the wind is favorable. I didn't want to pull weather ponies away from their usual duties, so you'll have to deal with the scheduled weather on the mainland."

Moonstruck paused at the bottom of the stairs. "What? I'm leaving now?"

"Yes." Starshine sighed, turning her back to the proceedings. One of the royal flying carriages was being prepared with six harnesses for six pegasus up front. She knew it was possible to have more than two pegasus pull a passenger carriage, but she'd never seen anyone hitch up more than four at a time – and four was rather unusual.

"Guess they weren't kidding about getting there as fast as possible." Moosntruck muttered, slipping out of her saddlebags and hoofing them off to an attendant. They promptly trotted over and placed the bags in the storage area.

"Indeed." Starshine nodded.

Breezy and Patch came down the stairs just then, each holding up one side of a large, folded blanket. Attendants rushed over to take it from them.

"Wow, leaving already?" Patch yelped.

"Apparently." Moonstruck shrugged.

"Dang, six pegaus. You're gonna haul tail." Breezy whistled.

"I know, right? Who even does that?" Moonstruck chuckled.

Starshine frowned at the common ponies. "Neither of you should be here, this is supposed to be a secret."

Moonstruck masked a grimace with a cough. "Oooooh, don't worry; I'm sure half of Trot knows by now."

"News does travel quickly 'round here." Patch said vaguely.

"Especially when a certain princess announces that she's going on a mysterious quest in the middle of the Green Dragon." Breezy added not quite under her breath.

Patch nudged her winged companion roughly as Starshine let out a long sigh.

"I suppose everyone would have found out eventually anyway." The young queen muttered in defeat.

"Yeah, I think Acorns more of a gossip than we are," Said Breezy, eyeing Patch darkly.

"I am not a gossip." Patch huffed. "But… Prince Acorn is a good source of information."

"Which is precisely why I didn't tell him." Starshine stated firmly.

Moonstruck half turned to look at her sister. "Okay, I have done some dumb things in my time, but not telling Acorn takes the cake." She was slightly ashamed that she hadn't noticed that her little brother was not in attendance to see her off.

"It's as you said. He'd tell too many ponies, and he'd only worry." Starshine rolled her eyes.

"Like he won't worry if I up and leave out of the blue like Mom did?" Moonstruck snarled.

Starshine took a step back, her white coat somehow getting paler. Breezy and Patch took three large steps back, hoping they were clear of the blast radius.

"I was going to tell him! Just… not right away!" Starshine blurted, suddenly dropping her queenly voice for something more sisterly. "You know how much he worries! I was just going to tell him you decided to go on holiday, then mention that you sent word that you were having an adventure or something. It's damage control! He's even worse about keeping secrets than you are!"

"Really? You think he's dumb enough to believe that?" Moonstruck growled. "The poor colts traumatized! You know Mom leaving hit him harder than anyone else." She lowered her head and fanned her wings.

"Besides, I already spilled the beans. You need to remember to tell me when things are a friggin' secret!"

"I thought you were more mature than that!" Starshine hissed. "Clearly I was mistaken!"

"Never underestimate my big mouth. Or my magic!" Moonstruck snapped. Then she teleported.

Her brother was generally easy to find; at this time of the afternoon he was typically in the south orchards inspecting the hazelnut trees. Moonstruck shook a bit of static from her fur, mane and feathers, then moved into the old grove at a trot. Starshine was not a strong teleporter; had only just gotten comfortable with line-of-sight teleportation in the past few years, and she absolutely refused to use Moonstrucks nodestone trick to zero in on locations without a line-of-sight destination – which was easier in many ways. She would have to fly at least part of the way to get within sight of the orchard, which meant Moonstruck had a few minutes. Luckily Acorn was not very deep into the ancient grove.

"Hey, Acorn, I'm going on a quest, 'kay?" She said once she was in earshot.

"Huh?" He looked up from the plant he'd been investigating.

"Yeah, something top secret from High Princess Celestia. I'm gonna be gone for a while. Starshine didn't want to tell you." Moonstruck panted as she came to a stop in front of her flabbergasted brother.

"WHAT? Wha – when are you leaving? And Why didn't Starshine want me to know!?" His jaw dropped open, and seemed inclined to stay there.

"As soon as the carriage is ready to go. And because you're a blabbermouth." Moonstruck shrugged.

He closed his mouth. Opened it again, then closed it, worked his jaw around a little.

"I'm not sure what to tackle first."

"Neither am I." Moonstruck shook her head. "Starshine will be here soon, and she is gonna be miffed, so I'm gonna pop back to the main courtyard. You gonna see me off, or what?"

"Yeah, of course! Can I use your nodestones?"

"Sure, if you can find 'em." Moonstruck grinned, then teleported back to the balcony above the main courtyard. She hopped over the rail and fluttered down to where her friends were still waiting. Acorn popped into existence a few moments later. He shook off, then hopped over the railing, casting a quick spell to allow himself to land relatively lightly on the ground below.

"Ugh, still getting used to that."

"Yeah, it can take a while. You're taking this surprisingly well." Moonstruck noted, then to her friends, "How long since Starshine left?"

"About three minutes ago." Breezy supplied.

"H-hi Prince Acorn." Patch ducked her head and blushed darkly. Breezy smirked at the earth pony, but didn't comment.

Acorn noticed the common ponies, made a funny, panicked sort of face, then straightened up before dipping into a short bow.

"Good afternoon Heather Patch, Spring Breeze. I hope the day has been pleasant for you thus far."

Breezy and Patch giggled. They could never keep a straight face whenever Acorn acted princely. Which was whenever he was in public, or around his sisters friends.

He straightened up, then shuffled a little uncomfortably.

"It's okay, bud, you can talk all common-like." Breezy winked and adopted a thick drawl.

"Breezy!" Patch hissed, nudging Breezy as Moonstruck giggled.

Acorn blinked a few times, then shrugged. "I'm actually kind of glad you're going."

Moonstruck felt her eyebrows travel up towards her mane. "Really?"

"Yeah, well..." he nudged a pebble with a hoof. "I know I've been moping around the gardens a lot lately, and Starshine has been keeping herself super busy to keep her mind off of… but you just seem really lost. I mean, you don't have many official duties, but before you always seemed to be able to keep yourself amused, at least."

He shrugged. "I mean, when was the last time you TP'd Starshine's office? The taps haven't run rainbow in ages, and I can't even remember the last time you turned all of the cottonwood fuzzies into tiny butts."

"This just seems like it might be a good thing for you."

Acorn was the one pony who always appreciated her pranks. Moonstruck felt a feeling of sisterly pride swelling in her chest. Naturally she had to squash it the only way she knew how. She sidled over to her brother, got him in a headlock, and proceeded to administer a hearty noogie.

"D'aaawwwww my widdle brudder's all grown up and makin' wise decisions and stuff!"

"ACK! MOONEEEEYYYY!" Acorn squealed, trying desperately to escape. Moonstruck really had to plant her hind hooves – he was getting strong!

"Aww c'mon! Not in front of your friends, at least! You're ruining my imaaaage!"

"But I won't be able to overpower you much longer! Indulge your big sisterrrr!" Moonstruck cackled, then let him go. She bumped foreheads with him – or at least as much as unicorns could bump foreheads without impaling one another. "Thank you."

He chuckled wearily. "Yeah. And for the record, I can totally overpower you now. I was just playing along."

"Pff, yeah, right."

"Yeah, I know I'm right."

"Wanna bet?"

"Bring it on!"

Starshine landed with a loud fwoosh and a heavy thump. She lifted her head and gave Moonstruck an irate stare, breathing hard. Her mane was disheveled in such a way that indicated she'd likely botched another teleport spell, and had to fly much faster than she'd wanted to keep up with her more teleportation-savvy siblings.

"I'm a blabbermouth!?" Acorn blurted in his whiniest tones, he even managed to get his voice to crack a little.

Starshine hung her head, still panting. "Oh, good grief!"

Breezy, whom had already been laughing hard at the noogies, proceeded to fall on her side and roll around on the ground. Patch was too enamored with the prince acting casual to notice much else.

"Mayhem, chaos, destruction – my work here is done!" Moonstruck cackled. She started towards the carriage, which seemed to be about ready.

"Okay, good luck! Have fun! Bring me back something cool!" Acorn called after her, then turned back to his eldest sister. "But seriously, you weren't gonna tell me?"

"Well, I – wait, you're okay with this?" Starshine blinked, looking back and forth between Moonstruck, whom was arranging her things in the carriage with Breezy and Patch, and Acorn, who was scowling up at her.

"Yup. She needs out of the castle. Her moping is getting on my nerves." Acorn snorted dismissively.

"Your moping's getting on mine!" Moonstruck barked from the carriage. Acorn stuck his tongue out her, and Moonstruck replied in kind.

Starshine shook her head slowly and laughed quietly to herself. "I sometimes forget there's no winning against you two."

Goodbyes were brief, as time really was of the essence. Before Moonstruck knew it, they were aloft, speeding away from Trot and towards the distant city of Canterlot. Sunset was still a few hours off, but it felt as though the afternoon was already waning.

"So, Windwake, how about a game of I Spy?" Moonstruck shouted once they were at cruising altitude.

The pegasus stallion turned as much as he could to eye her over the backs of his teammates. Windwake was one of the team charged with getting her to Canterlot ASAP. It was a lucky break, Moosntruck had assumed that she'd be stuck with a bunch of fliers she didn't know particularly well.

"I'm kind of busy." He grumbled.

"Aw c'mon, it's easy!" Moonstruck kicked back in her seat. "I spy with my little eye…."

The other pegasai chuckled as Windwake rolled his eyes and proceeded to ignore her. Moonstruck grinned and tilted her head back to watch a high layer of clouds drift overhead. She tried to remember how long it took to get to Canterlot. She'd only been there once as a small foal, so she couldn't remember a clear time frame – everything seemed to take forever when you were little. If she were to fly herself, maintained a good clip, and stopped every night at an inn, it would probably take three or four days. She scowled up at the blue sky and made a small correction. If she was in shape and flew at a good clip, stopping every night, it would take her three or four days. She hadn't done any serious flying in some time.

It was always disheartening to realize that she was still quite young as alicorns go, had a long life ahead of her, and yet, much of her glory days were likely already behind her. She shook her head and shoved that thought aside.

A fast pegasus – like the strapping young stallions pulling her carriage – could probably make it in two days if they stopped for the night. If they didn't stop, one - although they'd be exhausted when they got there. Six of them meant it would probably take a half a day, and all night traveling nonstop, as Starshine had said. She'd be able to kill that much time pretty easily.

She played solitaire for a while. Then switched it up with a tarot deck she'd bought at a street fair eons ago, but had never really done much with. Then scribbled down an idea for a new card game she'd been developing. That took her to about sunset. She pulled her lunch bag out from under her seat.

"Hey, you colts hungry? I have extra sandwiches here!" She called.

"We cannot eat on the wing, your highness!" One of the fliers – she thought his name was Seven Leaf – replied crisply.

"Nah, it's cool, I can cast a spell that'll float the sandwiches in front of you." Moonstruck offered, magicking the sandwiches into the air around her.

Windwake poked his head up. "We have to focus on flying. We'll be alright, we had a special meal before we left."

"Oh." She let the food settled back in the lunch bag. Except for one, for herself. "Well, just say the word if you get the munchies."

They did not. At least while she was awake. Moonstruck was typically something of a night owl, but she found herself drifting off shortly after sunset. She pulled a blanket over herself and settled down on the plush seat, chin resting on her forelegs, scowling ahead without seeing anything. She was determined to stay awake for a while longer, although she couldn't put her hoof on why. She wasn't fast enough to fly along with the carriage for some exercise, and the pegasai didn't seem to need her help for anything. It was probably a good idea to get as much sleep as she could now, before she set off on her quest – whatever it was.

Heaving a sigh, Moonstruck closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off.

4. Chapter 3

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 3

It occurred to her belatedly that someone had been trying to wake her for some time. Possibly several someones. Moonstruck groaned and curled into a tighter ball, unwilling to let go of slumberland just yet, despite the nagging sensation that she should wake up at once, and that whomever was speaking to her was kind of important somehow, even though she couldn't place the voice.

Or, wait, actually she could place that voice. The part of her mind that was somewhat ware of the situation realized she simply hadn't heard it in a long time. It was at that moment she remembered she was not in her own bed. Another moments thought made her realize that she was, in fact, outside, and it smelled quite foreign beyond her blanket.

With an irate sigh, curiosity finally managed to rouse her, and she opened her eyes to sunlight streaming through her purple blanket. She blinked a few times, then worked her head out from under the blanket to squint up at the pony who belonged to the quasi-familiar voice. A tall, elegant white alicorn stood over Moonstruck, her pastel rainbow mane billowing gently in some supernatural breeze.

Moonstrucks sleep addled brain came to a complete standstill. This was certainly a familiar, unfamiliar place. It was unfamiliar in that it didn't belong to anyone she knew personally, but familiar because she knew it all the same.

"G-good morning, High Princess Celestia!" Moonstruck croaked as she popped up into a seated position.

"I suppose that greeting still technically applies." Celestia chuckled. "You're a hard sleeper, Princess Moonstruck."

"Er… yeah." Moonstruck laughed nervously as she hastily tried to fix her mane, which was likely even messier than usual. "Did the stallions make it okay? Are they - "

"They're all fine. They've eaten and are asleep in their quarters." Celestia nodded slightly.

"Oh good."

"Your sisters letter explained the situation. I am sorry your mother chose to leave at such a time." Celestia dipped her head elegantly.

"Letter?"

"Yes," Celestia smirked, and magicked a scroll up in front of yourself. "It seems you sister suspected you would be asleep when you arrived, and left a letter with Captain Windwake as a precaution."

Moonstruck ducked her head and blushed. "Ah, ha ha… yeah I'm something of a night owl."

"My sister is the same way." Celestia chuckled. "Well, come along. There's still breakfast if you would like it. We won't be having our big meeting until this evening, as my sister will be asleep most of the day as well, and it is vital that she attends."

Moonstruck grinned sheepishly and climbed out of the carriage. "I should maybe look into some kinda nighttime job back home, so I have a legit excuse to sleep all day."

"That may be wise." Celestia agreed.

Moonstruck followed the elder alicorn across the courtyard they'd parked the carriage in, her mind racing to find a way to make up for her complete lack of decorum. This was not a good way to impress the High Princess – even though she didn't seem to mind. Seem; the key word here was seem. It was highly likely Celestia had the best poker face in the world.

Ornate double doors opened silently before them, allowing them to step inside a vast hall lined with stained glass windows.

"I am afraid I have a few affairs to attend to before the meeting tonight, so I shall leave you with Princess Cadance and my protege for the day." Celestia said as they turned down a less vast, but still airy corridor. "They will show you around, as you will likely be here for a few days, at least."

Moonstruck nodded.

Celestia magicked a door open, and poked her head inside. "Ah, she's finally awake. This is Princess Moonstruck."

Moonstruck stepped into the doorway and grinned awkwardly, feeling like the new foal in class. "Hello!"

"Hello Princess Moonstruck!" A pink alicorn around her own age, whom could only be Princess Cadance beamed, letting out a bubbly laugh.

"Hi Princess!" Echoed around the room. Six common ponies and what appeared to be a baby dragon accompanied the princess; a board game was set up on a large table between them. A foals board game. Moonstruck was intrigued.

"Moonstruck, this is my protege Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her friends Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike. They also wield the Elements of Harmony – well except for Spike."

"I polish the Elements of Harmony!" Spike declared, prompting the ponies to giggle.

"I'll see you all at the meeting later." Celestia smiled softly, nodded, and left as the rest of the ponies said their respectful goodbyes.

Moonstruck stepped into the room, the door shut softly behind her. She stared at Twilight Sparkle, she hadn't noticed her wings at first, and honestly, if Celestia hadn't mentioned the title, she wouldn't have thought to look. She vaguely recalled somepony being crowned princess recently, but she couldn't remember the details.

"Wow! So many princesses are running around today!" Said the pink earth pony, suddenly appearing in front of her, bouncing excitedly.

"I thought that Celestia and Luna were the only princesses, but then a couple of years ago we met Cadance! Then Twilight was turned into an alicorn! And before all of THAT I only knew about Princess Celestia! But now you're here, and we've been learning about other queendoms all over the place, and all of the alicorns out there! Isn't it crazy!? I'm Pinkie Pie, by the way!"

Pinkie Pie somehow managed to get through all of that without pausing for breath, or well, pausing in general. She was still bouncing.

"Yeah, there's a few of us running around." Moonstruck took a small step back.

"Pinkie, take it easy!" Twilight Sparkle laughed. "You're scaring her!"

"Sorry!" Pinkie Pie chirped, then bounced back over to her seat at the table. "We're playing Candy Land, wanna play?"

"Ah, no that's okay, Candy Land isn't really my game." Moonstruck said. "And I'm kinda hungry…."

"Not your game? What games do you play?"

"Card games, mostly."

"Neat! Do you know any card tricks?"

"A few." Moonstruck had placed her favorite deck in a velvet pouch around her neck for just such an occasion. She whipped it out now, magicking the cards into the air in a dizzying display of telekenetic coordination, then brought them all whizzing back neatly into their box, then into the pouch.

"COOL!" Pinkie Pie lead the chorus of admiration.

"They call me Maverick Moonstruck for a reason." She winked. "But anyway, Princess Celestia said something about a late breakfast…?"

"Oh yes, you haven't eaten yet." Cadance said. "I think I can go for some brunch."

There was general agreement around the table, so they cleaned up their game, and headed down to the palace kitchens to see what they could make off with. A short while later they had an impromptu picnic in the palace gardens. With a bit of good food in her belly, and a pleasant breeze ruffling her mane, Moonstruck felt much more awake, and at home. She, of course, had some knowledge of the Elements of Harmony, and knew the tale of Princess Lunas liberation from the clutches of the dark powers, but she'd never expected to be plopped down in the grass with the wielders of such elements, nor Equestrias newest Princess.

"So, Princess Moonstruck, where are you from again?" The orange earth pony – Applejack – asked after a few minutes of idle chatter.

"Trot."

"Trottingham?" The white unicorn – Rarity, asked, perking up a tad.

"Just Trot. It's pretty small. Off the coast of Vanhoover."

"Trot's chief exports are hazelnuts, pumpkins, high quality obsidian, and a particular type of seaweed that is widely used in dyes and pigments." Twilight Sparkle said, sitting up straighter. "Your country is also known for being the only kingdom other than Equestria to have two alicorns born in one generation."

Moonstruck blinked back her surprise. "Yes, that's right!"

"I've been reading." Twilight Sparkle beamed.

"Is that unusual? To have more than two alicorns to a family?" Applejack asked, furrowing her brow.

"Extremely rare." Twilight sparkle nodded. "I couldn't find out anything as to why. Perhaps Princess Moonstruck can explain it?"

"Eh, no one really knows for sure." Moonstruck shrugged. "It's just kinda hit and miss. It is true that we don't have foals very often, but most of those foals are one of the three tribes of pony – not all three at once. Most alicorn foals are fillies, colts are extremely rare."

"Ah, that must be why Princess Celestia has unicorn and pegasus relatives." Rarity mused. "I have often wondered about that."

"So how did alicorns get started? Did a unicorn marry a pegasus a long time ago, and end up with an alicorn?" Rainbow Dash scowled. "Or are they all like Twilight and unlocked a special achievement?"

Moonstruck snorted a laugh, and hoof bumped the rainbow maned pegasus. She had never heard of anyone becoming an alicorn before she met Twilight Sparkle. As far as she knew you were either born one, or you weren't. She made a mental note to ask Celestia later.

"Nope, my third cousin Honeycrisp knew a unicorn and pegasus family. She said they had two pegasus and a unicorn." Applejack shook her head.

"And remember Mr. and Mrs. Cake are earth ponies, but they had a pegasus and a unicorn." Fluttershy piped up. Or whispered up, rather.

"According to the lore, alicorns were the original race of pony, but over time, pegasus, unicorns and earth ponies born of those alicorns split off and formed their own tribes." Princess Cadance said, then took a sip of tea.

"Really? I've never read that anywhere! Twilight Sparkle perked her ears up curiously.

"It's an old story. Very old." Cadance shrugged. "No one's been able to prove or disprove it, but it could explain our grab-bag genetics." She chuckled. "And our capacity to become alicorns, under the right conditions."

"So, where could I read this lore?" Twilight Sparkle pressed.

Cadance stared up at the tree they were sitting under. "Oh dear, um, probably in the folklore section of the library. I don't remember what book I read it in, to be honest."

"Hmmmmm..." Twilight eyed the castle, clearly inclined to go take a look through the library.

"We don't have time," Spike sighed. "It could take you ages to find the right book, and we leave tomorrow morning."

"Just a few hours wouldn't hurt!"

"But once you get looking, you won't want to stop! I'm the same way when I go shopping in Canterlot." Rarity chuckled.

"And we're already overdue to be back in Ponyville." Applejack shook her head. "Remember? The only reason we're still here is because Princess Celestia asked us to stick around for some big important meeting tonight. Otherwise we woulda gone home three days ago."

Twilight Sparkle slumped, crestfallen.

"Tell ya what; I'll see if I can find the book, and I'll send it to your library in Ponyville." Cadance offered. "I suppose it's my fault I brought it up. And it might have been in the Crystal Empire palace library, anyway."

"Really? Thanks!" Twilight beamed.

"Hey, that reminds me, does anyone know what the meeting is about?" Applejack asked.

"All I know is that I was summoned here because they need an alicorn to go on some kinda quest, and I was the only one who's available." Moonstruck shrugged.

"I'm available." Twilight Sparkle muttered under her breath.

"I heard they found something really weird way out past Griffonstone." Pinkie Pie chirped.

"What kind of weird?" Fluttershy squeaked, ducking her head.

"I dunno, but I overheard some nurses talking about it yesterday. They seemed pretty confused."

"Nurses?" Applejack lifted a brow.

"Yeah! I think they work in the palace hospital wing."

"Now that you mention it, I saw an ambulance carriage fly in the morning after we got here, and they were coming in outta the north." Rainbow Dash mused. "They took a weird route in though; if I hadn't taken my morning fly around the north side of the mountain I never would have seen 'em."

"It doesn't have anything to do with the Crystal Empire, does it Cadance?" Rarity asked, eagerly looking to the princess in question.

She started. "What? No. Not that I've heard."

"But you have heard something." Moonstruck pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Cadance gave her a curious look.

"The way you almost choked on your tea." Moonstruck eyed her cooly. "I don't think it was about the Crystal Empire, but that she asked you specifically."

"Well, the Crystal Empire is north of here."

"It is, and I heard what happened. Doesn't explain why asking you would be startling."

Now everyone was looking at Cadance. Her eyes darted around the group, then she heaved a sigh and slumped. "Yes, I know something, but I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Ooooooooooo! A secret!" Pinkie Pie bounced to her hooves. "What if we guess!?"

"Heh, you can try. This one's pretty out there!" Cadance chortled.

"Does Shining Armor know?" Twilight asked slyly.

Cadance opened her mouth to reply, then paused and tilted her head to the side. "I don't know. He's been busy lately, so we've hardly spoken the last couple of days."

"Hmmm."

"This has really got you curious, hasn't it?" Applejack noted.

"Well, yeah! I mean, there's a quest only an alicorn can go on, something mysterious happening in the north, and we've been asked to attend a top secret meeting. Something big is happening – and if my brother knows about it, I can totally twist his leg into telling me!" Twilight laughed.

"I prefer to noogie." Moonstruck nodded. "Noogies always work."

"He's my older brother, so not so much, no." Twilight Sparkle giggled.

"Heh, yeah that makes a difference. I guess it helps that Acorn is terrible at keeping secrets, anyway. If you want the whole Queendom to know something, just tell him; everypony'll know by the end of the day." Moonstruck laughed.

Everyone giggled. A few moments later, a tired gray and green pegasus sauntered over and plopped down next to Moonstruck.

"Hey." Windwake grunted, then grabbed a small bunch of grapes off the nearest plate.

"Ah, finally, no more Professional Captain Windwake." Moonstruck smirked. "Shouldn't you still be passed out somewhere?"

"Meh, I'm off duty. And I couldn't sleep anymore. So what're you gals up to?" Windwake gulped down a grape.

"Trying to figure out what the super secret important meeting is about later!" Pinkie Pie blurted. "Princess Cadance knows, but she won't tell us!"

"Isn't that kind of her job?" Windwake rolled his eyes.

"Trust me, I really want to tell you, but I can't."

Windwake started and sat up abruptly, staring at the pink alicorn in horror. He bounded to his hooves, then dropped into a low, wide winged bow. A grape fell out of his mouth as he did so, which effectively ruined the gesture.

"Forgive me, Your Highness! I am afraid in my fatigued state I did not notice your most noble presence!"

"Eh, everyone this is Windwake. Windwake, this is everyone." Moonstruck said into the awkward silence that followed. "He's one of my besties, and also very formal and professional – even when he doesn't need to be."

"That's enough, Captain. No need to be so formal." Cadance sighed after everyone had introduced themselves. "Just Cadance is fine."

Out of the corner of her eye, Moonstruck could just see Twilight carefully tuck her wings tight against her flanks.

Windwake twitched slightly then sat down next to Moonstruck. "They spend years and years drilling manners and decorum into you, and what happens? Oh don't worry about that, we're all friends here!" He snorted. Everyone laughed.

"You should feel lucky that even in Canterlot formality is just a formality." Moonstruck rolled her eyes. "You'd be in a heck of a lotta trouble right now if it wasn't."

"She's got a point there." Applejack agreed.

Windwake shrugged. "So, what's this about a secret meeting?"

"Not so secret anymore." Cadance shook her head.

"I probably woulda heard it from Mooney at some point." Windwake smirked. "She's the worst gossip in the queendom."

"I am not! Acorn wears that crown." Moonstruck snorted.

"Right. Correction, you're the worst unintentional gossip in the queendom." He grinned.

Moonstruck sighed wearily as everyone giggled. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, have you heard about anything weird?"

"Nope, been asleep most the day." Windwake helped himself to some pudding.

The speculation didn't go far, and soon the conversation moved on to more day to day topics over a round of cards. Mostly Black Jack, since there were too many ponies and not enough cards to play an effective game of anything else. After a while they decided to head down into the city for a while – except for Windwake, whom had grown sleepy again and gone back to his bunk.

Moonstruck hadn't been to Canterlot since a trip the family took when she was a little foal. She couldn't remember much of it, but what she could recall had seemed much larger in her memories. Of course, she was much larger now, so everything would seem smaller. The city was no less grand, just not as monumentally huge as her skewed foalhood memory. She enjoyed spending time with Princess Cadance, and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, but as the afternoon wore on, she began to miss Breezy and Patch. They would have loved this. She also wished Windwake was with her; she hadn't gotten much time to hang out with him since he had made captain. Really, since he graduated from the academy. That was… how long ago? Five or six years? It was amazing how time had gotten away from her. It seemed like only yesterday she, Windwake, Breezy and Patch were foals.

"Princess Moonstruck…?"

Moonstruck shook herself and turned around. Applejack was giving her a funny look

"Huh? Sorry, zoned out there."

"C'mon, it's almost dinner time; we need to get back to the palace."

"Right, right. Early dinner, then the meeting." Moonstruck nodded and followed Applejack back to the rest of the mares, whom were gathered on the street corner. How long had she been staring off into space?

"Thinkin' 'bout home?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, my friends would love it here. They've never been to Canterlot." Moonstruck said. "I couldn't bring them along this time."

"Maybe next time they can come." Applejack beamed.

Moonstruck recalled all of the secrecy surrounding the reason she'd been summoned and forced a smile.

Dinner was a casual affair, served on a terrace with a view of the valleys below the mountains Canterlot was perched on. They could see Ponyville in the distance, the common ponies were quick to point out. It looked like a cute little berg, as near as Moonstruck could tell. They were summoned a short while after finishing their meal, and led up to an ornate conference room somewhere in the upper levels of the palace.

Princess Luna fluttered in to a landing out on the balcony and stepped into the room as they were finding their seats.

"Am I early?"

"On time as far as I know." Cadance said, sitting down daintily on a cushion to the left of the head of the oval table. Luna sat on the right, leaving the center cushion free for Princess Celestia. Moonstruck took the cushion two cushions down from Cadance, allowing Twilight Sparkle to sit between she and Cadance, since they seemed very close. A unicorn stallion trotted in a few moments later, looking a bit out of breath.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight Sparkle grinned and bounced over to greet her older brother.

"Hey! 'Bout time I got to see my little sister. And you've been here, what, a week?" He ambled around to nuzzle Cadance.

"You've been busy." Twilight Sparkle shrugged. "You can take my seat if you want. I didn't know you were going to be here."

Moonstruck hastily moved down another cushion so that Twilight Sparkle could sit next to her brother and sister-in-law.

"I didn't know I was going to be here, either. Just got he message." Shining armor said as he sat down between his wife and sister.

"Hi princess Luna!" Pinkie Pie chirped, plopping down next to the alicorn in question. "Are you gonna come back to Ponyvill this Nightmare Night and scare everyone again?"

A ghost of the smirk tugged at Lunas lips. "Perhaps."

She turned her gaze to Moonstruck and lifted a brow. "Princess Moonstruck, I presume."

"Yes, well met, Princess Luna." Moonstruck dipped her head respectfully, remembering her manners for once.

"You wear no crown." It wasn't a question.

Moosntruck blinked a few times then looked up – not that she the stop of her own head.

"Ah… no, crown's aren't really my style. I probably should have brought it with me, now that you mention it…."

Princess Luna smirked openly this time, but said no more.

A small troupe of unicorns trotted in, and began pulling curtains shut. Princess Celestia walked in after them with no fanfare. A large screen was drawn down from the ceiling, prompting Spike to hop up and help set up the projector.

"This will not be a formal meeting, Celestia said as she sat down at the head of the table. "In case you were wondering."

"Oh good!" Pinkie Pie beamed, then let out a loud burp. Everyone laughed. Rainbow Dash bumped hooves with the pink pony.

"However, what you will learn here does not leave the room, understand?"

The troupe of unicorns finished their work, bowed and left. As soon as the doors shut, Princess Celestia dimmed the lights. Spike fired up the projector.

"I am afraid there is much more to this, but time is of the essence, so I will only discuss what is absolutely vital now. Don't worry Twilight, I've already had the books sent to your library in Ponyville. They should be waiting for you when you get home." Princess Celestia said, smiling fondly at her student.

Twilight Sparkle grinned.

Celestia cleared her throat. "Roughly a thousand years ago, a massive conflict shook our world, and shattered the tenuous peace that we had gained after Discord's defeat. First slide, please."

An old map of the world appeared on the screen, not looking much different than it did now; albeit with a few name changes, and a lack of railroad routes. Moonstruck had to stare hard at it to spot the differences. Last she knew the area east of the BugBear Mountains, and the Griffon Territories was largely unexplored, except for the area east of the Rosalia Sea that split the Przwalski Steppes in two, but this map showed a country nestled on the eastern slopes of the BugBear range north east of Griffonstone, and bordered on the east by the Rosalia Sea.

"The nature of the conflict was..." Celestia grimaced slightly. "Complex. Far from here, east of the BugBear Mountains, there once was a mighty kingdom. In those days it was known as Roanamia, but today they are called the Broken Lands." She gestured to Spike. The next slide appeared.

This was a modern map, and did indeed depict that mysterious blank space that Moonstruck was more familiar with as being unexplored. Here, the southern spar of the BugBear mountains that swept east across the steppe, which had formed the southern border of this Roanamia was labeled The Broken Mountains. The area north of those hills was blank.

Spike moved on to the next slide, which was another old map of the lost country. This map was far more detailed, and notes scribbled here and there indicated that his was the most recent map before whatever happened, happened. The wayward spur of the Bugbear Mountains was not a solid mass, as the larger map had depicted; it was actually separated from the rest of the range by a large, deep gorge. The spur was labeled as the Rosaceae Range. The country was nestled in a vast, wide plain north of those mountains, and the Unexplored Glaciers formed the northern border. The interior of the valley appeared to be mostly steppe, as it was on the western portion of the Przwalski Region, although detached from the rest of the steppes by the Rosalia sea, and labeled as the Plains of Roanham.

"These maps are not widely available to the public, because Roanamia both is, and is not there."

Moonstruck looked back just in time to see Celestia scowl at the screen.

"The country is likely still there, but most ponies cannot reach it. The mountain range and the lands beyond are completely inaccessible to anypony whom cannot fly, nor use magic. In that way, it may as well not be there."

Moonstruck bit her lip. Something only an alicorn could do, right.

"The closest settlement is a tiny frontier town a mere twenty miles from the southern foothills. That is the closest anypony has come to these mountains in some time, and the residents have not seen anything enter or exit the area since the town was founded some three hundred years ago. Even animals do not attempt to scale the mountains."

The slide changed to reveal a rather lovely shot of massive, snow capped crags that were both dazzling and foreboding. The foothills leading up to the mountains seemed normal enough, but the peaks themselves were steep walls of stone; likely very near vertical and difficult to pass from the ground. Moonstruck suspected the wind was strong, and unpredictable up there as well.

"Nothing, that is until two weeks ago."

The slide changed again. It was taken from a different location, but the jagged peaks were easily recognizable. There, drifting serenely above them, visible through a semi-circular gap in one peak in particular, was a massive zeppelin of a design Moonstruck had never seen before. She suspected nopony else had either.

"We do not know what became of the Broken Lands since the conflict," Celestia continued, "the cataclysm that caused the country to disappear has a memory of sorts; no elder alicorns may approach without the fear of… well, we just don't know. I suspect if I were to come within sight of the mountains my magic may well trigger another cataclysm. Princess Luna may be able to get through the mountains themselves but she had a, ah, different relationship with the event."

Luna didn't flinch, stared at the slide without looking at the ponies whom were all looking questioningly at her.

"Princess Cadance, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Moonstruck are all young enough to pass through these mountains without causing alarm, but Cadances magic is not suited for this kind of journey. Twilight Sparkle, I fear is simply too inexperienced to navigate the situation, and you work best with your friends, who will not be able to pass through the mountains. Which leaves Princess Moonstruck."

"What makes you think I'm suited for it!?" Moonstruck blurted, then ducked her head, pulling her ears back.

Celestia gave her an amused look. "If I recall correctly, your special ability is combat related. You're also a bit of a prankster, good at illusions and sleight of hoof, yes?"

"Ye-yeah." Moonstruck scowled. It wasn't surprising that Celestia knew about the dragon slaying thing, the pranks though….

"And your father was responsible for much of Trots unique use of gems and nodestones in espionage, was he not?"

"He was..." Moonstruck swallowed hard, "and I do know how to set up and use a lot of 'em… though I don't use them to do the one thing."

"What do you do?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Lets just say dragons don't like to venture into Trot anymore." Moonstruck smirked.

"Anyway, back on topic." Celestia interjected. "The zeppelin was certainly interesting; what was found several days later was highly concerning."

She brought the lights up in the room as the door opened slowly. A nurse stepped in, and beckoned a pony to follow. A lean, brown and white pegasus pony with a number of bandaged limbs limped cautiously into the room. She looked around, spotted the alicorns, then threw herself on the ground, shaking like a leaf, and muttering apologies and praises. Moonstruck couldn't place her accent.

Moonstruck got up and moved cautiously around the table as the others craned their necks to see. There was something off about this pony. Something… almost… feral. She was smaller than average for a pegasus, but her wings were much larger; folded, her wrists rested past her withers, and her primaries stretched past her haunches. Unfurled, Moonstruck Suspected, she would have an impressive wingspan – perhaps as large as Celestia, whom was over twice the size of an average pegasus. If she had a cutie mark her wings were covering it. The pony was also very lanky and muscular, with a barrel chest, slim waist, and short mane and tail. Her head was almost more dog-like, with a larger mouth and long canines that were clearly visible due to the grimace she wore.

"It's alright, little one, we mean you no harm." Celestia cooed soothingly as Cadance trotted over and touched her horn to the mares forehead.

The pony squeaked, shuddered, then let out a shaky breath. She climbed to her hooves, but would not look up at them. The common ponies moved in a little closer. Fluttershy stepped out in front of them slightly.

"It's okay, I was a little afraid of the princesses at first too, but they're all very nice."

The strange pegasus looked up at Fluttershy. Seeing her face in profile truly highlighted the differences between the ponies. Fluttershy, like all of the common pony mares, had a round head, short muzzle and large eyes. This pegasus had a triangular, more streamlined head with a longer, squarer muzzle that was more akin to a stallions head, but with a more delicate structure.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, what's your name?" Twilight asked.

The pegasus flinched when Twilight spoke. She bit her lip. "Sarah."

"That's… an odd name. Pretty, I suppose. In a way." Rarity said after an awkward silence.

"What kind of name is Twilight Sparkle?" The pegasus snorted softly, then cringed again. "Forgive me, I… I am not used to friendly unicorns. Much less," she gulped, "alicorns."

Everyone exchanged glances.

"Well, you don't have to worry, everypony's pretty nice 'round these parts!" Applejack beamed. "Where ya from, sugarcube?"

"I am of the Waterfall Castle Clan." Sarah hesitated. "Out of the prying eyes of the Watchers."

"Watchers? Like, bird watchers?" Pinkie Pie scowled.

"You… I have been told that you do not have a godqueen here. Nor watchers who search for you, or catchers that take you down to the valleys to pull flying carriages until you die from exhaustion." Sara said slowly, as if speaking to a small foal.

Everypony took a step back.

"Goodness no!" Twilight Sparkle gasped.

"Yeah, some pegasus ponies pull flying carriages, but that's their job! They get paid for it!" Rainbow Dash added. The others nodded.

Sarah gave them an incredulous look. "So I have been told."

"How did you end up here?" Moonstruck asked.

Sarah flinched, wouldn't look up at her. "I got lost during a raid. The Catchers fell upon our hunting party without warning. We scattered. I flew deep into the mountains to escape." She bit her lip. "I don't know what happened to my family. If they were able to find our hunting party…."

She closed her eyes and hung her head. "I flew for as long as I could. Somehow, eventually I ended up on the other side of the mountains. I don't know how; no one has ever done it before."

She gritted her teeth, baring her unusually long fangs. "We would have left long ago if we could, but the way is always blocked. We would always be sent in circles."

She took a deep breath, then continued. "The airship chased me over the crest of the mountains. I escaped, but at a price." She frowned back at her bandaged wing.

There were a few murmurs of sympathy from the gathered ponies.

"How did the airship get there?" Moonstruck asked, furrowing her brow. "If it's impossible to cross the mountains, how did it find you?"

"I don't know." Sarah shook her head slowly, eyes wide and haunted. "I ended up out there by accident. The mountains are always changing, never the same twice. They… I guess they were close enough to come through too."

"Princess Celestia said the nearest town was twenty miles from the foothills." Applejack furrowed her brow. "Did you crash near the town?"

"No." At this the pony scowled contemplatively. "There was a dragon. He brought me to safety. Dragons are not friendly where I come from."

"Dragons aren't typically friendly here, either." Rarity noted. "Except for Spikey Wikey."

Spike beamed.

Sarah looked up at the little dragon perched on a tall stool by the projector, stared at him for a long moment. Spike waved.

"This is a strange place." She muttered.

"I think your place is stranger." Pinkie Pie quipped.

"If what you say is true, and most of the world is like this," Sarah gestured with her good wing, "you may be right."

Moonstruck scowled and took note of the way Sarah had moved her wing. It was less like a hand, and more like a bird; just a quick flick, opening it very briefly.

"Hey, um, just out of curiosity," Moonstruck opened one wing, rotated the limb forward and up, then wiggled her wing-fingers. "Can you do this?"

Sarah glanced up at her in a sideways manner, then gaped at her wing. "Of course not! How are you doing that!?"

"Huh." Moonstruck stared down at her wing, slowly curled and uncurled the fingers, then folded it back at her flank. Pegasus ponies actually had more bat-like wings, but instead of membranes stretched between the wing fingers, they had specialized feathers. This allowed them to use their wings as hands in some instances, not to mention alter the shape of their wings in ways birds, and bats could never dream of. Sarah seemed to have more birdlike wings.

It meant something. Everything about this pony meant something, but Moonstruck couldn't put her hoof on what. She looked over at Twilight Sparkle, who shrugged helplessly. She was stuck as well. They turned to gaze up at Celestia, whom had remained mostly silent through all of this. She shook her head.

"All we can discern is that magic seems to function differently in Roanamia." Celestia said. "And if the magic that has kept the region separate from the rest of the world is weakening, we need to know."

"What lies beyond the mountains may be a dire threat to all of pony kind." Luna said gravely. "Beyond the injustices that Sarah has told us, there is an ancient evil there that cannot be defeated – even by the Elements of Harmony."

"What will you have us do, Princess?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"You and your friends will remain in Ponyville for now," Celestia inclined her head towards Twilight Sparkle. "Until or unless we know more, I dare not send you too far from home. I believe I will send Miss Sarah with you to finish her recovery in a relaxed setting."

"Ponyville is GREAT for relaxing!" Pinkie Pie chirped, starting to pounce. "There's lots of rivers, and ponds, and forests, and good food, and nice ponies, and the weather's always nice, and -"

"Princess Moonstruck will go to the Broken Mountains, and attempt to enter Roanamia." Celestia cut in before Pinkie Pie could really get going. "What she learns there will decide our next move."

Moonstruck did not sleep well; was disturbed by vague, foreboding dreams of impossibly tall mountains, and shadowy creatures lurking around every corner. She never had any sort of ability to predict the future, but she couldn't help but feel that the dreams were uncomfortably close to being prophetic. She wished her mother was still around; these sorts of things were her territory.

When morning finally came, she dragged herself out of bed for a light breakfast with the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, Princess Cadance, and Sarah before they all trotted over to the train station.

Cadance held court with the common ponies, Moonstruck remained politely to the side. She was glad she'd gotten to meet the six mares; they were a fun bunch. If she'd had more time, she would have happily gone to explore Ponyville with them, but she sensed she needed to get moving as soon as possible.

"Forgive me your highness, but I… I… you are going willingly into my homeland?"

Moonstruck started and looked down; Sarah was crouched a polite distance away, staring at the ground beneath her hooves.

"You really don't have to grovel." Moonstruck said. "I'm probably the least formal of all the alicorns 'round these parts, and even they don't want anyone to grovel."

Sarah grimaced, then slowly stood up. She still held her head low, and would not look directly at Moonstruck.

"F-forgive me. W-without Princess Cadances magic, it is taking all of my courage to speak with you."

"I noticed." Moonstruck sighed. "To answer your question, yeah, I guess I am."

"You are foolish." Sarah said with surprising bluntness.

"Usually." Moonstruck smirked.

Sarah did finally glance up to give her an odd look. The conductor gave the all-aboard a moment later, and the common ponies herded Sarah on to the train, chattering excitedly at Sarah, who looked quite overwhelmed.

"She'll settle in quickly." Cadance noted as the train pulled out of the station. "They're a very good bunch."

"Mmm." Moonstruck grunted.

"Twilight will probably be able to glean a lot of information from her." Cadance added.

"Most likely." Moonstruck agreed, and turned back towards the terminal. "Probably not enough to help me out before I go." She frowned.

"No, probably not." Cadance frowned as well. "Did you get a chance to read what she told the nurses."

"I did. It doesn't sound good in there."

"No, no it does not." Cadance shuddered.

Moonstruck glanced up at the main clock above the train schedule. "

Well, I have a meeting with Celestia in a few minutes."

"Okay, I'll catch you later, then." Cadance took a step back to give Moonstruck enough room to take off.

Moonstruck crouched low, then leapt into the air, beating her wings as hard as she could. She managed to clear the train station, but not the weather vane on top. She cursed under her breath as she righted it with magic before gaining speed and altitude. Oh yes, that was super graceful. One day, she promised herself; one day I'll be able to get airborne without any real effort.

She made her way up to the palace, nodded to the pegasus guards gliding lazy circuits around the restricted airspace directly around the castle. She alighted gracefully on a mid-level balcony she had been informed was an acceptable landing space for a guest such as herself, shook out her mane to fix it a little then trotted inside. Celestia was in her office, going over a few scrolls, it seemed. Moonstruck was surprised that the office strongly resembled the royal offices back home; albeit much neater than her sisters desk generally was. Then again, Starshine liked to micromanage a lot of things, so her stacks of paperwork were much taller, and generally arranged into something of a haphazard city of paper skyscrapers.

"Excellent timing!" Celestia signed the scroll she'd been reading with a flourish, then set it in a small box of similar scrolls. She looked up and smiled. "Care for a game of cards?"

"Sure?" Moonstruck was not expecting that.

"Splendid!" Celestia magicked a plush stool over for Moonstruck to sit on, then pulled a deck of cards out of one of the drawers of her desk. She shuffled them expertly, then dealt as Moonstruck took her seat opposite the elder alicorn.

Moonstruck stared impassively down at her cards, her mind racing. What was Celestia up to? Did she just want to play cards, or was she testing her somehow? And for that matter, should she play to the best of her abilities, or let the most powerful alicorn in the world win a few rounds? Wait, was she even better than Celestia? Sure, she was the best player in Trot, but this was Equestria, and she was playing against an ancient alicorn at the height of her power. She resisted the urge to shake her head and shoved those thoughts aside. Worrying about it wouldn't help, and she'd find out soon enough, anyway.

At first they played in silence. Moonstruck was surprised to loose the first few hands, but she settled into an easy groove once she shook off the last of her nervousness and focused on the cards.

The cards told stories; sometimes they were short and simple; like how the ace of spades gained a slight rip in one corner that was only visible if you were holding it in a particular way; or that the six of diamonds had a printing error on the back so that it was easy to tell when your opponent had it if you knew where to look. Sometimes they were long and complex, like the wrinkled and slightly faded half of a jack of clubs that seemed to have had something spilled on it in the distant past. Players told stories too; not the idle chatter, and rambling that can happen over a card game - no, player stories were all reaction, emotion, and truths carefully or clumsily hidden from the other players, or broadcast to misdirect.

For the most part, Celestia was a good storyteller. She could keep her narrative pretty minimal, a sniff here, or a lazy blink every so often. But sometimes she would crack and twitch an ear in a particular way; or shift a wing, swish her tail as the hand neared it's climax. Over the course of a half an hour, Moonstruck had learned much of Celestias unconscious language. Or so she thought - this could all be a clever ruse, of course; simple misdirection to lull her into a false sense of security. She'd certainly done the same herself countless times.

"Your cutie mark." Celestia said into the silence a short while later. She didn't look up from her cards. "It is unusual."

"Oh?" Moonstruck grunted, startled slightly by the sudden conversation, but disciplined enough not to show it.

"It doesn't seem to have anything to do with your special ability," Celestia drew a card.

"Oh, that." Moonstruck eyed the elder alicorn over the top of her cards. "It still confuses me too, to be honest. My dad seemed to understand what it meant."

"Oh?"

"Call." Moonstruck straightened up, and tried to remember what exactly her father had said so many years ago that seemed to make the most sense.

Celestia smiled faintly and let her cards fall face up. A pair of twos.

Moonstruck smirked and let her cards fall face up. Aces and eights; dead mares hand. Second one in two days. She had never ascribed much to omens, but that couldn't be a good sign.

She glanced back at her cutie mark and frowned. It was a weird one, to be honest. Alicorns usually had something to do with the sky, or an element, or something. Hers was a familiar set of symbols; a black club, in which was a red diamond, which surrounded a black spade, at the center of which was a white heart. The cutie mark was highlighted from behind by a faint star burst of lighter fur.

"Dad used to say I'm a wild card." She said, turning back to Celestia. "That my cutie mark represents my resourcefulness and unpredictability. Although to be honest, my friends can usually predict what I'm gonna do pretty well."

Celestia chuckled softly, then grew more serious. "You don't think that's what it means?"

"I... I don't know." She stared down at her reflection on the polished desktop. "It makes sense, but then again it doesn't. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with how I actually got my cutie mark, and I've been playing cards since I was a foal. And... well, my special ability isn't really something unique to me. Any alicorn can do it. Heck, Rainbow Dash can do most of it, and probably do it better." Moonstruck shrugged uncomfortably.

"And if it really was my unpredictability, I probably would have gotten my cutie mark around the same age as my friends."

Celestia tilted her head slightly to the side. "Ah, yes, I do recall hearing that you were something of a late bloomer."

"I wasn't much younger than Twilight Sparkle is now." Moonstruck said flatly.

"Hmm. Well, alicorns tend to take longer to get their cutie marks, since our power is greater and somewhat tied to the fate of pony kind"

Moonstruck nodded and fiddled with her cards a little, mind racing, feeling more sure of what she was about to say than she was earlier in the morning.

"I... I don't think I'm really cut out for this."

"For what?"

"The quest." Moonstruck sighed.

"Oh?" Celestia calmly raised an eyebrow.

Moonstruck grumbled under her breath and got up, began to pace back and forth. "Well, for one thing, I don't know why I really decided to come. For another, the thing with the dragon? Yeah, I've only really done that twice. TWICE. The first time was just this wild idea I had because I was young and stupid and it was the only thing I could think of. Sure, I practiced and got pretty good at it, and it was useful when another dragon tried to take over a corner of Trot, but I haven't used it since. Seriously, not even once. I haven't needed to."

"I read the reports. Very impressive - and clever." Celestia nodded.

"Yeah, and you know what I've been doing since then? Playing cards. Seriously, I've pretty much just been playing cards. Poker, rummy, blackjack, go-fish, old maid - you name it, I play it. I have one job - one job in the entire queendom, and it's so absurdly specific that I don't have anything to do 99.9% of the time." She stamped a hoof especially hard and tossed her head.

"I was never good at the princess stuff, which is for the best because Starshine would flip her lid if I ever tried to lessen her workload. Acorn's got his own stuff going on, will probably end up trimming everyone's hedges for free 'cause he's crazy like that."

"Two? Am I on two? Oh whatever - this quest is dangerous. Like, really really really dangerous. So dangerous it's asinine to send one pony in - alicorn or not! Even if I was in shape it'd be stupid to go alone."

"Which brings me to three - I AM NOT IN SHAPE! I can barely even get off the ground half the time! How am I supposed to even get over the mountains if I can't even take off!?"

Celestia have her an expectant stare. "Go on."

"Huh?"

"You were going to tell me why you weren't cut out for this."

Moonstruck gaped at her for a few moments. "I just did!"

"Those sounded more like reasons to, go, than not to." Celestia smiled. "You're tenacious and clever, you're bored, you have nothing to do at home, and you need exercise. Although it is exceedingly dangerous, I will give you that one."

Moonstruck felt her jaw hit the floor. After a few seconds she snapped her mouth shut, only to flap it open and closed a few times, trying to find some argument against Celestia's assessment of the situation.

"I... guess... that could be interpreted that way!" She scowled. "You totally let me win, just now. Didn't you?"

Celestia laughed. "I wish! Moonstruck, when you focus, you are impossible to read, and you really are impossible to predict. In fact, after playing cards with you, and from what Cadance has told me, I think you're really quite suited for this."

Moonstruck sat down abruptly. "You had me spend time with Cadance and the Ponyville mares on purpose."

"Yes." Celestia nodded, grinning. "Yes, I did. I knew you'd be too nervous to get an accurate read on you if I were to interview you personally, so I had Cadance observe your interactions with Twilight Sparkle and her friends." She shook her head. "I was never very good at cards; Chess is my game."

"I'm seeing this now." Moonstruck nodded, wide eyed, as Celestia let out a hearty chuckle.

The elder alicorn pulled a few scrolls out of a pile and spread them out on her desk. "I should really brief you properly on your mission."

"That might be helpful." Moonstruck gulped. She stood up and shuffled back over to her stool.

"I am afraid I don't have much more to tell you than what you learned last night, and what Sarah has supplied us. The events leading up to the cataclysm are complex, and... " She frowned, "well, a bit personal."

"Princess Luna wasn't Princess Luna for long afterwords, I assume." Moonstruck said softly, glancing over the scrolls.

"No. No she was not." Celestia said softly. "But that will likely not come into play. The pony you need to worry about is Lucena. She was one of the most powerful alicorns of her day, and, from what Sarah has told us, is still just as twisted - if not more so - than the day Roanamia was lost to us."

On the scroll Celestia indicated was a drawing of an especially tall, lean alicorn mare. It was an official portrait, so she wore a calm, haughty expression, but there was still something kind of off about her; Moonstruck couldn't place what. Beneath her portrait was a detailed depiction of her cutie mark; it was a simple, four pointed star surrounded by a wreath of twinning roses. It seemed... somehow lacking.

"Yes, she has an unusual cutie mark as well." Celestia noted, apparently following Moonstruck's gaze. "We suspect this may have actually been a fake."

"You can fake a cutie mark?" Moonstruck lifted an eyebrow.

"You can. It's actually fairly simple; a low level illusion, or a little make-up will do the trick. Most ponies are not expecting it, so it's really more a matter of misdirection. Luna caught a glimpse of her true mark once; it seemed to be a green eye with a slitted pupil."

"I think I'd hide that too." Moonstruck grunted.

"She is extremely calculating and cunning. She trusts no one, and her special ability is linked to dragons. She can control them, but not indefinitely. If she keeps them under her hold for too long it drains their power. She is power mad, but she was never foolish enough to drain too much of a dragons power - doing so only weakens herself in the long run."

"During the final conflict... or perhaps before, we have never been able to discern exactly when it happened - she managed to bring one of the most powerful dragons of the time under her control. This is partially how she was able to repel every attack on her tower we could mount; and expand her magic shield out to engulf the entire country. Sarah seems to believe that the dragon is still connected to her; but this is unlikely."

"Partially?" Moonstruck asked, intrigued that her ability seemed to naturally counter this Lucenas, in a way.

Celestia frowned. "Lucena was ever mysterious in her ways. No one has ever been able to figure out how she was able to erect such a powerful shield; nor why the land broke around it as it did. Either she discovered some new way to warp space and time, or she managed to tap into an immense power source beyond anything we have encountered before. Possibly both."

"Oh goodie." Moonstruck grumbled, moving a stray piece of paper aside to stare at an ancient map. "Is the shield still there?"

"Not as near as we can tell." Celestia frowned. "The barrier that is left is likely the magical distortion itself, and not a true shield spell, otherwise, I cannot fathom a way for Sarah to have broken through without powerful magic of her own."

Moonstruck nodded. "So, this is what it's like inside the barrier?"

"This was the most current map we have." Celestia nodded. "Lucenas tower lies in the heart of Bridle-Dur, the capitol city of Roanamia. Sarah tells us that Lucena still resides in the tower, and that the city is densely populated by unicorns. You would be wise to avoid it."

"Right." Moonstrucks eyes traveled around the map. "I think I'll try to stick to the mountains, do a little poking around in any outlying villages."

"I would advise against that as well. Lucena will have spies in every village. If you are discovered, it could spell doom for both yourself, and anyone you come in contact with." Celestia shook her head. "You must use the utmost caution, and stay in the wilds as much as possible. If you are discovered, hide, and if you cannot hide, fight. But always, always seek to escape. Any information you bring back is invaluable."

Moonstruck frowned. "What about the dragon?"

Celestia scowled and sifted through some of the papers, finding a crude sketch of a massive, ugly wyrm that was one of the largest ever documented, going by the size scale the artist had provided. "I doubt the dragon will be an issue; Sarah believes he is still in league with Lucena, but this is extremely doubtful. Dragons are not known for their loyalty, and Lucena would not be able to control him for long. It is more likely that Lucena has simply convinced the denizens that the dragon is still a threat."

Moonstruck had an inkling that this was not the case, but kept it to herself. "What else?"

"I fear that is about it. Unicorns will be your biggest threat for they are largely allied with Lucena (willingly or not); pegasus ponies are either scattered in small bands in the mountains or enslaved, and earth ponies are in a similar state, although they likely inhabit the vast plains of Roanham north of Bridle-Dur. It was a desolate place a thousand years ago, and we suspect that has not changed."

"From the sounds of it, pegasus ponies have either lost the knowledge, or ability to walk on clouds and control the weather. We shall know for sure once Sarah has recovered. It is entirely possible that unicorns have gained or lost some abilities as well."

Celestia sighed and stared off into the distance. "If only we had more time..." she shook her head. "The lands outside the Broken Mountains are wild, and untamed. Nopony controls the weather there, and animals tend to themselves. There is another such place nearby that is the same, but I do not have time for you to explore it, and grow accustomed to such conditions. I strongly suspect that the Broken Lands are similarly unregulated."

"I can deal with that, Trots weather is only semi-managed." Moonstruck wrinkled her nose. She was fairly certain that Celestia was talking about the Everfree Forest; a place known for being a strange patch of wild, untamed magic. There were a few such stretches of land here and there; remnants of a bygone era, many suspected.

Ponies hadn't always been around, of course; and even though Celestia had done so for eons, and pegasus ponies had been managing the weather for at least as long, the sun had to have risen on its own at some point. Alicorns were powerful and nearly immortal, but they were not gods, as many believed. Moonstruck had often wondered if the sun was actually supposed to rise on its own, and that, for whatever reason, it was no longer able to do so, which is why Celestia was charged with doing it. Or maybe Celestia didn't raise the sun at all, but pretend to do so for some reason. She was sorely tempted to ask, but sensed that now was not the time.

"Oh that's right, I forgot your storms come in naturally from the ocean." Celestia drifted over to a window, stared out over the castle for a few moments.

"I do wish I could send a whole team. I can, at least send a small party with you on the journey up to the Broken Lands."

"Oh, really?" Moonstruck perked up.

"Yes. Princess Luna has volunteered to be your guide to Stirrup Springs - the frontier town just outside the Broken Mountains." Celestia nodded, then she smirked slightly. "Captain Windwake is also on board to both accompany you to Stirrup Springs, and remain in town to await your return."

Moonstruck blinked back her surprise. "Wow, really? And ha! Windwake didn't hear it from me for once!"

Celestia chuckled and shook her head. "He hasn't been fully briefed yet. How are you at illusory disguises?"

"Pretty good." Moonstruck grunted. "What kind of illusions are we talking? Just visual? Solid? Fully automated dopplegangers?"

"It would be best if you could conceal the fact that you are an alicorn." Celestia scowled. "Three pegasus on a long journey is far less interesting than two alicorns and a pegasus guard on a long journey."

"Gotcha." Moonstruck nodded. She scowled, and mulled over all of the illusion spells she knew. Most of them were fairly simple and relied on sleight of hoof, instead of a straight up projection, but she was fairly certain she could alter her appearance so that she appeared to be a common pegasus. Selecting a more powerful spell, she closed her eyes, and focused all of her energy on a mental image of herself sans horn, and with a shorter stature and smaller wings. The magic washed over her like a gentle wave, and in a few moments, Princess Moonstruck was replaced by an entirely unremarkable gray pegasus.

Celestia dipped her muzzle. "Very nice. I'm sure if anyone knew you they'd recognize you, but you likely won't be recognized where you're going."

"'S what I figured." Moonstruck shrugged, allowing the illusion to dissipate. "So, when are we leaving?"

"Four days from now, the morning after the new moon."

A/N: I didn't write this out with chapters in mind, so the story doesn't really have chapters, for the most part. But I have broken it up more for easier online reading, though some of those chunks can get pretty long.

This was one of the odd spots the canon messed up my fanon here, mostly the alicorns not being born in Equestria thing. Having a bunch of other places with other alicorns circumvented that pretty well, I think. I wish they'd state whether Equestria is the name of the planet, or just the country, or more of a catch-all term for pony controlled nations, 'cause that would explain a lot.

5. Chapter 4

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 4

The days leading up to the new moon were surreal. Moonstruck had a fair amount of reading to do, some survival training, and a refresher course in combat magic. The activity made the hours pass faster, but the downtime seemed to stretch on forever. She was both itching to go, and ready to bolt for home at a moments notice. Princess Celestia had raised some good points, but so had Spring Breeze back home.

She was still unsure if she was the pony for the job. Moments of confidence were scattered; every time she executed a spell perfectly, or displayed superior physical skill at something, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'd be able to pull this off. Every time she goofed up, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this would not end well, and it would probably be better to just go home and stop wasting everyponies time.

It was the emotional roller coaster that was the most tiring. She hardly slept at all the night of the new moon, and was on edge when she gathered with the others in a back courtyard of the palace. No one came to see them off; all goodbyes were made the night before. They were to leave secretly, although Moonstruck didn't understand why, exactly. It wasn't like there were spies lurking around Canterlot. Or at least, she didn't think there were.

She was surprised to see Princess Luna was already wearing her illusion when she ambled wearily into the courtyard. The princess was a shorter, lighter colored pegasus version of herself and she'd altered her cutie mark to a trio of stars. Windwake looked terribly uncomfortable standing near her, even though he stood respectfully at attention.

"Mornin'." Moonstruck grunted. She focused her sleep deprived brain enough to summon up her illusion as well.

Windwake broke his stone faced expression to shake his head. "That is seriously trippy."

"Heh, get used to it." Moonstruck scowled back at her cutie mark. "Think I should do something about this too?"

Luna scowled as well. "You are not known outside of your country so you will likely not need to."

"Yeah, you're probably right." She yawned. "What about code names?"

"Hmm, that may be helpful."

"I can just call you Mooney." Windwake quipped.

"Works for me. Actually, we could call Luna that too." Moonstruck smirked.

Luna smiled faintly. "That we could." She stared up into the sky for a few moments. "You may call me Nightingale."

"Gale for short?" Moonstruck asked.

"I suppose, if the need arises." Luna shrugged. "We should depart, Sister has already raised the sun, and we have a long fly ahead of us."

They did not fly out of the castle; instead wandered back inside and worked their way into a tour group that was on its way out. From there, they made their way out into the city, and over to a landing field where common pegasus generally came and went.

"I still don't understand why we couldn't take the train at least part way." Moonstruck grumbled as they waited in line to take off.

"Because the closest we could get would be Griffonstone Station, and we are trying to avoid as many ponies as possible." Luna muttered.

Moonstruck wanted to argue that they weren't avoiding very many ponies at the moment, but decided against it. They made it through the que and out onto the field in a reasonable amount of time, ultimately taking off without any trouble. Luna took the lead, Windwake and Moonstruck settled into escort positions behind and to either side of her. Luna set a brisk pace, Moonstruck was dismayed to discover. She frequently found herself falling behind, despite drafting off of the elder alicorn's wake. It certainly made any conversation difficult - which seemed to be how Luna preferred it.

Hours stretched on, Equestria rolled gently by beneath them, and Luna occasionally swerved off course to avoid scheduled inclimate weather. Around noon, she reluctantly led them down to a grassy meadow for a break. Moonstruck had the distinct impression that the elder alicorn had intended to fly until nightfall, and was somewhat dissatisfied with her lackluster flying abilities.

"Your flying speed and endurance will have increased greatly by the time we get there." Luna noted, confirming Moonstrucks suspicions.

"Whoo, flying the long haul again so soon is really taking its' toll." Windwake chuckled, pulling a sandwich out of one of his saddle bags and plopping down in the grass. "Plus, I think I'm still sore from the flight in to Canterlot."

"I thought you said you'd all be okay..." Moonstruck eyed him suspiciously then took a big gulp of water from her canteen.

"Yeah, we were fine. Just sore. Flying that fast for that long is pretty hard though." Windwake said around a mouth full of dandelion and black bean patty sandwich.

Moonstruck magicked her own sandwich out of one of her saddlebags and continued to eye him suspiciously.

"I told you, I'm fine!" Windwake barked, scowling back.

"Should you even be here? It's been less than a week since you and the others made a three day trip pretty much overnight." Moonstruck said flatly.

"YES. Sheesh! I know my limits, Mooney, and I haven't even begun to hit them yet." Windwake snarled.

"You have a bad habit of pushing yourself too hard, you know." Moonstruck noted.

"This coming from someone who never pushes herself enough!" Windwake snapped.

Moonstruck sputtered. "I push myself precisely as much as I need to! No more, no less!"

Luna pensively ate her sandwich, watched them bicker with eyebrows upraised and eyes half lidded. She was mildly amazed that they somehow managed to eat their lunches in a fairly timely manner in the midst of their argument.

"We must keep moving." She said firmly once the others had eaten, and had an extra fifteen minutes to digest a little. "We need to travel as far as we can every day to reach the Broken Lands by spring."

"Um, isn't it spring now?" Moonstruck scowled as she tried to fit everything back into her saddle bags.

"Here, yes. But in the northern lands winter still holds sway, and the weather is not regulated." Luna inclined her head to the north. "At this pace, we should arrive after the worst of the storms have passed."

"Gotcha." Moonstruck nodded.

They cleaned up their impromptu picnic, then took to the air once again; Windwake in the lead this time to give Luna a break. Moonstruck dreaded her turn in the lead but did her best not to think about it. Instead, she stared down at the land, and oddball low cloud beneath them; taking note of their route. She knew she wouldn't be by herself when she came back (if she came back), but she liked knowing the way all the same.

They stopped again at sunset. They would not, Moonstruck was glad to discover, fly through the night. Dinner conversation was light and pleasant, although they did not sing songs or tell ghost stories, which is what usually happened when Moonstruck and her friends went camping. Windwake was typically the teller of scary stories, but he was either maintaining his professionalism in the presence of Princess Luna, or too tired to cook up a good one. Moonstruck knew the former was a contributing factor, but the latter was the main culprit. She was exhausted herself, so she didn't bring it up.

Unlike the previous two nights, sleep was a very easy state to attain. Waking up was the hard part. Stiff part, more accurately. She had suspected she'd be sore in the morning after a full day of flying, she hadn't expected to be nearly immobile. She managed to get out of bed, but only enough to slide slowly into a painful, awkward sprawl.

"Hey, c'mon, breakfast is ready." Windwake mumbled as he poked his head into her tent. Moonstruck stared up at him, about ready to burst into tears. He stared blearily down at her.

"Um... having issues?"

"Maybe I'm in worse shape than I thought..." Moonstruck grimaced, gathered up all of her strength (and legs), and climbed shakily to her hooves, then limped sorely past the bemused pegasus.

"Terrible shape, if your legs are sore too!" He quipped.

"Hey, it takes a lot of muscle to keep a streamlined shape for that long!" Moonstruck grunted.

"I suppose." He smirked, and ambled after her.

Luna frowned at her as she limped into view. "You will be able to fly, I hope?"

"Yeah, yeah, just gimme a few minutes to stretch." Moonstruck grunted. She took a sip of water, then walked in circles for a few minutes, the stiffness in her muscles giving way slowly, and reluctantly. Breakfast was a tedious affair, then she broke down and went for a quick jog around the campsite. Luna was looking rather irate by the time Moonstruck felt she was limber enough to take wing without killing herself.

The elder alicorn wasted no time in getting aloft, taking the lead again, and setting a brisk pace. Moonstruck lagged behind more so than yesterday, but not terribly far back. She almost wished they'd speed up so that she could fall so far behind that she might as well just go home. Windwake was no more forgiving when he took the lead later in the day.

The morning of the fourth day they ran into a snag. When Moonstruck emerged wearily from her tent - before the others, for once - she could not help but notice that it was overcast, and that the clouds were moving along at a concerning speed. It smelled of rain. She blinked a few times, then pulled a small booklet out of one of her bags. It had the weather schedule for the next month for all of Equestria. Unless they were off course, there wasn't a storm scheduled for this area today. She scowled and checked the dates for the previous few days; occasionally the pegasus ponies missed a storm, and would re-schedule it last minute. Her scowl deepened as she didn't see any mention of rain for at least two weeks prior.

"This is unexpected." Luna murmured as she exited her tent, looking just about ready to fly.

Moonstruck shrugged and magicked the booklet over so that Luna could inspect it herself. The elder alicorn scowled as well. The wind picked up at their altitude just then, rustling manes and tents, and kicking up leaves. Windwake poked his head out of his tent and stared blankly up at the sky.

"You two eat and break camp, I will go and find out what is going on." Luna crouched, fanned her wings, then sprang lightly into the air.

Moonstruck and Windwake did just that, and were about done packing everything but Lunas breakfast into their saddle bags by the time the elder alicorn landed in an irate huff.

"It seems a storm system grew out of control, and it's too big for the local weather ponies to disperse, so they have herded it here to rain itself out." She grunted, sitting down grumpily. She used her telekenisis to pick up her breakfast and float it to her.

"Ugh, I hate when that happens." Windwake wrinkled his nose. "One time the weather pony interns cooked up a hurricane by accident, and it took every pegasus in the queendom to move it over an unpopulated area."

"Oh yeah, I remember that." Moonstruck screwed her face up into a scowl. "I think we only managed to wrestle it over the foothills outside Trot City. Still downed a few trees all over the place though."

"And knocked over some old barns." Windwake added.

"You helped?" Luna lifted a brow and inclined her snout towards Moonstruck.

"Of course. I do use my wings sometimes." Moonstruck snorted, then she scowled. "That was a while ago though."

"So, what's the plan?" Windwake asked, eyeing the clouds. "The wind isn't strong enough to pose a problem yet, if we fly at a lower altitude."

"The weather ponies plan to start the storm in an hour, otherwise it may gain strength on its own and swing back towards the village." Luna said, daintily wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"We will fly as far as we can in that time, then continue on hoof."

"In the rain?" Moonstruck groaned. She didn't typically mind rain, considering it rained nine months of the year in Trot, but she was still sore. Rain, stiff muscles and sore joints did not mix.

"Yes. The storm is simply too large to fly around, and too dangerous to try to pass through to fly above it." Luna said flatly. "We also cannot remain here and simply wait it out." She scowled at Moonstruck darkly.

Moonstruck huffed and looked away, pulled her ears back slightly. "Guess it isn't just going to be a cloud burst, then."

Luna rolled her eyes, then finished her meal. They took off a few minutes later, flying at a brutal pace. Moonstruck lagged behind, huffing and puffing and seriously considering just teleporting to keep pace. Although teleporting while in motion (mid-air, to boot), was difficult, she might be able to do it in short jumps. Line of sight wasn't a problem, it was a matter of math. Without an easy visual reference, she'd have to set up a virtual 3D grid, calculate out coordinates, and adjust those coordinates while she was flying and... it was really too much trouble. And math. Lots of math. She knew of a trick that would more or less allow her to cheat by giving herself a pair of visual reference points to teleport to and from, but it really only worked if she started out from a walk, or a leisurely trot - not flying at the equivalent of a gallop. She could - she supposed - use Windwake as a sort of anchor point; maybe attach a glowing spark a short ways behind him so that she just had to keep track of her own location. But if he had to stop suddenly, or changed direction abruptly, it could lead to a mid-air crash, or possibly worse. It generally wasn't recommended to teleport into a space something was already occupying - much less someone.

Thankfully the winds started to pick up about a half an hour into their race against the storm, which forced the three of them to slow and close in to a tighter formation. Shortly after that, the winds were too unpredictable to kite along, so they landed early.

They did not bother with their rain gear - the wind was so strong that it made it pointless unless they had a full suit - and none of them had thought to bring something more form fitting that would have offered a decent amount of protection. After a few minutes in the howling wind and driving rain, Moonstruck was quite convinced that they should have waited the storm out. She suspected that Luna and Windwake were thinking the same thing, although neither seemed willing to admit it. Moonstruck quietly wondered how long it would take for one of them to suggest finding shelter to wait out the rest of the storm.

For hours they slogged along the muddy roadway, passing the occasional campsite where other travelers had done the sensible thing and stopped when the weather turned ugly. Moonstruck would sigh dramatically and eye the camps enviously whenever they passed. If the others heard her, they didn't comment. She was fairly certain they couldn't hear her over the storm.

Lightning flashed across the sky above them, thunder hot on its heels. The trio froze, staring upwards in trepidation, fur and manes standing on end. She could practically taste the electricity in the air. Lightening couldn't cause serious harm to a pegasus (and by extension, an alicorn), but it was still far from a pleasant experience to be struck by it.

"Is it just me, or was that too close!?" Moonstruck shouted over the din of the storm.

"I vote for taking cover!" Windwake barked.

Luna scowled, but nodded. They dashed along the winding road, down to a broad open meadow away from the tallest trees, and hopefully away from things that might attract lightning. Choosing a natural low spot in the knee-high grass, Moonstruck reared up on her hind legs, spun in a complete circle to make sure they were alone in the meadow, then used her telekenisis to hastily unpack her tent and set it up. Luna gave her a sharp look, but darted inside as lightning struck a tree in the near distance.

Once they were all in the tent; Moonstruck closed the front flap, then sat down. They sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the storm, and watching water drip from their forelocks.

"Guess we should have - "

"Don't." Luna warned, throwing her a sharp look.

"What?" Moonstruck scowled. "It's only sensible to wait out a violent storm."

"I wouldn't have a problem with it, if we weren't behind schedule two days." Luna said curtly. "I am aware that you are not in peak physical condition, but you're slowing us down more than anticipated."

Moonstruck pulled her ears back as Windwake glanced back and forth between the two in trepidation. She'd been wondering when this would happen.

"I'm flying as fast as I can." She said as calmly as she could.

"I know." Luna growled, shifting her gaze to the side and letting out an irate sigh. "Perhaps we should have delayed our departure from Canterlot so that you could better prepare yourself for the journey."

"Probably would have been better if I didn't go at all." Moonstruck muttered under her breath.

The storm finally tapered off shortly before sunset, but the three of them were too tired to attempt to fly any further that day. Morning brought cheery sunshine and scattered clouds, allowing them to hurry on their way. Moonstruck put more effort into keeping up with the others, but she was no better at it than the day before. In fact, she was worse - a chilly night and already sore muscles were sapping her strength.

Two more days of flying took them past Manehattan (the glow of which Moonstruck could see on the early evening horizon), and up along the eastern coast, past the eastern spar of the Crystal Mountains, and across the Trottingham Straight. From there they skirted the southern edge of the BugBear Mountains, then strayed into griffon territory for a day and a half as they passed through a great rift valley in the mountains that ran from the frozen north clear down past Griffonstone. The landscape below turned from verdant forest, to chaparral until finally empty, gently rolling plains of lush green grass. They stopped for the night a days flight from Stirrup Springs and quickly set up camp as an entirely unscheduled storm rolled in from the Broken Mountains to the north.

"I hadn't expected the magical influence to reach this far." Luna mused as they ate their dinner beneath a tarp they'd stretched between the tents. The wind was not so strong to blow the tarp away, but it was raining steadily. "The weather here is entirely unpredictable."

"Does Stirrup Springs have weather ponies?" Windwake asked.

"Only a pair of pegasus to keep the worst of the storms from hitting the town itself, and occasionally to whip up small rain clouds for their crops." Luna shook her head. "There is not much they can do, I am afraid."

"So... does that mean there's less magic here, or more?" Moonstruck asked.

Luna blinked a few times then eyed her curiously. "I don't understand the question."

"Well..." Moonstruck sat up a little straighter. "I was thinking about the places that seem to, well, take care of themselves. Like the Everfree Forest near Ponyville. It doesn't NEED ponies to manage it, everything happens on its own. So that would indicate that there's either an excess of magic there, or an absence of it." She waved a hoof around vaguely.

"Most animals can get along without magic, or any help from ponies, so one would assume that there are entire ecosystems that can function without it."

Luna's expression was unreadable. "Magic works normally in the Everfree Forest. In fact, there are many magical creatures found only in those woods."

"Hmm."

"We do not know how it functions on its own." Luna added. "Admittedly few have studied the phenomenon."

"Guess I'll get to find out." Moonstruck muttered, staring past Lunas shoulder to the mountains towering in the near distance. She knew they were over a days flight away, but they seemed incredibly close, and imposing; a nearly solid wall of rock jutting thousands of feet above the gently rolling steppes. She knew it probably wasn't solid at all, that it was probably just a trick of the light, but it looked more like a wall than a range of mountains.

"I wonder if magic works properly there."

"This we do not know. Conditions are harsh both physically and thaumically in the mountains." Luna said, then took a sip of tea. "Pegasus ponies cannot navigate the air currents at any altitude; earth ponies cannot climb the mountains for there are no passes that they can access, and unicorn ponies magic is unreliable. Additionally everyone is sent in circles, as if the mountains themselves are constantly changing."

She paused again, wrinkling her nose. "Curiously, many a pony has gotten lost entering the mountains, but upon deciding to turn back, they are able to return to the plains with little difficulty."

"Wait, if it's that difficult, why are you even trying to get in? And why send Moonstruck, of all ponies?" Windwake asked, scowling.

"I believe that is where you're supposed to say 'no offense'." Moonstruck said daintily into her tea cup.

"Face it Mooney, you're not the hardcore outdoorsy type." Windwake gestured to the distant mountains, "this sounds like a job for a team of survivalists."

"Most of what we know is because such specialists have done their best to cross the mountains." Luna said. "And we are sending Princess Moonstruck because, as an alicorn, she has more options to her than a pegasus, unicorn or earth pony alone. Additionally..." she worked her jaw around a little, "my sister feels she is sufficiently clever to come up with novel and effective solutions to the many problems she will face."

Windwake let out a contemplative grunt as Moonstruck absorbed all of that. Luna didn't seem convinced, but Celestia felt she was sufficiently clever?

"I suppose she is that." Windwake agreed before Moonstruck could say anything. "If there's a way to do something with little to no effort, Mooney will figure it out."

It was Lunas turn to grunt contemplatively, as Moonstruck screwed her face up into a scowl.

"I suppose that is rather clever," Luna agreed. "Work smarter, not harder. That my serve her well in the mountains, provided she can remain motivated."

"Yep."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended or not by all of this." Moonstruck muttered.

Windwake simply reached over with a wing and patted her on the top of the head.

6. Chapter 5

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 5

There was a fine layer of frost at daybreak, and a thick blanket of fog. It was too dangerous to fly just yet, so they set off on hoof, taking to a nearby road at a brisk trot. The fog didn't lift for some hours, but they were able to cover enough ground anyway to make it to Stirrup Springs by nightfall. It was the first village Moonstruck had gotten to land in on their entire journey, she was surprised how much of a thrill it was to realize she'd be sleeping in a real bed, and eating hot food for a few nights while they made final preparations for her departure.

They landed just before sunset to no fanfare, although there were more than a few curious onlookers; it seemed Stirrup Springs didn't receive many visitors. Moonstruck was somewhat acquainted with arriving in tiny outpost towns, so she adopted her most casual saunter, ignored the onlookers, and ambled towards the nearest inn. Or, tried to, Luna muttered that they needed to meet with the mayor at once, so town hall was to be their first destination. A long bath and dinner would have to wait.

It became clear, as they made their way along the largest (and practically only) road in town, that most of the curious onlookers were watching Luna and Windwake. Moonstruck smirked as the reason became clear.

"You ponies need to be more casual."

"Pardon?" Windwake glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Yeah, L- Nightingale there looks like she's strutting her stuff for a fashion show, and you look like you're marching in a parade."

The others looked down at their legs, then back at Moonstruck, then around at the various ponies watching them with expressions ranging from bored interest, to intense curiosity, to outright suspicion. They exchanged glances, then slowed down, moving far less purposefully. Of course, by this point the damage was done, and the sudden shift in demeanor was even more interesting to the watching ponies. Moonstruck rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself.

She'd long mastered the art of blending in - even when she wasn't wearing an illusion to hide her horn (and/or wings) - which she had never even thought of before this trip. Trot was so small that everyone knew her anyway, so they really didn't care if she wandered into town - which she did fairly often for a while. There'd been an article in a magazine documenting the best ice cream parlors of Trot, and she, Breezy and Patch had gone on an impromptu tour of the queendom to sample them all over the course of a summer.

She frowned slightly as she wondered what her friends were doing back home. Probably the same old stuff, just without her around to let them mooch from the castle kitchens or get them into VIP events. They hadn't made any arrangements for them to continue the charity poker matches, now that she thought about it. She wondered if they'd decided to do it anyway – Breezy and Patch were competent enough players to keep that up for quite a while - even without her celebrity gimmick.

"Ah, this should be it." Luna said, gesturing to a modestly sized, and brightly lit two story building - one of the few multi-level buildings in town. They trotted up the steps, and through the front door to see a bored looking secretary behind a worn desk.

She bolted upright when they walked in. "V-vistors! Ah! Welcome to Stirrup Springs! I have plenty of brochures here of the local attractions, including the historic Saddleback Inn, the haunted mineshaft, the apple orchards and - "

"That will not be necessary, we have an appointment with Mayor Tumbleweed." Luna said curtly, dipping her head slightly.

The secretary froze. "Oh, uh... well it's a little late in the day, the Mayor will be heading home soon..." she said as she rifled through the contents of her desk and glanced up at a calendar. "Actually, I am unaware of any out-of-towners meeting with the mayor - "

"I'm afraid we never set an exact date, just a timeframe, which we are nearly at the end of," Luna said, "just inform him that the party from Canterlot is here."

"Canterlot!?" The secretary looked up in surprise. At that moment, Luna let her illusion fall from her visage. She held her head up high and gave the secretary a haughty look. Moonstruck shrugged and dropped her illusion as well, but she merely shifted her weight to give one back leg a rest. Windwake did a double take then came to attention, flaring his wings dramatically.

"I-I-I... P-Princess Luna! And P-Princess... Um, I'm afraid I don't - forgive me but I have never -"

"It's fine, just go tell the mayor we're here." Moonstruck said, waving a hoof vaguely before Luna could do anything irritatingly formal. The elder alicorn threw her a sharp look but did not comment.

The secretary nodded then scurried out of the room and down a short hall. There was the sound of a door being flung open, then a brief, hushed, excited conversation. The secretary reappeared a few moments later in a clatter of hooves.

"R-right this way, your highnesses!"

She led them to the mayors office, bowed nervously, then left. Mayor Tumbleweed - an overweight middle aged stallion whom strongly resembled the secretary - stood behind his desk, gaping at them for a few moments before he shook himself and sat down.

"Oh my - forgive me, I half thought the missive I received from Canterlot was some sort of joke. I-it's an honor to have you all here!"

"Thank you." Luna dipped her head. "I trust you have been keeping an eye on the Broken Mountains as we requested."

"Indeed we have - and please sit! You must be weary from your journey! I'll have my niece put the kettle on for tea..." He scurried to the door to stage whisper a request for tea to his secretary/niece, as the alicorns made themselves comfortable. Windwake remained at attention near the door.

"We've always kept an eye on the mountains - nothing's ever come out of there before this, but that in itself is pretty unsettling. We've kept double watch of it since that poor pegasus was found, and the airship was spotted." The mayor said as he made his way back around to his desk.

"When we got your package we knew something serious could be up, so we've set up a few observation points as close to the foothills as we dare." He produced a small stack of folders from a desk drawer and slid them to the alicorns. Luna and Moonstruck each used their magic to pick up a folder and flip it open.

"Oh my."

"Yes?" Moonstruck peeked over the top of her chosen folder.

"I - forgive me, we only have one family of unicorns here, so magic is something of a spectacle." Tumbleweed laughed nervously.

"Ah."

He cleared his throat and lightly tapped a hoof on his desk. "Anyway, the foothills have been quiet as near as we can tell - and unfortunately it is difficult to tell it's so confusing in those parts - but there's been some activity over the crest of the mountains, which is visible from here with telescopes. Mostly the zeppelin coming and going."

Luna and Moonstruck nodded absently, their noses buried in their respective dossiers, eyes scouring over various photo's of the airship in question. Moonstruck couldn't help but notice that there was an odd sort of distortion to the photo's, as if the airship was passing in front of a warped mirror, or behind something multifaceted.

"These photo's are - "

"Yes, we know they're distorted. That is a strange effect of the mountains, I'm afraid." Mayor Tumbleweed frowned. "There was an incident where the airship was clearly visible for several hours, but we were unable to spot it at all from the foothills - even though the view of the peaks it was floating near was at such an angle that the airship should have been clearly visible."

"This is not entirely unexpected." Luna grumbled, flipping through another folder. "The mountains can distort both time and space, it is entirely possible that you were actually seeing several reflections of the airship over several days. Or hours."

Moonstruck blinked a few times then pulled all of the photo's from her folder out to float them in such a way that she could look at them all at once. Then she did the same for photo's from another folder, then another. Luna added her own stash, and soon the room was filled with floating photographs, which the alicorns and the mayor walked among, examining each one carefully.

"This is all the same thing." Moonstruck said after a few minutes.

"The airship, yes." Tumbleweed said slowly, "As near as we can tell there's only the one."

"No no, sorry, I mean the same incident." Moonstruck highlighted a dozen of the photo's by making them glow blue. "See these, the time stamp says they're all from different days, but they're all of the same moment."

"These are the same as well," Luna said, highlighting a second set in bright green, "just a different moment."

"When was the most recent photo taken?" Moonstruck asked.

"Two weeks ago Tuesday." The mayor said, "It, uh... is that one." He pointed to a photo they hadn't highlighted. "We haven't seen the airship since."

Moonstruck and Luna exchanged glances, then started rapidly sorting through the photographs. Once sorted, they rearranged them them in the room, sending the photos in a dizzying dance to find their places, occasionally discussing which one came in what order. After a few minutes, they had arranged the pictures in chronological order - not in the order in which they were taken, but in the order that the incident actually occurred, creating a very clear time line.

"Holy oats..." Windwake muttered, breaking his stoic silence as the alicorns stood back to inspect their work. "It's like a comic book or - no a whatchamacallit for a movie."

"Storyboard." Moonstruck said absently, flicking her eyes over the line of action. The airship appeared over the crest of the mountains, heading towards town, pivots, appears to fire something at an unseen object, loiters in the area for a short while, then turns and leaves. Each action had a dozen photo's, all taken on different dates, from different angles, with varying levels of distortion, all of which reminded her of images being reflected in mirrors... many mirrors, some of which were warped or broken.

"These are echo's." Luna said softly.

"Yeah. I bet they're firing at Sarah here." Moonstruck highlighted the block of photo's in question. "And they loose her over the crest of the mountains - which they can't cross, so they hang around for a while."

"Yes. But they ultimately have to turn back." Luna nodded, highlighting another block of photo's.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow." Tumbleweed said meekly.

"Basically, what you've been seeing the past few weeks have been the same incident being replayed over and over." Moonstruck said matter-of-factly.

"Er..."

"As I said, the mountains displace time and space. The actual incident..." Luna furrowed her brow, "... to be honest, we do not know when the incident occurred in the mountains themselves, however, for the outside world, young Sarah was found roughly a month and a half ago. What you have been seeing have been echo's of the incident bouncing around all of the distorted magic of the Broken Mountains."

"I see..." The mayor said "sort of like when you use a bunch of mirrors to reflect sunlight down into a mineshaft?"

"Yes, precisely, but if the time it takes for the light to bounce is varied, and sporadic." Luna nodded.

"And sometimes it doesn't show up at all, even though it's sunny out." Moonstruck added.

"I... think I see." The mayor furrowed his brow. "So... what does that mean for us?"

"I do not know yet." Luna frowned. "It does clearly illustrate how difficult these mountains will be to pass, however. If something that only took a brief amount of time is still essentially happening in them..."

Moonstruck grimaced. "Oh goodie."

"Ah, yes, you're the one who's going to try to cross the mountains." Tumbleweed chuckled nervously. "Princess Moonstruck, is it?"

"Yep. All the way from the Queendom of Trot; running a fools errand for Princess Celestia and the good of ponykind." Moonstruck let loose an off kilter grin.

The mayor burst out laughing, then quickly controlled himself. "Sorry."

"No, no! That was the reaction I was going for!" Moonstruck chuckled.

The secretary appeared with the tea then, and nearly tripped over herself when she saw all of the floating photographs. Luna and Moonstruck quickly discerned that the casual display of magic was a bit much for the locals, then set about organizing the photo's and storing them in order in various folders.

"Do you have other copies of these photographs?" Luna asked as Moonstruck sipped her tea, and jotted down numbers on the backs of a batch of photo's.

"We have the negatives."

"Good, I would like to send these to Canterlot first thing in the morning."

"Er, the mail coach won't be here for another day, I'm afraid, but you may be able to talk a pegasus into flying down to Prariedog Junction to send it from there."

"How long will that take?"

The mayor scrunched his snout up and stared into space for a few moments. "The weather ponies don't think the fog will be so thick tomorrow morning, so a pony could get outta here by 9am, thereabouts. It takes about three hours to get to Prariedog Junction on a good day."

Luna scowled but nodded. "It will do. I suppose it will take me a little time to put my report together."

Moonstruck glanced over. "Do I have to send one too?"

"No. You need only report in when you get back."

"If I get back." Moonstruck muttered.

They finished up their business at the mayors office, then donned their illusions and set off for their inn. Or, the inn, rather. There was only one. And it had more than a few rooms available. They spoke little over dinner, then retreated to their respective rooms. Moonstruck happily spent a good long time soaking in the modest claw-foot bath tub in her rooms en suite bathroom, and was mildly disgusted by the color of the water when she finally climbed out.

She was surprised to wake well after sun-up the next day; she'd half expected Windwake to wake her up at dawn to keep her on a travelers schedule. It was possible that he'd tried, but being back in a real bed might have reactivated her ability to sleep through a hurricane. She noticed a note near her door as she slid out of bed. Yawning, she shuffled over to read it where it rested.

Princess Luna says we can take a day off to rest before we start runnin' around to get your gear in order. Don't go outside without your disguise, and tell no one of the mission. In fact, don't even discuss it with us in public. If you read this before noon, I'll be over visiting the weather ponies. After that, I dunno.

- Windwake

Moonstruck blinked a few times, threw a glance up at the clock, then gave her bed a long appraising stare. She shifted her gaze to the cheery sunlight filtering past the heavy curtains and scowled. She was torn; on the one hoof, these next few days were likely to be the last of civilization for a while and she'd be wise to take advantage of it; sleep, sample the local cuisine, have her mane and tail cut, maybe get her hooves done. On the other hoof, these next few days were likely to be the last of civilization for a while, and she'd be wise not to get used to it.

"Choices, choices," she muttered, deciding that she was hungry enough to stay awake for the time being. She ran a brush through her perpetually messy mane and tail, summoned up her illusion, threw a few bits into her pouch, then wandered out of her room in search of breakfast. It was not terribly late in the morning so this was not difficult. Soon she found herself on the dusty streets of Stirrup Springs, wandering aimlessly, occasionally ducking into curious looking shops. There weren't many; a few antiques shops and a couple of used book stores, and a cafe that specialized in some local cuisine that didn't sound particularly appealing to her.

Eventually she wandered into a museum, where she spent a bland thirty minutes learning about the history of Stirrup Springs. Apparently it started as a crystal mining town, but the vein of crystals from the Broken Mountains are few and scattered, and the bulk of the easily accessible deposits were mined out over a hundred years ago. What was left were of exceptional quality, but of so little quantity that Moonstruck was surprised anyone even bothered to search for them at all anymore - especially since the mayor mentioned that there was only one family of unicorns living in town. Unicorns generally had an easier time finding crystals, and extracting them from the rock, for that matter. She wondered if they were the last unicorn family to leave; all of the others likely left when the mines dried up long ago.

She was on her way out of the main exhibit, heading towards a geological survey, when she happened to read a snippet of a placard out of the corner of her eye. She paused, mid step and turned her head to read it carefully.

After the main mines close to town failed to turn up viable crystals, prospectors ventured into the foothills where they achieved minor success; establishing three deep mines that turned out crystals of exceptional quality. Alas, the mines were only active for ten years, as the strange, magical disturbance that has kept ponies from entering the Broken Mountains for the last 900 years began to effect the outer foothills as well. The magic seeped into the deepest shafts first, and slowly worked its way up and out. The last outpost was abandoned after an especially violent thunderstorm, and no pony has been able to approach it since. In fact, it can no longer be located at all, however it is visible via high powered telescope, such as the one we have on the roof.

Moonstruck stared at the large, detailed map next to the placard and noted the location of the last outpost. It was just twenty five miles from here, atop a tallish hill. She had been under the impression that aside from a few determined cartographers, and some foolhardy adventurers, nopony had set hoof in the foothills since the cataclysm. But if this was to be believed, ponies had been able to wander in a short ways until a century ago. They'd even been able to stick around long enough to mine. At least, until the magical distortion started kicking them out.

She stared into space for a few moments, her mind reeling. Then she hurried over to the geological history of the region. Everything matched up with what Princess Celestia had told her except for one, tiny detail: the magical field hadn't always extended as far outside the mountains as it did now. In fact, much of the foothills had been explored to varying degrees. None of the maps were of use now, as things were constantly changing, but at one point, ponies had even considered starting a settlement out there.

The very last exhibit was of the local weather; and it was as curious as the geological information. It seemed that the weather here had always been somewhat unpredictable, but it wasn't until the magical distortion reached further from the mountains that it became nigh uncontrollable.

Moonstruck made her way up to the roof, glad to see that there was indeed a high powered telescope; it was not currently being used, and it only cost a bit for a couple of minutes of long range sight seeing. She read over the various landmarks, and how to find them, popped a coin in the coin slot on the side of the telescope, and reared up on her hind legs to peer inside. She pivoted the telescope to point north west, fiddled with the focus, and pressed her lips into a thin line as the old outpost came into view. It was a small tower, like a windmill but without the, well, windmill.

It didn't look like it had sat empty for a hundred years; it looked absolutely pristine, she could even see well pruned rose bushes around the outside of the tower. Those should be overgrown at the very least. She wondered if she'd see somepony out there, if she watched long enough. If the magic was distorting time the way she and Luna thought it was, it was a distinct possibility. One would assume somepony would have noticed something like that though. She pivoted the telescope again to take a look at some of the more interesting rock formations, up to the peaks, then back to the outpost. Still nopony over there. Everything abruptly went black.

Her time was up. She blinked a few times and pulled her head back, tempted to shove another coin in there and just watch the outpost for a while to see if anything interesting happened. She shook her head and dropped back down to all fours. There was no telling what moment in time she was looking at over there; it could be stuck on a time shortly after the outpost was abandoned for all she knew. Instead, she went back down stairs. She bought a book from the gift shop that went into the more ancient history of the region in greater detail. It was not a thick book - which was both good and bad. Good because she had little time to read it, bad because there was so little information.

"Oh, you're up!"

Moonstruck whipped her head around as Windwake stopped a short distance away.

"Figured you'd still be asleep."

"I got hungry." She shrugged, nearly dropping her book which was tucked under one wing. "Been playing tourist a bit."

"Me too. The haunted mine's kinda cool." Windwake said, joining her on the boardwalk. They started in the general direction of the inn."And the weather ponies are pretty stressed. They can't do much about the weather, but they still try."

"Ended up checking out some of the local history." Moonstruck said, then filled him in on what she'd learned. She left out much of her speculation; secrecy aside, Windwake was probably thinking the same things she was.

"That's fascinating." Windwake said, then ducked his head closer to hers. "Um, we're not supposed to..."

"It's all in the museum, it isn't exactly a secret." She whispered back, rolling her eyes.

"Er... right."

Much of the day was spent hunting around for more juicy bits of history that Princess Celestia either neglected to mention, or simply didn't know about; but they didn't turn up anything further. The book Moonstruck bought seemed to have the most information, but it mostly discussed the mines in the foothills, and the various outposts in more detail, only mentioning the strange magic at play in passing, as if it wasn't of any particular importance. In fact, it seemed the townsponies seemed entirely unaware that their town was in danger of being swallowed up by the mountains influence!

It made her wonder if the lone family of unicorns was aware of the situation; she'd been able to feel the magical disturbance since they'd arrived - surely the local unicorns had. Well, unless they were completely used to it and simply considered it part of the normal magical background noise. She wished she could ask them about it, but she hadn't seen any unicorns all day, and it would be an awkward question even if she did bump into one, seeing as how she was disguised as a pegasus at the moment.

Princess Luna did not return until shortly before dinner, and seemed in a rather foul mood. Moonstruck waited until tummies were full, and blood sugar levels were restored to unload everything she'd dug up.

"I'm surprised you did all of this research today." Luna grunted after flipping through the book Moonstruck had bought, and a few pamphlets that she and Windwake had collected over the course of the day. They were camped out in Lunas room for the time being; sipping tea, and collecting thoughts.

Moonstruck shrugged. "I got bored and happened to wander into the museum. Plus, there just isn't that much. Stirrup Springs is kinda boring." She wrinkled her nose.

"The weather ponies say that it's been more and more difficult to manage the weather." Windwake added. "Which seems to confirm Mooney's findings."

"I wonder if we could calculate the speed of the expansion of the magic field." Luna said vaguely, flipping back through the pages that contained the accounts of the final days of the foothill crystal mines. "If ponies were able to explore almost up to the tall cliffs that bar entrance to the rest of the range for so long..."

"It seems like the region was relatively stable until they started mining out there." Moonstruck noted.

"It does." Luna agreed. "Perhaps the crystal deposits were acting as a sort of dam; remove the crystals, and the broken magic leaks out." She closed the book and scowled. "I never knew anything about this, I wonder if sister did."

"Was wondering that myself, earlier." Moonstruck drawled casually, gauging Lunas reaction carefully.

"I see no reason for her to withhold such information." Luna said firmly, still scowling. "But I will ask her in The Dreaming tonight."

"The Dreaming?" Windwake furrowed his brow.

"Oh yeah, forgot you could do that." Moonstruck grunted unhelpfully.

"I can walk through the dreams of all ponies, if I so choose." Luna said. "Though I usually only seek out those having nightmares and help to soothe them, and guide them to happier visions."

"Oh." Windwake's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "That's. Cool. You haven't uh - ?"

"Your dreams are safe, Captain Windwake." Luna smiled wryly.

He grinned nervously.

"Still having that recurring dream about the carrot that keeps bouncing around in a giant jar of peanut butter?" Moonstruck asked coolly. "'cause I'm pretty sure we all figured out what that means..."

"N-no!" Windwake sputtered, blushing darkly. "I haven't had that dream in years!"

"Oh, it must be the one with the - mrph"

"So! Princess Luna! How was your day!?" Windwake squeaked as he clamped a hoof over Moonstruck's mouth. She snickered and batted his hoof away.

Luna chuckled, and shook her head. "Stressful. I ended up having to fly to Prariedog Junction myself. It seems the local courier service does not make unscheduled trips unless it has more than three items to deliver."

She sighed. "The owners did not grow up here, and do not like the unpredictable weather, so they limit their flying time as much as possible."

"You couldn't find anyone local to deliver it?"

"No." Luna scowled. "The locals seem to be content to wait for the mail coach."

"That's small towners for ya," Moonstruck shrugged.

Something hit the window just then; a small something. Several more small somethings hit it shortly after that and continued to do so. The trio looked up as the rain started to come down harder.

"Dang, there wasn't a cloud in sight all day." Windwake murmured as thunder rumbled in the distance. "Not even over the mountains."

7. Chapter 6

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 6

Moonstruck jerked awake as someone knocked softly on her door. She sat up and stared at the wall for a few moments, awareness of her surroundings seeping into her sluggish brain. It was early; there was a cold draft sneaking in from behind the curtains, it was still raining, and she could remember dreaming, but couldn't remember what of.

"Mooney? You awake?"

She shook her head. "Ye-yeah. I'll be out in a few."

"Good. Change of plans, breakfast meeting at the Mayors office."

Moonstruck groaned and slid out of bed. She shuffled into the small bathroom to splash her face off, brush her teeth, and attempt to run a comb through her mane and tail to work out the worst of the tangles. Once she was more or less presentable, she summoned up her illusion, pulled her saddlebags on, then a light cloak, then opened her door. Windwake was waiting for her in the hall, already in his rain gear.

"Mornin'," he grunted. "Nightingale is already there."

Moonstruck grunted, then yawned and followed the pegasus stallion down the hall. "So, what kind of plan changes are we talking?"

"Er... you'll see when we get outside."

Moonstrucks eyebrows wandered up under her forelock as she glanced out the hall window. Aside from the part where it was raining, she couldn't see anything particularly scandalous in that direction.

It became clear once they were out in the street, with a grand view of the mountains. Although it was raining steadily, the ceiling was high, high enough to see even the tallest peaks... and the weird, shifting lights that danced over the highest glaciers. Occasionally the rainbow corona would arch out and downwards to brush the foothills, only to crash against some unseen object, then recede like the ocean meeting the shore.

"Pretty." Moonstruck grunted. She had no idea if this was good or bad.

They trotted through the muddy streets, the only sound that of the rain, and their hooves squishing through mud, or clomping across the occasional boardwalk. Aside from some forlorn looking weather ponies who fluttered damply overhead occasionally, the town was deserted. Rain, Moonstruck knew, wasn't a problem; the strange lights over the mountains was keeping ponies indoors. She couldn't blame them.

They were muddy half way up their legs by the time they reached the mayors offices, and had to rinse off with a garden hose before they could go inside. Once the front door was closed, and they were out of sight of the hiding townsponies, Moonstruck used her magic to dry them off. No one came to greet them, so they went ahead and trotted back to the office. The mayor and Princess Luna were standing at the window; they turned as the pair entered the room.

"We are moving up the time table." Luna said. "You leave as soon as we can gather your gear."

Moonstruck grimaced. "Was afraid of that."

"The magic storm over the mountains and the sudden rainstorm are more than likely linked; we cannot waste time. If the magical field is expanding, we need to know what's happening over there as soon as possible." Luna sighed.

"You know, the funny thing is, we're in the middle of a drought, so the rain isn't unwelcome." Tumbleweed chuckled. "Provided it doesn't flood of course."

"You didn't build on a flood plain did you?" Windwake asked wryly.

"Er... we did, but it's one of those thousand year flood things. Meaning it doesn't happen often. And... well, the river doesn't run the way it used to so we don't really know." The mayor mused. "Anyway, I've got Sagebrush out rounding up some ponies to help get your gear in order faster."

"Sagebrush?" Moonstruck asked.

"My niece."

"Right, right." Moonstruck scowled. "So, wait, my mission now is to poke around in the Broken Lands - if I can get in at all - and maybe figure out what's up with the magical disturbance?"

Luna pressed her lips into a thin line. "Yes. If it's at all possible. Magic storms are not unheard of but this does not seem to be a coincidence."

"Oh goodie." Moonstruck sighed. "Well, at least I got to sleep in for one morning, and sleep in an actual bed for two nights."

The mayor chuckled as Luna rolled her eyes. Lightning flashed nearby, thunder hot on its heels. Moonstruck craned her neck to look outside, and noticed another bolt of lighting out over the foothills; it seemed normal enough, no strange waves of electricity or rainbows or anything. She wondered if the storm really stretched over there, or if that bolt of lightning was from eons ago.

"So, should we go get Mooney's gear, or is it coming to us?" Windwake asked.

"It's being delivered. Sagebrush can get everyone hoppin', you'll probably be able to leave by this afternoon, weather permitting." Tumbleweed nodded.

"I think I'll go see if I can help the weather ponies." Windwake said. "Maybe with three of us we can create a lull in the storm or something."

"Yeah, good idea." Moonstruck nodded. He left; the door creaked as it swung shut behind him.

"So... any final briefings? Anything useful from Princess Celestia?"

"I am afraid not." Luna shook her head. "And she did not know of the exact original location of the disturbance, nor that it had expanded. Alicorns generally avoid this area."

She grimaced, then lifted her head. "Oh dear, I wonder if I'm too close…"

"Eh?" The mayor asked, furrowing his brow.

"One of the reasons Sister chose Princess Moonstruck to embark on this quest is that she is too young for the magical barrier to recognize." Luna gestured to the distant mountains. "I may be close enough to the disturbance to, well, disturb it."

Moonstruck whistled as the mayor swallowed hard.

"Well, there's an easy way to test it out. How are you at long distance teleportation?" Moonstruck asked. "I can only do it if there's nodestones involved."

Luna blinked a few times. "I think I can manage to teleport back to where we last camped. Give me ten minutes."

She stepped into the center of the room, lowered her head, and closed her eyes. After a few tense moments of magical build-up, she vanished in a flash of light.

"Wow." Mayor Tumbleweed gasped. Then, after a short pause, "what are we waiting for?"

"To see if the magic storm lets up or something." Moonstruck shrugged. "Can we access the roof?"

"Yes! Yes, right this way." He led her out of the office to the back stairs, up to the second story, then to a hidden staircase that went up to the roof.

"It's kind of a long shot." Moonstruck mused as she pulled her hood up and stepped up onto the roof. "I mean, Princess Luna wasn't even here most of the day yesterday. She had to fly those packages to Prariedog Junction herself."

"Oh dear. Well, Prariedog Junction is only a little further from the foothills than we are - just further east."

"Ah, so it wouldn't matter." Moonstruck nodded slightly. It was still raining steadily, but there seemed to be fewer unnatural looking rainbows over the hills.

"Do you think ten minutes will be long enough to tell?" Tumbleweed asked.

"I dunno. Actually, I figure we'll be able to tell for sure when she teleports back." She nodded towards the foothills.

"Right."

Moonstruck shifted her weight off of one hind leg and let her eyes slide half shut. It was too dang early for this sort of thing, she hadn't even had breakfast yet. She made a mental note to locate a pastry and some coffee once they were done conducting their experiment. After a couple of minutes of watching the hypnotic waves of swirling rainbows, she blinked and cast her eyes downwards to the empty streets below.

Nearly empty streets, she corrected herself. Somepony was standing in the middle of the main road towards the edge of town, also watching the storm. Moonstruck opened her eyes fully when the wind whipped up and blew the ponies hood back, revealing a horn.

"Well it's a bout time one of you showed up." She muttered.

"Pardon?" The mayor asked.

"You said there's only one family of unicorns here, right?" She took a step towards the edge of the roof.

"Er, yeah, the Amber family. Very old family, been here since the town was founded. Only one branch of the family remains though, and they tend to keep to themselves. They're doctors, mostly." He squinted down at the figure in the distance. "I think that's Amber Rose, their eldest daughter."

"I'm gonna go have a word with her." Moonstruck grunted. She teleported down to the street, and trotted towards the young unicorn, not bothering with an illusion - her cloak covered her wings, anyway. As she approached, she realized that the unicorn was still but a filly - probably around the same age as her brother; tall but gangly with a short cropped mane and tail. Her cloak was of very fine material and repelled water with ease.

"You were a pegasus yesterday." The filly said as Moonstruck stopped a polite distance to the side. She did not turn to look at Moonstruck, just twitched an ear in her direction. "I saw you from my window when you were at the book shop."

"I can appear to be many things." Moonstruck said cryptically. "Have you ever seen it do this?"

"No. Great grandmother said that when the last of the outposts were lost it was like this for months afterwords. She said it was an ill omen." She finally turned to look at Moonstruck. "So is the arrival of newcomers who can change their shape."

Moonstruck snorted a laugh. "You made that last bit up."

Amber Rose smiled very faintly.

"A little bird tells me that there's only one family of unicorns left here in town."

"Yes. Most of them left long ago. Magic..." she scowled, "magic does not always work the way it should here."

"Does it ever not work at all?" Moonstruck lifted a brow.

"No, it just... isn't as powerful as it should be, or it doesn't quite do what was intended." Amber Rose scowled. "My family practices Earth Pony medicine, but with telekinesis, so our ways are simple. We have been mostly unaffected. The families that owned the mines, and hunted for the crystals grew flustered and left when they could no longer locate crystals easily."

Moonstruck nodded as her mental timer went off, she shifted her weight and gazed out at the foothills. At any moment Luna would teleport back; if she really was what was riling up the magic field, there should be some evidence of her arrival. She flicked an ear back as she felt a faint shiver of powerful magic, and a familiar spell at that. Line of sight teleportation was nearly instantaneous, but long distance teleportation could take up to thirty seconds, which mostly meant that a sensitive unicorn could feel the magic build up a few moments before the traveler arrived. The magic storm didn't seem to do anything in particular for the build up, but there was a very prominent ripple when Luna arrived in the mayors office.

"Hmm." Moonstruck grunted. "Well, that doesn't answer much. Later."

"What?" Amber Rose asked, turning around as Moonstruck started to amble away.

"Was conducting a little experiment. Results are inconclusive." Moonstruck shrugged. "It will probably take more time to work out."

"You know something about the magic storm!?" Amber Rose asked, trotting to catch up.

"Not really. Was hoping you did, actually, since you live here." Moonstruck sighed.

"Oh." She was silent for a few moments. "I know about the pegasus pony they found near the foothills."

Moonstruck stopped and spun around. "You saw Sarah!?"

Amber Rose slid to a stop then stumbled back a couple of steps. "Ye-yes! I was making rounds with my mother that day - my father was on the team that brought her in! I helped stitch up some of her wounds!"

"Did you notice anything that didn't make it into the final reports?"

She blinked a few times. "Um... no? I don't know, I was only helping my Mother! I don't even know what went in to the reports!"

Moonstruck scowled. "I need to speak with your parents."

"I - they're hiding. From the storm. I-I'm actually not supposed to be outside right now..." Amber Rose ducked her head and pulled her ears back.

Moonstruck let out an irate sigh. The words were about to say were words she'd never thought she'd use in seriousness, but she sensed she didn't have time to convince the filly any other way.

"By royal decree, I, Princess Moonstruck of the Queendom of Trot, and Royal Agent of High Princess Celestia demand that you take me to your parents!" She flared her wings dramatically.

Amber Rose sat town abruptly, her jaw dropping open. "I did not expect that."

"Well?"

"Where's Trot? I've never heard of it."

"It's a little country off the west coast of Equestria - seriously, I need to talk to your folks."

"Why would Princess Celestaia send someone we've never heard of all the way out here?"

"Reasons. Go. Parents. Talk to. Now!" Moonstruck levitated Amber Rose and set her on her hooves.

"R-right! Um - I'm gonna get in trouble for this…"

A few minutes later she was standing in the drawing room of a large house towards the southern edge of town. Moonstruck magicked away all of the mud and water in her fur, fluffed her woefully messy mane as best she could and hung her cloak and saddlebags on a coat rack by the door. In hindsight, she should have gone and snagged Luna to help, but she had an inkling that time was of the essence. Amber Rose returned from the depths of the house to bring her into a large study, where a handsome pair of unicorns stood sternly next to the picture windows. They scowled at their daughter as she trotted sheepishly into the room, then blanched as they saw Moonstruck.

"Okay, quick question." Moonstruck said before anyone else could speak. "Was there anything you left out of the report you wrote on Sarah that you did not send to Canterlot?"

They simply stared wide eyed at her.

"What?"

"Y-your highness, it is truly an honor to -"

Moonstruck rolled her eyes and waved a hoof.

"Yeah, yeah. Really, I don't have a lotta time here - was there anything that you left out of the report of the pegasus pony who was found near the foothills?"

They exchanged confused glances. "No, not that I know of."

"Did it mention her broken ulna?"

"And her concussion?"

"Also that she only had one, greatly diminished wing digit on each wing, and her strange skull and dental growth?"

"And that her digestive track seemed entirely different from -"

"Yeah, it had all of that." From what Moonstruck could remember, anyway. She'd just skimmed the technical stuff. "I mean... I dunno, anything magical that might have been off about her? Anything in particular about where she was found? Something she might have said while she was delirious?"

The stallion scowled. "Magically speaking it is difficult to tell what is normal so near the foothills. As for location... well simply being that close to the foothills is odd. The only reason she was found at all was that a patrol had gotten turned around at night and had strayed closer than normal. And, well, she kept mentioning a dragon who had helped her - but I'm quite certain I included that in the report."

Moonstruck nodded, crestfallen. "Okay, just checking." She sighed. "Sorry to bother you."

"Well, that was a waste of time." Moonstruck muttered to herself as she ventured out into the rain again. She mentally kicked herself for not leaving a nodestone in the mayors office before she left, which would allow her to teleport directly. Windwake and the weather ponies didn't seem to be having any luck with the storm; it was still raining steadily.

"There you are." Luna said as Moonstruck shook off on the porch of City Hall. "Where did you go?"

"To talk to the family of unicorns that live here." Moonstruck grunted, again magicking away the mud and water from her fur. She really should have brought her rain boots.

"It was a dead end, they don't know much of anything."

Luna sighed. "Did you notice any change in the magic storm when I returned?"

"It rippled a bit, but that was it. You might have to stay away longer."

Luna nodded and led the way indoors. "I intend to leave tomorrow morning. Sister is sending a team of scientists here to monitor the magical disturbance, perhaps I should enlist the local unicorns as well."

"Probably a good idea."

Mayor Tumbleweed was setting a tea tray on his desk as they walked into his office.

"Sorry I don't make it as good as Sagebrush, figured you'd like something warm to drink and a little breakfast."

"Yes, thank you." Luna dipped her head politely and selected a cup, saucer, and pastry off the tray.

"Read my mind." Moonstruck grunted, following suit. They munched in silence for a while, listening to the occasional thunder, watching the rain hit the window.

"Anyone here play cards?" Moonstruck asked after she'd eaten. She hadn't played since they'd left Canterlot.

"I happen to be Stirrup Springs' poker champion six years runnin'!" Tumbleweed beamed.

"Oh ho ho!" Moonstruck grinned and whipped out her deck, shuffling the cards in a dazzling display of telekenetic dexterity. "I'm gonna take that as a challenge, sir!"

Luna moved aside as they plopped down on the floor.

"Now you're making me nervous, Your Highness. Dunno if I can stomach letting you win."

"Don't worry, you won't need to." Moonstruck winked.

Sitting down on the floor with a deck of cards between them was amazingly soothing; the fury of the storm faded into the background, the magical disturbance pressing at the very edge of her perception became so much white noise, and the task ahead of her seemed like some far-off distant chore that she'd get to when she got around to it. She let the mayor deal, and inspected her hand, her mind drifting placidly between the various options she held, the strategies she could use. Of course, it all depended on the luck of the draw. Poker wasn't a card game exactly, but a game of observation and misdirection. Tumbleweed was not particularly hard to read. After three rounds she was quite certain he was convinced he was going easy on her, and that he had no idea she was going easy on him in turn. After five, she was pretty sure she knew the bulk of his unconscious twitches. The sixth round she tested a few theories, confirmed a couple of his more cryptic idiosyncrasies. After that, it was a massacre.

"Y-you sure you're not psychic?" Tumbleweed asked after she called his bluff for the umpteenth time.

"Quite. You just wrinkle your nose a tad when you have a pair of something. If it's aces, your left hind hoof twitches a little. If it's something smaller you tend to keep it more on the down low." Moonstruck said absently, shuffling the cards.

He gaped at her.

"Well y-you... um... kinda raise an eyebrow when you... no wait, you were bluffing. And - ah, no you were bluffing then too..."

Moonstruck giggled. "Sorry, I never properly introduced myself; I'm Moonstruck. Maverick Moonstruck, best card player in all of Trot."

"Oh, horse apples!" He laughed, "well, I stepped in it, didn't I?"

"Only a little."

Out in the other room, the door opened and then shut, the sound of at least two sets of hooves and hushed conversation echoed down the quiet hall.

"Sagebrush, that you!?" Tumbleweed called.

"Yeah, it's me, and Sheriff Juniper Berry!"

"Oh good, she'll have the latest info on the foothills." Tumbleweed said, he climbed to his hooves and started clearing off his desk. "Want some tea?"

"Yes, please!" Sagebrush said as she and the sheriff trotted into the room. The sheriff slid to a stop as she saw Princess Luna seated on a cushion casually sipping tea, then her wide, blue eyes snapped down to Moonstruck, whom was gathering up her deck of cards and placing them back in their pouch.

"I almost didn't believe you." The sheriff muttered.

"Ah, This is Juniper Berry, our sheriff. Juniper, I'm sure you recognize Princess Luna, and this is Princess Moonstruck from Trottingham."

"Just Trot." Moonstruck grunted, getting to her hooves.

"Right, sorry."

"I-it's an honor," She said, continuing into the room. "So, Sagebrush tells me Princess Moonstruck will be on a solo expedition into the Broken Lands."

"Indeed she is." Tumbleweed nodded, removing the last of the brick-a-brack and paperwork from his desk. "And I understand you know of a pretty reliable way to get into the foothills."

"Yes, we have a small outpost there. It's where we base our patrols in that region." She shrugged out of her saddle bags, then pulled a neatly folded map out of one of them. The chestnut mare trotted to the desk, then expertly flipped the map down so that it unfolded a little on its own, then hastily unfolded it the rest of the way. Moonstruck approached the desk, noting that it was color coded; green areas were absolutely free of magical distortion, blue areas had some minor disturbances, purple areas were iffy at best, and red were highly unstable and strictly off limits.

"We're going to send you off from here," Juniper Berry said, tapping a black dot labeled Lookout Hill Outpost. It was on the edge of two zones; blue which was closer to town, and purple which transitioned to red on it's opposite edge. "It's the furthest we've been able to build into the foothills since we lost Beacon Hill Outpost over a century ago. There's a quirk with the magic there that means anyone who goes in on hoof will make it safely to the red zone. If and when they return, they'll return to this spot, pretty much."

Moonstruck grunted and nodded.

"The going isn't easy though; the landscape is only reliable up to the edge of this little valley here." She indicated a shallow valley beyond the outpost. "Once you cross that ridge, things tend to shift around on you. I've only been to the edge of the purple zone myself, and it was mighty confusing. We can walk all day, make our way through the maze of hills and canyons, send pegasus up to scout around only make it about five miles in. Unicorns can make it into the red zone, but there's points where they must be able to fly; and other points where the wind is so strong that flying is absolutely out of the question."

"So I've been told."

"The last expedition probably made it about seven miles in - nowhere near the higher mountains. They were gone almost a month, and they estimated that the bulk of the time was spent going in circles. I'm assuming that the logic here is that you have magic, and flight capabilities, so you should be able to muddle your way through the distortion." She eyed Moonstruck curiously.

"I'm also good at cards." Moonstruck nodded solemnly.

Juniper Berry stared at her for a second then shifted her gaze to Luna. "Is she kidding?"

"I am afraid not." Luna sighed.

"She's really good, actually." Tumbleweed chimed in a bit cluelessly.

Juniper Berry shook her head. "Your gear is being delivered to headquarters. We'll depart from there by carriage about noon. It should take us half the day to get to the outpost, and you can set off first thing in the morning."

"Weather permitting." Moonstruck added.

The sheriff smirked. "If we waited for that, you'd never get a chance to leave."

Windwake met up with her as Moonstruck hoofed it back over to the inn to gather her things and check out. The storm, he was irritated to report, was not manageable. Whatever weather was happening when Moonstruck departed was the weather she was stuck with.

As promised, the gear was waiting for her at the sheriffs office; and she was mildly disturbed to discover the bulk of it was made up of a special, lightweight tent and bedroll that folded up small enough to fit into a standard sized saddle bag. The rest was specially built, lightweight survival gear, a half dozen slim journals and pencils, and a special travel bread that was enchanted to keep for a long time. She had known ahead of time that she would have to forage for the bulk of her food, but it simply hadn't hit her that they wouldn't be sending her off with oodles of dried fruits, and things. She did have some dried fruit, but it was only enough to supplement a few meals. She had actually brought more snacks with her for the trip out to Stirrup Springs than they were giving her for a possibly months-long expedition into the Broken Mountains.

While they readied the carriage, she arranged her saddle bags; all of her new gear fit neatly inside, and there was enough space for a couple of extra odds and ends, including her cloak, which she would fold up when not using, a warm vest, a spare canteen, a hair brush (not that it ever did much good) and her playing cards and assorted crystals and pebbles. She left those in their pouch and stashed them in the bag. Windwake watched her pack, the distressed look on his face reflecting the churning in her gut.

"You don't have to go, you know. You can always back out." He said as she finished.

"I know. I figure it's at least worth a shot. I'll probably just get lost like everypony else and have to turn back." Moonstruck sighed, magicking her saddlebags onto her back, adjusting her wings, then pulling her cloak on. "They say there's not much out there. Mostly just some ordinary animals. No monsters or anything."

He scowled, but nodded. "I'd come with you, if I could."

"I know."

They made their way into the garage, where the carriage was waiting. Four earth pony stallions in special rain gear were hitched to it and ready to go. Tumbleweed, Luna and Juniper Berry were chatting off to the side. They stopped as Moonstruck and Windwake came into view.

"All set?" Juniper Berry asked.

"Yep." Moonstruck grunted.

"I cannot accompany you to the outpost," Luna shook her head regretfully, "so I shall say my farewells now."

"Yeah, I figured. Have a nice flight back." Moonstruck said, dipping her head.

"Have a safe journey, and may the winds be in your favor." Luna mirrored the gesture.

With that, Moonstruck, Juniper Berry and Windwake climbed into the carriage. Moonstruck stared out the back window as the carriage lurched into motion. Stirrup Springs quickly faded into the rainy gloom. They played cards to pass the time, and watched the soggy landscape slide by. Unlike before, in the mayors office, she didn't slip into a zen-like state of amused peace as the cards were dealt; it was a cold detachment that greeted her instead. She could still read her opponents, the cards, even the rattle and sway of the carriage as it trundled over the bumpy, muddy road, but it brought no joy and did nothing to soothe her restless nerves.

8. Chapter 7

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 7

Moonstruck was not able to take advantage of her last night in a real bed. Sleep was elusive, and when she did manage to drift off, she was plagued by strange, shadowy dreams that she could not recall later. Her alarm went off far too soon, and before she knew it, she was dragging herself into the mess hall for a hearty breakfast.

"Sleep well?" Windwake asked, plopping down opposite her. He didn't appear to have slept much either.

"Nope." Moonstruck grunted around a bite of apple.

She noted that Windwake hadn't bothered to put any gel in his mane, and his minty green and dark teal locks were falling across one eye the way he used to wear it before he joined the academy. Even flying across Equestria he'd been impeccably groomed at all times (barring heavy rain, of course). The Academy of the Trot Royal Guard regarded the traditional pegasus stand-up mane style as a badge of honor; it was exceedingly rare to see a male guardspony without one at any time – especially those with two-toned manes like Windwake whom could trim the royal wave pattern into the outer edges of the mohawk.

"I think you may be more rattled than I am."

Windwake furrowed his brow and tilted his head to the side. She pointed a piece of carrot at his mane. He rolled his eyes upwards then ducked his head sheepishly.

"Ah ha ha, yeah. Guess I am." He closed his eyes for a few moments. "Aren't you scared?"

"Terrified." Moonstruck grunted around a spoonful of oatmeal.

He straightened up a little and scowled. "Well you could show it a little! Geeze, I feel like I'm the only one who's properly freaking out about all of this!"

Moonstruck gave him a blank stare, recalled that she'd said those exact words to her mother once, then smirked.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm so far beyond freaked out, and my terror runs so deep, that I can't even muster up the energy to have a proper mental breakdown."

Windwake continued to scowl at her. "That does help."

Sheriff Juniper Berry ambled over to them. "You're in luck, the rains letting off some. You should be departing in a light drizzle."

"Yaaaaaay," Moonstruck said in a small, deadpan voice.

She didn't rush to finish her breakfast; there was a high probability that she would puke soon, and she felt no need to gamble with her stomach. She had also packed everything already and had her saddlebags sitting under the table at her hooves, so she did not need to return to her room to get them.

It was indeed drizzling when she, Windwake and the sheriff stepped outside. Only a few officers were around, mostly going about their usual business. It would be another fanfareless exit, she sensed. It was probably for the better.

They made their way out of the fenced in garden/staging area of the outpost through a tall gate and Moonstruck was finally able to get a clear view of her surroundings. Well, clear-ish; it was still drizzling, and the cloud cover was low enough that it blocked most of the upper reaches of the Broken range from view. The outpost was situated on top of a long, low hill that swept at a shallow angle back towards the lowlands. The north side of the hill seemed to drop off more abruptly into a small, shallow vale. It was towards this vale that they walked. The grass, she was relieved to note, was green and vibrant, and most of the hills she could see were in a similar state of new spring growth. She shouldn't have any trouble foraging for food.

The Sheriff nodded to a pair of fence posts spaced a couple of lengths apart along the ridge, where a cloaked and hooded pony was waiting for them. "Doctor Amber Glen will tell you how to get the best start - there's a trick to it."

"Right." Moonstruck nodded, eyes flicking over the hooded figure, then to the shallow valley below. The fence posts were the start of a wide trail that zigzagged down the steep incline to a pair of standing stones at the base of the hill.

"Ah, we meet again, Princess Moonstruck. Well met." Doctor Amber Glen said, as they approached. He bowed deeply.

"Mornin'." Moonstruck yawned. "Sorry to bust in on you yesterday, thought I might be on to something."

"I-it's quite alright." He straightened up. "When I received the request to instruct somepony how to enter the foothills, I assumed it would be you, and much of your behavior made more sense."

"Did she just barge in and start asking weird questions?" Windwake - mane now properly gelled if a bit saggy in the drizzle - asked wryly.

"Er, yes." The Doctor said.

"She does that."

"Ahem, gentlecolts?" The sheriff cleared her throat and eyed them. "She does need to get moving."

"Right." Doctor Amber stamped a hoof. "This is essentially a stable point in an otherwise unpredictable landscape." He gestured to the fence posts, rock lined trail, and standing stones. "For reasons unknown, anypony who comes and goes from this point will generally be able to travel a decent distance and not get terribly lost until they go deep into the foothills. Additionally, when they do ultimately give up and turn back, they will return to this point, even if they are not actively trying to get back to this particular spot."

He shifted his weight. "Once past the standing stones, you must travel straight across the vale by hoof. There is no trail past the standing stones - those stones are the last point that ponies have been able to build anything of any sort of permanence. Beyond that, nothing remains. At least, nothing modern. You will encounter occasional ghost towns and ruins."

He frowned and worked his jaw around a little. "They are unmappable, so I cannot tell you which ones to avoid. Some are safe to pass through - even camp in - others are not."

"As I said, proceed straight across the vale and straight up the other side. Do not look back, and do not fly. Once there, you will encounter two naturally occurring standing stones. Pass between them, and be prepared for a drastically different landscape."

"You cannot fly for the first three days, it will simply push you back out faster than if you're on hoof for that time. We do not know why."

Moonstruck nodded, staring into the distance.

"I am afraid that is all I can tell you. These are the only constants."

"Goodie." Moonstruck muttered. She shook her head, and looked back at the sheriff and Windwake. The look on Windwake's face almost made her turn around and run back inside, but she resisted. Barely.

"Well, guess I should get going."

"Best of luck to you." Doctor Amber Glen said, stepping aside.

"Good luck, and safe travels." Sheriff Juniper Berry dipped her head respectfully.

Windwake stepped over and hugged her tightly, which was kind of awkward considering they were both quadrupeds. "Come back safe, okay?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah." Moonstruck grunted, patting him on the back with one free wing. "I think you still owe me a game of Gin-Rummy-Smackdown. Can't let you off easy on that one."

He let out a short, broken laugh, then took a step back, looking away. "Yeah, can't do that."

Moonstruck turned her back to them and stared down the trail, then up at the looming overcast, and what seemed an impossibly long chain of hills stretching, and rising away into the distance. For a while she couldn't coax herself to take that first step. She sighed, closed her eyes, lowered her head, then willed her front right hoof to move, lifting it slowly off the sodden ground, then placing it roughly down. Next was her rear left leg, then left front, then right rear. After she had gone a few trembling steps, she opened her eyes, and started shakily down the steep trail.

Everything changed when she rounded the first switchback; not physically, not exactly, but she could feel it; feel the magic flicker faintly, feel the very earth itself take on a different sort of rhythm. It was very quiet, now that she was paying attention. No birds sang, no deer were grazing down in the lush vale below, no rodents scurried out of her way as she passed. It had felt like she'd entered another world entirely by the time she reached the standing stones. She half turned to look back the way she'd come, was relieved to see three figures at the top of the hill watching her. This, she knew, would be the last she saw of them for some time.

Turning forward, she stared between the roughly hewn stones, let out a long, shaky breath, then stepped between them. Past them. Out into the fresh spring grass and scattered early season wildflowers. Unable to take the stillness, she started out at a brisk trot, listening to the faint clinking of the metal bits of her gear in her packs, the slightly soggy clip clop of her hooves on the ground, the grass whispering past her legs, and the beating of her own heart.

It took her about thirty minutes to cross the vale, and ten to climb the hill on the opposite side. It hadn't seemed that far from the outpost, nor as rocky and steep. As promised, there was another set of standing stones at the crest of the hill among a tangle of imposing thorn bushes.

Moonstruck resisted the urge to look back and inspected the stones instead. They were rather unremarkable; nothing seemed out of the ordinary with them, they just happened to be a little over an average ponies width apart. They weren't even particularly tall. There also didn't seem to be anything of interest beyond the stones; just a faint animal trail winding through the shrubs and prickly bushes. Shrugging, she cautiously stepped between them, then out the other side, where her stomach dropped, and she stumbled onto level ground, even though it felt like she'd just missed a stair at the bottom of a long staircase.

It was snowing softly, the grass was brown, there was old snow lurking in shady patches, and the landscape was packed with dense shrubs and scraggly trees. Moonstruck whipped around to look back between the standing stones (since, presumably it was safe to do that now), but the space beyond the stones appeared to be the same as the one she was standing in.

"Well, that's disorienting," she muttered. At least here it wasn't so silent, there was soft birdsong coming from many of the bushes, and faint rustlings of things in the underbrush. There was no trail to speak of, but the ceiling was high enough that she could see the higher peaks beneath the clouds. They didn't seem any closer than they had before, although she suspected she had gained some altitude.

Moonstruck started picking her way through the underbrush towards the Broken Mountains. She did not have a plan to speak of, beyond making a bee-line towards the highest parts of the range. If the landscape liked to rearrange itself at will, there was no point in trying to find passes, or even trails - although she would happily take a trail if it seemed to lead to where she wanted to go.

At first, the non-plan seemed to work. She made her way through the scrublands without incident, and descended into a deep, sheltered gorge - where it was more springlike - shortly before nightfall. There, she set up camp, refilled her canteens, and ate a slightly heartier version of lunch that consisted of half of a slice of travel bread, a little dried fruit, and various greens she was able to rustle up in the general vicinity.

"Well," she said to herself after the evening chores were done and she was sitting next to the fire snuggled up under a blanket, and her cloak on top of that to protect against the drizzle and occasional snowflake. "One day down. Who knows how many left."

She tilted her head back to squint at the gloom lurking overhead that was blocking the stars. Her mother had taught her to navigate by the stars when she was a tiny little filly, but she sensed that would not be useful here. At least Breezy's ability to light a fire anywhere with pretty much anything seemed to have rubbed off on her a little - most of the deadfall she'd found had been damp, but she'd been able to get a fire going with little difficulty.

Now that she thought about it, she was starting to regret tuning Patch out whenever she started prattling on about birds. Patch was an avid birdwatcher - that would probably be useful out here. And Windwake had always been the dumbest forager ever, and had tried pretty much every wild berry that grew in Trot, so he'd have a half decent idea of what was edible and what wasn't - or at least the guts to sample one and find out. And Acorn knew everything there was to know about plants and mushrooms so he'd be able to find food in the darnedest places, and... and...

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, a few tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

"I shoulda insisted on bringing Breezy and Patch and Windwake."

Her brother would have been useful, but he was a little young to be embarking on a very dangerous quest.

The precipitation began to pick up, shifting into rain with a little snow mixed in. Moonstruck sniffled, then retreated into her tent. Once inside, she wiped a few more tears away, folded up her cloak and placed it in the corner near the flap, then climbed into her bed roll. It was going to be a long, cold night.

The three day no-fly-timeframe rolled by slowly, although Moonstruck was confident that she was making some decent progress, insomuch that she had not yet been sent in circles. The morning of the fourth day she waited for the weather to clear a bit before taking to the air. She resisted the urge to fly high, choosing instead to cruise along only three hundred feet above the landscape. This seemed to work for a while, but sudden winds would force her higher, or lower, or off course, and by the end of the day she'd spent more time fighting the wind than anything else.

The next day she decided to only fly when she reached something that she could not climb easily, or go around without veering far off course. She soon found herself in a rather vexing stretch of steep, rocky hills with few sources for water, and little green vegetation. While it was not as cold here as it had been elsewhere, not much was growing in this area yet. Thankfully the rain had stopped, and the skies were clear, so she had a perfect view of the higher mountains that did not seem any closer than they had before, even though she was five and a half days out from Stirrup Springs.

Moonstruck came to rest on a knob of granite and contemplated her next move. She had been back and forth across the general vicinity several times, but she had not found a good way through this particular stretch of hills. Winds were strong out of the north (where she wanted to go), and at higher altitudes; the going was tedious on the ground, and it was getting late. She stared at her elongated shadow, then scanned the ridge directly in front of her. She had not tried teleporting yet - she was hesitant to do so, considering all of the distortion out here, and this area in particular seemed to have a lot of magical noise, not unlike static on a radio broadcast. She squinted at another spire of rock about a hundred yards away.

"That should work." She muttered. She stood up, lowered her head, fixed her gaze on the spot she wanted to teleport to, and cast her spell.

A split second later, she stood on the other spire of rock, intact, and unharmed. She grinned and turned around. She wasn't sure how far she could get like this, but it was certainly worth a shot. Spotting another good place to teleport to, she repeated the process. It worked again, but now she could feel a distinct sort of magical something building up around her. Her ears popped a couple of times, as she swept her gaze around her, searching for any sign of attack, or even a sudden thunderstorm. Deciding to err on the side of caution, she sprang off the boulder she was on, landed a little roughly on the ground below, and trotted across the ridge to a less steep area where she could climb down more easily. The foothills were riddled with little river canyons and shallow gorges where the foraging was generally better, so she'd been camping in them whenever possible. The sun was low enough in the western sky to start searching for a suitable place to camp, and this little river valley seemed to be as good a place as any.

The climb down to the valley floor was fairly easy, and there was indeed more palatable vegetation growing around a babbling brook. There were a number of scraggly looking trees growing in the more open spaces, and a lot of old stumps and mounds that indicated that the logs were still present under a layer of dirt, rocks, and moss. She wondered if a flood had swept through here at some point and felled the trees; but the stumps, and their logs were broken off as if something from downstream had, in fact, blown them all down. Probably all at once.

She tried to remember if the area was volcanic as she hopped from boulder to boulder to cross the creek, and head up the other side of the ravine a short way to investigate what she thought was a shallow cave sitting up above the bulk of the flood lines. Judging by the wear of the rock, the river hadn't flooded to that level in some time, and going by the depth of the canyon now, it wouldn't do it again. There was an almost trail to the possible-cave - as if something at some point might have used it for shelter, but had long since moved on to less confusing real estate. Moonstruck hopped up onto a wide, flat rock just below the opening and grinned. It was indeed a shallow cave; perhaps only a few yards long, and deep, and a couple yards high. It had some decent fern growth sprouting from the ceiling, and a sandy floor that didn't look like it had been disturbed in some time. This was probably the best place she'd found to camp thus far.

She quickly set up her tent towards the back of the cave, then dug a fire pit and lined it with a few river stones that were conveniently near by. From there she climbed back down to the ravine floor to collect firewood, and edible plants for dinner.

As she scrounged around, she took note that there were very few signs of animals. Most of the foothills had been all but devoid of animal life; she had found very few trackways, and only directly observed a limited array of small birds and rodents. She attributed this in part due to the fairly recent arrival of spring, and all of the magical distortion making it difficult to navigate, but it was still unsettling to be the only large(ish) creature in the region. Where were the deer? The mountain sheep and goats? The wolves and lynx, and turkeys, and rabbits, and hawks and crows, and vultures and anything else one typically found in regions like this?

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't noticed any fish in any of the waterways she'd encountered - again, it was early in the season, but something had to be active. She paused to stare into the creek she happened to be standing by, watching just below the waters surface. There had to be some trout in there somewhere. After a full minute, she sighed dramatically.

"Fine! Be like that! Not like there's any bugs around for you to eat anyway."

She continued on her quest for firewood and food, taking note of the position of the sun and estimating she had an hour or so until sunset. Without the cloud cover it had been consistently warmer during the day, but considerably colder at night. It had also allowed her to gauge her position via the stars, but she was dismayed to note that everything her mother taught her was mostly useless out here. No matter where she seemed to go, the stars always managed to stay in the same position.

She picked up one final well aged, thick branch for her fire, and scowled. "Maybe I should try traveling at night. It's cold though. And even frostier aloft than it is on the ground."

She started back to her tent. "Plus, the only landmark I can rely on is the mountains in the distance, if the stars are wrong, I might just end up back at Stirrup Springs."

She scrunched up her face. "When did I start talking to myself out loud?"

She looked around, flicking one ear to the side. "No really! I never did this before, did I? I mean, I probably did a little. Everyone does a little, I think."

She started up the almost-trail to her little cave. "No one mentioned going insane on this trip. I mean, I guess it goes without saying, since I'm out here by myself for goodness knows how long. Just out wandering around a maddening lan – HA!"

She reached the cave and set the firewood down next to the fire pit, and the food down on her saddlebags.

"These aren't the Broken Mountains, these are the Mountains of Madness!"

She chuckled to herself, then launched a small spark at the dry wood, setting it ablaze. Once she was sure the fire wouldn't flicker out, she inspected her leafy greens, and what dried fruit and bread she had left. She'd been eating one slice of the bread a day - half with breakfast, and half with dinner. It was fairly innocuous looking, but was loaded with ground nuts, and grains that provided a decent amount of nutrients, and a little bit of sugar and salt. She'd be out of it in a week, at this rate. She frowned.

"Maybe I should go down to a quarter for breakfast, and half for dinner?"

She foraged for greens for every meal, so it shouldn't be too bad, but the more nutritious plants hadn't started sprouting yet, for the most part, so the bread was important. She could just spend more time foraging; munch more on whatever she happened across as she happened across it. She shook her head and broke a slice of the bread - which was really more like a plain, unfilled Poptart - in half and started munching on it as she eyed her tiny pile of dried fruit. She was down to four dried apricots, and six dehydrated apples. She'd been eating those sparingly - mostly at breakfast, when a little something sweet helped to wake her up.

"May as well just keep that up." She sighed, placing them back in their container, then back in the saddlebag. She'd known those wouldn't last long, she just hadn't expected to be running low on food so quickly. And she hadn't made any real progress. The higher peaks were still days away on hoof, and unreachable by flight. She was starting to wonder if there were even really mountains over there, if maybe it was all just some strange optical illusion and that it was simply a matter of wandering into the right valley to reach Roanamia. Or perhaps it was one of those places that couldn't be found, except for by those who already know where it is. She hoped it wasn't one of those places.

"Hey, wait up!"

"Arbor Fern! We can't keep up when you go that fast."

"Sorry! Sorry! Mom and Dad must be worried sick by now! And keep it down, we don't want to start an avalanche."

"Pff, we can't start an avalanche! There's not enough snow!"

"You can't fool us!"

"We're big foals now, you can't use that trick anymore!"

"Still just... just keep it down. Something's not right."

Moonstruck twitched and curled tighter, aware on some primal level that it was very cold outside her tent and blankets, and that she would be wise to continue sleeping. Something even deeper, and older was poking her in the back of the head though, keeping her from slipping fully back to sleep. Something that was more on the ball, something that was constantly aware of her surroundings; particularly at times when something was terribly amiss with her surroundings.

"What's not right?"

"I don't know. I just... just humor me, okay?"

"Okaaaaaaayyyy."

Moonstruck scowled. Would those kids shut up already? It was too darn early in the morning for them to be out and about. And from the sounds of it they were awful young - where were their parents? What were they doing out here by themselves, anyway?

Out here. She woke up a little more, eyebrows making a casual saunter towards her mane. Out here in the middle of freaking nowhere, where nopony lived, and everything was confusing as heck... she opened her eyes and shot her head up, ears fixed on the fading voices of the foals as they made their way through the canyon. They were past her cave at this point, quietly crunching through the snow - snow?

Moonstruck wriggled out of her bedroll and unzipped her tent. A blast of icy air greeted her, causing her to blink rapidly and shake her head before pushing it cautiously out of the partially opened flap. It had snowed all right; a good six inches, and it was still coming down steadily. There were tracks down by the creek bed, winding among the trees and rocks and... hold up the trees were back? The big ones that had appeared to have fallen long ago were now standing proudly, their boughs heavy with snow. There was still a distinct lack of birdsong, however. The quiet was deeper somehow, more profound, which made the sounds of three foals crunching through the snow jarringly loud.

"How long was I asleep?" She muttered to herself, breath frosting. It was just after dawn, as near as she could tell. She squinted along the tracks, and listened for the foals. If there were foals here, there had to be a village nearby.

Making up her mind, she hastily broke camp, magicking everything but her cloak, and a flannel vest she'd brought with her into her saddle bags. She was mildly surprised when she pulled her vest on to find it a little too big. All of this questing seemed to have slimmed her down a bit. Shrugging, she pulled on her saddlebags, then cloak, and darted down the almost-trail to the tracks in the snow. Sure enough, there were three sets of small pony tracks, one a little larger than the others. They were headed downstream. She trotted along the trackway, head up, and ears twitching this way and that, alert to any other surprises. She was sure the foals were just up ahead, out of sight through the trees, but she couldn't seem to catch up with them, and she was reluctant to fly - this place reacted so strangely to flying ponies, and this day was already off to a weird start.

The canyon walls became less steep, and grew further apart as the trees grew taller and closer together. The trail veered off to the side, leaving the creek, and forest behind to cut across a large, flat plain that sloped gently into the distance. Moonstruck couldn't see where the tracks led, it was snowing very heavily now, and the wind was strong out in the open. She put her head down and plowed through the deeper snow, wondering how the foals managed to get so far so fast when the snow must be up to their bellies out here. She could hear them faintly under the wind; three sets of crunching hooves, and the occasional snippet of conversation. She also wondered if they knew where they were going. It wasn't quite a white void; distant trees and the occasional bush could be seen, and whenever the wind shifted she caught a glimpse of hills in the near distance that seemed to indicate they were descending into a valley. It hadn't looked like this from the air yesterday; the canyon had meandered around quite a bit without opening up into any large, nearly level areas. In fact, this whole section of foothills had been quite rugged, and rather more vertical than horizontal last she saw.

She slid to a stop as the foals materialized out of the driving snow. One was a little taller and presumably older than the others. They were bundled up in coats, and snow boots. They had paused, it seemed, to get their bearings. Then they were gone again, fading into the storm at a dead run. Moonstruck cursed under her breath and picked up speed, wondering if shouting at them would get their attention, but she was downwind, and the storm was loud enough that she doubted her voice would carry. When she reached the point where they had stopped, she froze. The ground took a steep drop here, and there was a village in the valley below. Although the snow was distorting things, it appeared to be in ruins. Cursing more vehemently, Moonstruck galloped after the foals, hoping to catch up with them before they reached their village.

Again they proved amazingly fast for their size, and the current conditions. They were down the hill and to the edge of the village just as Moonstruck caught up with them.

"Hey! Hey kids hold up! It might be dangerous!"

The foals didn't seem to have heard her. They exchanged glances.

"You two wait here, I'll go check it out." The older one said.

"We're coming with you!" The two younger said in unison. They were twins.

"It might be dangerous!" The older insisted.

"You're not that much older than us, yanno!" The twins huffed. "We'll watch your back!"

"Grrr, fine! Stay close! And be quiet!" The older one hissed. She started cautiously into the village, her younger siblings huddling close to one another just behind her.

"Hey! Whoa, all three of you need to wait here! Hey!" Moonstruck panted, trotting up beside them. "Hey, can you hear me, or what!?"

She lifted a foreleg and nudged the older one. Or, tried to, her hoof passed right through the filly, who didn't seem to notice a thing.

Moonstruck jumped back, eyes wide, a chill creeping down her spine that had nothing to do with the weather. They had told her she might encounter ghost towns. She didn't think they'd contain actual ghosts. Not ghosts, she corrected herself, shaking her head, echoes. This is something that had happened eons ago and was still replaying here, just like Sarahs impossible escape from the airship continued to be seen from Stirrup Springs for weeks after it happened. The fillies continued their cautious trek down the main street of the tiny village, heads held low, eyes darting back and forth nervously. Moonstruck swallowed hard and looked around, noting that the village had been freshly razed, from the looks of it, although none of the rubble was still smoking. About half of the buildings were intact, but all of the windows had been blown out. If there had been any survivors, they were long gone. She absently followed the fillies, wondering what, if anything, she should do.

"Arbor Fern, where's Mom and Dad?" One of the twins whimpered. "Shouldn't they be here?"

"I don't know." The older foal said. "I don't hear anypony..."

"MOOOOOMY!? DAAADY!?" The other twin shouted, tears streaming down her face. "UNCLE CLOUDSTOP!?"

"SHHHH!" Arbor Fern hissed.

"Why!? No one is here!" The first twin barked, stomping a hoof. She was crying too. "We're the only ponies here! We can scream all we want and no one will... no one will..." She broke into sobs, and sat down. Her twin sister joined her. Arbor Fern started to cry too, but shook her head violently and pawed at the ground instead.

"We need to keep it together. Everypony probably hid out in the hills like us when the lights started! We just, we just have to go find them!"

Lights? Moonstruck wondered, looking around, feeling awkward. She knew this had happened long ago, and the fillies weren't really here in the same way she was, but she still felt strange to not comfort a crying foal. She looked down for a moment, staring at her hooves. A snowflake hit her square in the eye. She jerked her head back and shook it, then glared into the storm. The wind had died down a little since they entered the village, but it was still gusting strongly. She shivered and danced in place, wishing she had boots, and a heavier vest.

"Wait, if this is something that happened eons ago, is this a ghost storm? Should I even be cold?" She asked out loud. She looked back at the fillies and noted that they were also being effected by the snow - which made sense for them, but not for her. She scowled and looked down, took note that she was leaving tracks in the snow just as they were.

"Argh! This is so weird!" She grumbled, sauntering over and kicking a fence post. Surprisingly, it reacted to her kick and broke off just above the ground. She glanced back to see if the fillies had noticed. They didn't seem to, were still crying. Raising a brow, Moonstruck made a snowball and threw it at them. It passed harmlessly through them.

"Maybe they are ghosts." She muttered. "And the place is just stuck like this." And it was inexplicably the dead of winter, and she had no idea which way to go from here.

"C-c'mon, lets get moving, no use crying here in the snow." The older filly sniffled, she nudged her sisters to their hooves and started to walk further into town. Moonstruck turned and walked past them, back the way they had come. With luck she'd at least be able to find her way back to the creek, and her little cave, where - maybe - another night spent there would magically transport her back to the rugged foothills she'd been in yesterday. She made it all of ten steps when a blood curdling scream split the air. Moonstruck whipped around to see that it was one of the younger fillies that was emitting the horrified shriek; she was staring up at the sky in abject terror. Moonstruck looked up as well and felt her blood run cold.

There was a crack in the sky. Not a break in the clouds but a jagged crack, like ice, like a mirror. As she watched, it expanded, stretching across the sky as far as the eye could see, then splintering off into smaller cracks that crawled in delicate spidery lines from horizon to horizon. It stopped snowing, and the clouds began to churn even as a strange stillness settled over the crushed village. All three of the fillies were screaming now, and Moonstruck was surprised she wasn't screaming with them.

Below their high pitched keening was a deep, rumble - more felt than heard - and it was coming from everywhere. Deep beneath the earth, the sky, the very air, it seemed was trembling, shifting, pushing against itself in impossible ways. The biggest crack jerked suddenly, part of the sky pushing towards the ground, leaving a strange glowing shelf along the exposed edge that Moonstruck could feel resonating deep in her bones.

The fillies had had enough, it seemed; they bolted into one of the buildings to hide, leaving Moonstruck alone in the street to witness the world ending. Bits of sky started to flake away from the cracks, falling through the air, but never hitting the ground, which was shaking steadily now, heaving in violent spasms. Moonstruck stumbled back, away from where the sky was starting to glow, and the wind heaved back to life, blowing in every direction at once.

There was a truly magnificent pressure on her skull that was not unlike the strange arcane pressure that was building up around her when she was experimenting with teleporting yesterday. It did not hurt, but it was nearly maddening - she almost wished it would hurt. Blinding pain would actually be a strange relief. She shook her head, and continued to back away from the broken sky and ground, quite convinced that there was no point in running, much less trying to fly away. Everything was coming apart now; there were strange facets in the sky, traveling along fault lines and reflecting the wan morning light in faintly octarine tones in a haphazard pattern of magical distortion. A beam of intense purple light shot down from the main crack and blasted a hole in the ground which caused a shock wave powerful enough to send her flying. Moonstruck fluttered her wings in a vain attempt to get airborne, only managing to right herself just in time to crash into the ground. She tumbled for several yards before coming to a stop at the edge of town.

Then she started sliding backwards. She looked back to see everything being sucked into the beam of light, which was also pushing the ground downwards as if it was some sort of gelatinous substance. She scrambled to her hooves and started running, but she could barely find purchase on the warped and breaking cobblestones. Flapping her wings did nothing, and she knew better than to teleport while magic was this wild and unpredictable. The ground tilted upwards, shaking her loose so that she was falling back into the beam of light, as if it had a gravity all its own. Moontsruck fought back panic, and managed to summon up a basic shield spell a few moments before she collided with the light.

A/N: Octarine would be the color of magic on Discworld by Terry Pratchett. I tend to borrow it for all magical things. Because it's awesome.

9. Chapter 8

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 8

Nothing happened. Nothing at all happened; something had to exist in some fashion for it to happen, but this was most definitely a case of nothingness. Nonexistence. A glimpse into the void perhaps, although even the presence of a void seemed to somewhat contradict that idea of nothingness in that if there was a void, there must be something for that nothing to occupy, and something or someone to witness it. Moonstruck wasn't sure where she, or the limited plane of existence that most considered reality had gone - or even how long it had been gone (seconds, years, centuries?), but it was certainly back. There was grass, still wet with dew, beneath her; and the sounds of birds; and a faint breeze she could feel brushing past the hood of her cloak. It was warmer than it had been shortly before the world broke.

No, the mountains broke. The rest of the world was fine. It was just here that had splintered, and twisted, and ceased to function the way worlds are generally supposed to. She blinked a few times and carefully peeked out from under her hood. A tiny spider stared back at her from a blade of grass. She lifted her head and looked around, noting that she was in an entirely new place that seemed no closer to the higher mountains that she had been. Heaving a sigh, she climbed shakily to her hooves, taking inventory of herself and the contents of her saddlebags. Amazingly she was unhurt, and nothing was missing. She shrugged out of her cloak and vest, clumsily folded them up, then placed them in her saddlebags after a few awkward attempts.

"That was kinda anticlimactic, now that I think about it." Moonstruck muttered, shaking out her messy mane and starting forward at a slow, unsteady walk. "Get to witness the end of the world, and I didn't even get a lousy t-shirt."

A patch of white caught her attention on a nearby hill, she squinted at it, and realized there were actually a number of white blobs over there. After a few moments her heart started beating faster in her chest. They were mountain goats! Creatures who usually lived at much higher altitudes! If there were goats here, they just might know the way to the high country, and even beyond. They could be her ticket to the mountains!

She grinned and picked up the pace, determined to see if the goats were of the talking variety, and if they were willing to lead her into the mountains. After stumbling a dozen or so yards, she was forced to sit down as the world tilted ominously and her stomach churned and rumbled. She had forgotten that she hadn't had breakfast yet, which was probably why she hadn't recovered from the mornings disorienting excitement. Deciding that the goats probably weren't going anywhere anytime soon, she treated herself to a hearty breakfast, with some extended foraging in the general vicinity, then set off again once the shaking died down.

The ground stretched out before her at a gentle slope, the goats were perhaps a mile away on a neighboring hill, leisurely browsing among the lush spring growth. It was a picturesque day, all and all; warm, with a faint breeze, and a few white puffy clouds drifting leisurely overhead. The higher hills in the near distance had rocky summits, and she could see trails criss-crossing the landscape. If she didn't know better she'd say ponies had made those trails, but they were more than likely goat trails, for many of them zigzagged up inclines too steep for a pony to pass easily, or butted into rock formations where only the goats could pick their way up the sheer walls to reach the nutrient rich lichen and moss that grew in the crevasses and overhangs above.

The going seemed easy at first; she made it down into a little valley, then meandered her way up the next hillside, but when she reached the area where the goats had been, they had already gone. Or so it seemed, at first. Moonstruck followed their trails up over the crest of the hill to see that they were on the next hill over. Shrugging, she continued on her trek, following the trail down the other side of the hill, through a small patch of woods, then up the next hill. Again, she just missed the goats - they had shifted to the next hill after that. After the third attempt at reaching the goats, Moonstruck started to detect a pattern. Attempt number four confirmed it; she could not directly approach the goats.

She devised a plan over lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to circle around the goats to approach them indirectly. This did not work either, nor did pretending to accidentally stumble across them, nor did flying over to the goats - either directly, or by drifting almost aimlessly into their general vicinity. They would simply meld into the grass to pop up on a nearby hill. She didn't attempt to teleport to them until two days later, and she did so with great reluctance. She ended up teleporting to the next hill over, while the goats remained where they had been - which was not where she'd intended to go, but better than some sort of magical backlash.

It was toward sunset when she suddenly remembered a movie she saw once when she was a little foal. Feeling entirely goofy, she trotted up to the top of the hill she was on, stared long and hard at the goats, took note that there was no wind and that she could faintly hear them bleating to one another, and assumed they could hear her in turn, if she shouted loud enough. She cleared her throat, stretched up tall, fanned her wings, and tried desperately to remember all of the words:

"Baa ram ewe! Baa ram ewe! To... uh... your sheep? No - fleece! Yeah! Your fleece, your clan be true! Sheep be - er goats! Goats be true! Baaaa ram ewe!" She pricked her ears forward, and listened for a full minute for a reply, feeling entirely silly, and glad - for once - that she was out here by herself. The goats seemed unimpressed. They didn't even look at her.

She let out a weary sigh, settled back down into a slouch and flicked her ears to the sides.

"Worth a shot, I guess." She muttered to herself. Deciding to call it a day, she wandered down the hillside to search for a place to set up camp.

The next morning, she woke to several somethings milling around her tent. Moonstruck stared into space as those somethings let out various bleats, and baa's and other conversational goat type noises. Biting her lip, she very cautiously unzipped her tent and peeked out, half expecting the goats to vanish as soon as she did so, but they continued ambling around inspecting the ashes of her campfire, and eating the vegetation that grew around her tent.

"Good morning!" She said softly, poking her head out of the tent. A few of the goats raised their heads to look at her, decided she wasn't a threat, and went back to browsing. Moonstruck stifled a giggle and hastily packed her things. It was clear that these were not talking goats, but she might be able to get them to give up some of their secrets anyway.

Once she'd eaten breakfast, and had everything packed and ready, she settled in to wait for the goats to go wherever it is they went. And wait she did; it seemed that when not trying to evade her, the goats actually didn't move around much. They spent the morning browsing in the thicket that Moonstruck had chosen to camp in. In the afternoon they meandered uphill to nibble on the wildflowers that grew on the tops of the hills. And in the evening, they moved back down into the wooded areas to eat the tender new growth on the various shrubs and trees, then sleep when the sun went down. She was hesitant to wander far from the herd, so she followed them closely for the better part of three days; but the goats did not seem inclined to head towards the higher mountains, and instead seemed to be traveling in a big loop around the rocky hills.

Her initial hesitation wore off; she decided to range further from them, investigating their well worn trails alone, wandering well out of sight for a few hours at a time. The trails led to a number of places relevant to a goats interest, but they didn't seem to leave the area.

Except they did. She knew they did, she could see trails leading deeper into the mountains (complete with other herds of goats), from a number of points on the ground, as well as from the air, in the odd places she could gain enough altitude to get a clear view of the lay of the land. That was one of the many strange things of this area - she couldn't fly very high, the wind was intensely strong not far off the ground, and highly unpredictable, which made cresting some of the taller hills extremely hazardous. She'd mostly been using her wings to aid in scaling the more treacherous goat trails up various rock faces, and to glide back down to the herd to check in periodically. Not that the goats seemed to care at all.

As the days stretched on, and Moonstruck routinely failed to find a way to the paths that seemed to go somewhere, she began to sense that she had reached the point where she was merely wandering in circles. She was becoming quite familiar with certain stretches of trails, and of the impossible places they led, and the very logical places they seemed to avoid. Heading down a steep trail should not lead one back to the meadow from which they started some three hundred yards above.

The goats, for their part, seemed to know where to go, but they also didn't seem inclined to show her how they got to some of the places she occasionally found them. Whenever she just traveled with the herd, they never wandered far from where they had started, but when she left for the bulk of the day, only checking in occasionally to keep track of where they were, they would be quite a ways away from where they had bedded down for the night.

Occasionally she couldn't reach them at all, and would simply camp wherever she could, only to meet up with them later on some well trodden stretch of dusty path to follow them back to one of their favorite haunts. After nine days of this, she was loosing her cool, and decided - on an exceedingly foolish whim - to attempt to simply teleport to the distant mountains. It was safe to say that this did not go well. The resulting magical backlash left her curled up in a ball of agony in her tent with a horrendous headache for two days.

"So, I was thinking," she said a few days after her teleportztion debacle, ambling up to a doe who seemed to respond to her in a vaguely friendly way, as the herd meandered up a rocky slope. A muscle around her eye twitched a bit; an after effect of the botched teleportation. It'd wear off eventually. Probably.

"Maybe I'll just start a new queendom here and be Queen of the Goats."

The doe did not respond, but she never really did.

"I'd be a fair queen, keep predators away and all that." Moonstruck continued, nodding to herself. "No taxes to speak of, free health care. Probably build a nice water park for the kids. How's that sound, eh?"

The goat did not seem impressed.

"Eventually we could try to conquer the sheep. There's gotta be some sheep around here. Make some nice wool coats for everyone, right?"

The goat gave her an odd look. Moonstruck wondered, not for the first time, if the goats actually could understand her, but were choosing not to speak the common language. Before she could possibly call shenanigans on them, something rather large sprang out of the bushes ahead, tackled a young buck to the ground and snapped its neck in one crushing bite.

Moonstruck felt her jaw drop open as the herd scattered, bleating in terror. So much for keeping predators away... I had been thinking more along the line of wolves though....

The creature was some sort of dragon as near as she could tell, although she'd never seen one like it; it was more like an archaic, semi-scaly, six limbed bird than the usual titanic monstrosities that occasionally terrorized ponykind. While very birdlike, it was only partially feathered; just its wings and parts of its tail. It was fairly small as dragons go, only perhaps twice her height, but lean and lanky, and roughly three times her length with a long tail and neck. It was a mottled green and brown, with intense amber eyes that were now turned towards her. She gulped and took a step back, trying to activate that flight-or-fight response all herbivores had in spades. Hers did not seem to be working at the moment, so she was stuck in stand-in-shock-and/or-abject-terror mode.

The dragon opened its jaws to let the goat drop to the ground, licked the blood from its scaly lips, lifted a brow, then scratched at its chin with one clawed hand.

"Need something?"

"I - uh... er... you killed the goat." Moonstruck said lamely. Sure, the dragons around here talk, but not the goats...

"It's a carnivore thing." It - he, she thought, going by its voice, and its horns (did the females have horns too?) - said wryly.

"R-right." Moonstruck grinned sheepishly.

"You don't have to worry," said the dragon, rolling the goat onto its side so that its belly was facing the beast, "I don't eat ponies."

"Good to know." She took a small step back and folded her wings, which she now realized she'd been holding open in alarm.

"There's been a lot of you buggers running around here lately. What with that pegasus from the other side of the mountains crash landing, and some patrols from one of your villages down in the lower hills, and now you - kinda surprised you're this far in." He grumbled.

Moonstrucks brain came to a complete standstill for a few moments as the dragon breathed a small gout of flame over the goat to remove the hair. The smell of burning hair, and goat-stink got things started again. She coughed and took a few steps upwind.

"You! You're the dragon who helped Sarah!"

"Sarah?" The dragon looked up for a moment. "Oh, the pegasus? I never got her name."

"Yes! You saved her life!"

"Mmm, I figured she'd survive," he said absently, nudging the singed goat carcass with his snout, "she seemed like a fighter."

Moonstruck's mind was racing as she scowled at the ground. This was all really too much to take in, she opened her mouth to ask something as she looked over at the dragon, saw that he was eating the goat, then promptly looked away again, fighting back a wave of nausea. Instead, she kept her eyes down and paced back and forth.

"So, uh, why did you help Sarah?"

"I saw her come over the crest of the mountains," He said around a mouthful of meat, "I've been hunting out here for years, and I've never seen a pony come out of those mountains before - much less being chased by some sorta airship. Was kinda curious so I checked it out. She was hurt pretty bad. Didn't think it was right to leave her there after she went through all of that trouble to escape."

Moonstruck jerked her head up, looked over at him, saw all of the blood, then hastily looked up at the emerging stars. This was going to be difficult.

"Where did you find her?"

"Well, that's kinda hard to describe." He said. "Just this side of the highest parts of the range, kinda on the side of a steep canyon. It would take a few days to get there from here."

Moonstruck resisted the urge to look over at him again and risk giving her stomach another reason to twist itself into disgusted knots.

"You can get there from here!?"

"Yep."

She couldn't resist this time; Moonstruck whipped around and gaped at the dragon, goat guts and all.

"Can you get through the mountains? To the lands on the other side!?"

"Yeah, I've been over there a few times. Why?"

Moonstruck was fairly certain her brain had just exploded. "Can you show me the way!?"

He stared at her a for a few moments, brows furrowed. "Why? It isn't a sunshine and rainbows kinda place like this side of the mountains."

"I know! That's why I need to get over there! I'm on a mission!" Moonstruck said, prancing in place. "Roanamia's been sealed off from the rest of the world for a thousand years, and from what Sarah said, it's pretty messed up in there! If the barrier is breaking down we have to know about it and make preparations for... well, we don't know what! That's what I have to go and find out! Plus all of the magical distortion out here is creeping outward and effecting a bigger and bigger area!"

It was his turn to gape at her. "You seriously want to go in there?"

"Yes!"

"In where that crazy alicorn queen is?"

"Yes!"

"And where Magmanus is sleeping?"

"Ye - who's Magmanus?" Moonstruck stopped prancing.

"Only the biggest, most horrible and powerful durgaklech of all time." The dragon snorted a laugh. "He's been asleep in there all this time. Youngsters dare each other to go beyond the mountains, but once we get older and gain some sense, we steer clear. We don't want to wake him up by accident or something. Big dragons like that are more territorial than a duck in heat."

Moonstruck furrowed her brow. "Durgaklech?" Duck in heat?

"Our name for the monstrously huge dragons." He shrugged. "I'm fully grown, in case you're wondering. We're one of the smaller types of dragons."

"Oh, I hadn't realized there was more than one species." Moonstruck shook her head. "I've really only encountered the huge ones."

The dragon rolled his eyes, and went back to eating.

"Well, can you show me the way, or not?"

He sighed. "You don't want to go in there."

"Of course I don't! It's just something I have to do. I've been out here for weeks trying to find a way through the mountains." She stamped a hoof.

He looked her up and down. "By yourself?"

"Yup."

He worked his jaw around a little. "I suppose... you did manage to make it to the goat trails. How'd you get here anyway? The lake by the sideways forest, the rocky path, or the village where the cataclysm is still happening?"

"The village, I guess? I just woke up here after things ran their course." Moonstruck grimaced.

He let out a low whistle. "That's the rough way." He furrowed his brow. then shook his head. "No, no, it's too risky. I don't even go past the second circle anymore."

"I can pay you! I'm a princess, I'm totally loaded!"

"I have no need of money." He said flatly. "Or gems."

Moonstruck bit her lip, looking away again as the dragon went back to his meal. There had to be something in it for him. If whatever evil, or magical disturbance that was lurking in there got out, it had to effect the whole world, not just ponykind. He had to know that, right?

"What if Magmanus is waking up, and that's why the magical distortion is expanding?" She blurted.

The dragon froze.

She donned her best poker face as she started pulling some choice bits of nonsense out of her proverbial hat, an odd thrill racing down her spine as she did so.

"I remember reading somewhere that really big, really old dragons can distort magic itself if they aren't careful to maintain their personal magical fields. If Magmanus is as big, and as old as you imply, he must be able to influence a massive area."

"I hadn't realized ponies knew that much about dragons." He said slowly, giving her quite the side-eye.

"We know enough to survive." She said, remaining cool on the surface; inside her head she squeaked nervously. She hadn't expected her bluff to turn out to be true! Unless he was bluffing as well. She shoved that thought aside.

"If he's waking up, wouldn't it be prudent to investigate, and warn your people? If Magmanus is still allied with Queen Lucena, there's no telling what they could do."

The dragon rocked back to rest the tip of his tail on the ground, and stared at her for a long moment.

"Okay, lets say I lead you in there," he waved a hand towards the crest of the mountains, and ruffled his wings, "and Magmanus wakes up. Whaddya gonna do then? You can't just come and go as you please in there. We'd be sitting ducks - as would anyone living in there."

"Pff, no problem. I'm a dragonslayer back home. I can figure something out." Moonstruck shrugged.

The dragon burst out laughing. He even fell over and rolled around on his back for a few moments, before rolling onto his belly and pounding a fist into the rocky ground.

"Oh, that's a good one!" He chortled. "I mean - I mean, okay! I get that you're an alicorn, and alicorns can be immensely powerful but - I mean, come on! Ha ha!"

He sat up and wiped tears from his eyes with the backs of his hands. "Even if you've managed to kill a dragon or two, we're talking about Magmanus here! He's the size of a mountain! His fire breath can melt stone! He has a magic field around him that protects him from all harm, and his scales are so strong that most projectiles will bounce off of 'em anyway!"

Moonstruck wondered how much of that was just rumor, and smirked. "I happen to know a way around all of that."

"Oh, please." The dragon giggled.

"I do! It's rather simple." She shook her head, amused that the truth was less believable than the bluff. If Magmanus did actually have some sort of powerful shield that might prove troublesome, however. She'd figure something out, if it came to that.

"And what would that be?" He snorted.

"Like I'm going to tell you!" Moonstruck laughed She waved a hoof flippantly. "Anyway, that's not the mission - it's strictly reconnaissance. Get in, look around a bit to see what we're up against, and get out. I shouldn't be there more than a month, tops."

The dragon gave her an amused look, still dubious, it seemed.

"What, do you doubt your own stealth? You said yourself that you've been beyond the mountains a few times already. Getting rusty are we?" She teased.

"Hardly." He huffed, turning his head to the side to look at her with one large, amber eye. She noted that he had round pupils, not slitted the way most dragon eyes were. At least, the dragons she had encountered. Even little Spike had slitted pupils.

"I was doubting your stealth."

"Ha! I made it all the way out here without you noticing, didn't I?" Moonstruck snorted.

"True, but that's not exactly difficult here, and I wasn't looking for you. Over there, the mountains are under constant watch." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the higher peaks. "You won't be able to slink around without catching someone's attention."

Moonstruck smirked, hoped that magic worked mostly normally here and summoned up a quick, illusory disguise. Something that most ponies wouldn't notice, nor care about if they did.

"Not bad." The dragon said, taking a small step back and gaping at the large raven that now stood in the place Moonstruck had just occupied.

"Just a little something." Moonstruck shrugged, remembering to bob her head a little, then turn it to the side to look at the dragon with one eye, then the other. Illusions were only as good as the performance, after all. It wasn't enough that she looked like a raven, she had to act like one as well. It was really akin to puppetry.

"Hmm." He scowled and twitched his wings a few times, then flicked his tail in a very catlike manner. Most of his body language seemed to be an odd blend of feline and avian, but not in the same way that a griffon moved. Griffons almost had a pasted together sense to their gestures, whereas the dragon was more smooth, and fluid. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

"I suppose I can show you how to get in and out." He said slowly, after a few more moments of internal debate. "You're on your own for anything beyond that."

"That would be awesome!" Moonstruck grinned, dropping the illusion. "And I will find some way to pay you for your trouble."

"Eh, don't worry about it." The dragon shrugged. He offered a bloody hand. "The name's Joseph."

Moonstruck lifted a foreleg, glanced down at the goat carcass, the blood dripping from the dragons clawed hand, and hesitated. The dragon looked down as well, grinned sheepishly, then dropped his hand.

"Right, nevermind."

"I'm Moonstruck." She said, also grinning sheepishly.

"Moonstruck? You ponies and your silly names." Joseph chuckled.

"Pfff, what kind of a name is Joseph? I knew a cat named that once." Moonstruck scoffed.

"Moonstruck sounds like something a whelpling calls a pet beetle." He snorted.

They eyed each other for a few moments.

Moonstruck was the first to crack a grin. "Do you play cards?"

A/N: My Little Pony: Friendship is Giving Each Other Shit.

10. Chapter 9

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 9

Moonstruck poked her head out of her tent and blinked blearily at the thick fog that had formed overnight. She could barely see past the edge of the circle of boulders and shrubs that Joseph had advised camping in, and it was only about thirty feet across. Now that she thought of it, she couldn't see the dragon either. Last she saw he had been bedding down in a tangle of shrubs across the fire. Granted, he was well camouflaged, but she should be able to see him in his temporary nest. Wrinkling her nose, Moonstruck pulled her head back into her tent to eat a light breakfast and pack her things.

She emerged a short while later to collapse the tent and pack it away in her saddlebags. With that done, she ambled back across the clearing to poke her head out between two of the taller boulders, squinting into the gloom. "Joseph?" She called.

"Yeah?" Came a faint reply.

"Just wondering if you ditched me." Moonstruck said, heading towards the sound of his voice.

"Nah, just finishing up that goat."

Moonstruck paused. Right, he'd stashed the goat a short distance away downwind to eat for breakfast. She shuddered; traveling with a carnivore was going to take some getting used to. The dragon appeared a minute or so later, ambling casually out of the mist, licking a bit of blood off his talons.

"All set?" He asked, stopping a polite distance away.

"Yep. Dunno how far we'll get in this fog, though." Moonstruck scowled.

"It'll burn off soon enough." He started up the faint trail they'd used to reach the circle of boulders at a brisk pace. Moonstruck kept up easily, already feeling like they were making progress, despite the dreary weather.

"I'm gonna warn you right now," the dragon said as they continued to climb the hill, "it's gonna get confusing, and it's gonna seem like we're going in circles for a long time - and sometimes we really will be."

"Nothing new there." Moonstruck snorted.

"I'm sure you've noticed that the hills here are kind of a patchwork of different geographic regions, and times." Joseph grunted, then hopped over a rock. "Getting around out here is as much about when you need to be, as where."

Moonstruck perked her ears up a little. She'd had an inkling that different regions she wandered in to were somehow stuck in a particular season, but it hadn't occurred to her that they were actually existing at a different point in time. "So, there's parts of the range that can be only be accessed at certain times?"

"Yep."

"Wish I'd known that earlier." Moonstruck shook her head.

Joseph chuckled. "It'd take you years to figure out. I'm still surprised you managed to find the goats."

"Yeah, that took a while. I could see them, but I couldn't get to 'em. Finally woke up one morning and the herd had decided to bed down where I'd camped, I guess." She chuckled.

"That was lucky. Those goats know how to work the time distortion here so they're never when they appear to be."

"Was that how they were always the next hill over?"

"As near as I can tell."

"Wow."

They were silent for a while, moving steadily up the hill, past the place where Joseph had taken the goat, and over the crest of the hill where the wind was strong enough to break up the mist and let cheery sunlight reflect strongly off the still fogged in lowlands. It was a lovely view.

They trotted along the ridge for a little while, then descended to a low lying plateau, and back into the fog. They followed a small creek for several hours before breaking off onto a goat trail to climb a rocky butte that eventually led them to an area Moonstruck was most familiar with. It was a narrow, rock walled canyon, in the center of which was a tall basalt formation around which the goat trails wound. It was one of the places where you inevitably ended up where you started. It was too narrow to take off safely here, so there was no flying or climbing out of the canyon either. And yet, trails could clearly be seen on the higher parts of the canyon walls, and she'd seen an odd goat up there once or twice. She hadn't been able to figure out how they'd gotten up there, since there was no indication anywhere that they had wandered up the canyon wall as goats are wont to do. There were no goats today, it seemed.

They ended up walking in circles for quite some time. First clockwise, then counterclockwise. Occasionally Moonstruck would catch a glimpse of something overhead, but she could never get a good enough look at it to discern if it was a goat, or a bird, or some other creature watching them.

"So, uh, are you lost, or is this some sorta weird ritual?"

"Ritual. Sort of. This one's kinda like a combination lock." Joseph grunted, spinning abruptly, and marching past her, back the way they'd come. Moonstruck rolled her eyes, but fell into step behind him without comment. It was like a foal had made up the rules of this place.

They came around a bend in the trail to see a path leading up the canyon wall that Moonstruck hadn't noticed before. Here there were plenty of signs of the passing of goats; tracks in the dustier parts, nibbled on shrubbery, and droppings.

"Ah, here we are." Joseph said, padding lightly up the path, careful to avoid the droppings.

Soon they were climbing steadily past the basalt formation and around the main bend in the canyon; past the point where the distortion usually sent her back the way she came (without realizing it until she emerged back onto the hillside that she first entered), and along the rim of the canyon as it opened up into a wider, shallower valley that spilled into densely forested lowlands below a trio of towering rock formations.

"We can fly here." Joseph said, as they reached a wide spot in the trail before it wound back up to the highest part of the canyon wall overlooking the woods below. "But only for the rest of the day."

"Sweet!" Moonstruck laughed. She crouched, and leaped into the air after the dragon, fluttering behind him as he worked his long, broad wings in powerful strokes to reach a comfortable cruising altitude. Moonstruck felt like a chubby little bird next to a sleek and powerful raptor - her wings were so small in comparison. She felt even sillier once they were a good two thousand feet up, and the dragon settled into a swift glide, his wings easily supporting his weight without flapping.

She scowled as she looked back at her own small wings which she most certainly could not use to soar with. She knew that ponies were not really built to fly - pony flight was an inborn magical ability, and the wings were really more of a way to control their flight - even alicorns had wings that were technically too small to fly with. She just hadn't seen it revealed so plainly before. Joseph was clearly built to fly without the aid of magic; large wings, tail feathers that fanned out from the base of his long, reptilian tail, and another oval set off the tip of his tail that seemed more ornamental, but also added an additional degree of control and lift. She wondered how larger dragons even got off the ground - surely they had a similar magical flight ability to pegasus ponies, but they were often so huge that she really doubted that was all there was to it.

She let her mind wander to other subjects as they made their way past the forest, and over the rock formations, then followed the course of a large river for the rest of the day. Moonstruck noted that they seemed to be moving more west, than north, but didn't question it. If they were trying to connect broken pieces of landscape to reach a pass, there was no telling what strange directions they'd have to go in to get to where they wanted.

They made camp at sunset, then set off on hoof the next morning; descending east into a surprisingly young forest, then zigzagging their way up a conical peak before turning back to the west again to spend the day trotting along an especially windy and rocky ridge. Joseph informed her that to get anywhere they had to stay on the ridge overnight, which did not make for comfortable camping conditions, and foraging for breakfast was especially tedious, as only a few stubborn shrubs, moss and lichen grew nearby. Moonstruck had run out of the travel bread days before, so foraging was absolutely vital.

Luckily they were able to fly again the next morning, so the rest of the day passed relatively quickly, and their next campsite had plenty to eat growing in and around it.

"What's with the bowl?" Joseph asked as Moonstruck shuffled over to the fire levitating a bowl full of greens and a few berries she knew were edible.

"Pardon?"

"Why do you always gather up your food with magic, and put it in that bowl before you eat it?" He inclined his snout at the collapsible bowl. "Can't you just eat it where it grows like other animals?"

Moonstruck blinked a few times and stared at the bowl full of salad. She honestly hadn't thought of that. It wasn't like she couldn't, she just... well she was a civilized pony, and civilized ponies didn't eat their food off the floor, or directly off the plant.

"I... don't know?"

"How can you not know?" Joseph scratched the back of his head.

"I... just don't. It's not something ponies do."

"Weird."

"Your face is weird." Moonstruck shrugged and plopped down with her bowl of greens.

Joseph chuckled softly and fussed with the pine needles he'd gathered for bedding.

"So we gonna play that card game, or what?" Moonstruck asked around a mouthful of dandelion.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure."

They scooted over so that the fire wasn't in their way. Moonstruck set her bowl down and pulled her cards out of her saddlebags, shuffling them thoroughly before dealing. Joseph was familiar with poker, but he'd never played much, it seemed. She was curious to see if she could read him as well as she could ponies, since his unconscious body language was entirely different than a ponies. After almost a dozen hands, she had a good idea of his various twitches, but nothing solid; he was a terrible player, so he let most of his frustration show.

"Sorry, poker isn't really my game." He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and let his cards fall face up on the ground in front of him. He didn't have anything, and they were playing draw.

"So... what do you play?" Moonstruck asked, gathering the cards again for another quick shuffle.

"Well... my sibs and I used to play Go Fish a lot. Mom always played Rummy with us when it was too cold to hunt. Could never get the hang of that one, either." He scowled into the fire. "Why is this so important again?"

"I'm testing something. And Go Fish works." Go Fish certainly involved some bluffing and poker faces. She dealt the cards, then placed the deck between them, and lifted her hand to take a look at what she had. A whole lotta nothing, but that wasn't a big deal at the start of Go Fish.

"You can go first."

"Alrighty, got any three's?" Joseph said evenly.

Moonstruck calmly chucked her three of spades at him.

"Any six's?"

"Go fish."

He grunted and drew a card off the deck. "What are you testing?"

"Got any sevens?"

"Go fish."

She drew a card off the deck. "Just wondering if I can read you as well I can read ponies. You have an entirely different non-verbal language."

"Oh." He scowled down at his cards. "Got any jacks?"

"Go fish."

"And the point of being able to read me is...?"

"Got any nines?"

He chucked two cards at her. She caught them mid air and added them to her hand.

"Got any aces?"

She drew a card. It was a nine of clubs, which completed her collection of nines. She placed the cards face up on the ground in front of her.

"Honestly, I'm just curious. Being able to figure out what ponies are going to do is kinda vital for poker, and various other situations. It'd be interesting to see if I can read a dragon as well."

"I can see that." Joseph grunted. "Got any threes?"

"Keep fishing, dude."

He snorted a laugh and drew a card. "Well, I dunno what I can teach you as far as dragon body language is concerned."

"Quite a bit." Moonstruck said. "Got any fives?"

"Go fish."

She drew a card. "I already know you suck at poker, and your wing and tail twitches are dead giveaways for a lot of things."

"Should probably have to have you try to figure out what I'm thinking when I'm hunting," he muttered as he rearranged his cards a little. "got any queens?"

"Drat!" Moonstruck spat, handing him the three queens she'd collected. Joseph let out a triumphant chortle and placed the cards face up in front of him.

"And what about your pokerface, eh?" He grinned.

"This is go fish. Go fish is inherently violent." Moonstruck grumbled.

The dragon burst out laughing. "Ain't that the truth!"

Moonstruck abandoned her study after a short while, getting lost in the fun of playing a silly card game as the forest darkened around them, and the night creatures started their chorus. They wrapped up their game as full dark settled in. Moonstruck gathered up her cards and stared down at them for a while. It had felt like just another camping trip for a little while there; except Breezy, Patch and Windwake weren't here. Nor where there marshmallows, and a big jug of cider. She let out a weary sigh and stared up at the stars peeking through the trees overhead.

"You okay?"

She started, then looked over at the dragon, whom was already curled up in his nest of pine needles. She smiled faintly.

"I'm fine. Just... wishing I coulda brought my friends with me. G'night." She turned and stepped into her tent, zipping it up behind her without looking back.

"Night."

Another foggy morning greeted them. They broke camp slowly in hopes that the mist would dissipate, but it seemed especially stubborn today. After loafing around their little clearing for two hours, Joseph decided to go ahead and start walking.

"How do you find your way around out here?" Moonstruck asked as they picked their way through the dense fog and denser underbrush.

"I can sense the breaks."

"Huh?"

"You know how everything's fragmented out here, right? Broken up, mixed up?" Joseph said, turning his head to look over his back at her with one eye.

"Yeah?"

"I can sense where the edges of the fragments are."

"Seriously?" She furrowed her brow and pricked her ears forward. "So... you like... know how all of the pieces are supposed to fit together?"

"Some of 'em. Mostly I know where the edges are." He shrugged.

She blinked a few times, stared at the back of his head. "How in blazes can you sense all of that?"

"There's dragon magic mixed into the cracks, and it flows in one particular direction. Once I figured out which way it flows, I started using it as a compass."

Moonstruck let out a low whistle. She'd never tried to sense dragon magic - in fact, she hadn't known there was a difference. She'd always been taught that magic was magic, for the most part. She briefly wished that she was better at meditating and entering trances; it'd be interesting to see if she could tease out the different sorts of magic swirling around out here. Wait….

"So, if there's dragon magic mixed in, what else is there?"

"Mmm, some very powerful pony magic, and a lot of wild magic." Joseph shrugged. "The wild magic is -"

"The magic of the land itself. That one I know." Moonstruck nodded. "And it's not surprising, all things considered."

The dragon grunted and nodded.

Speaking of magic, it occurred to Moonstruck that she hadn't encountered many instances where a pegasus or a unicorn could not figure out a way around the various obstacles and oddities the foothills had to offer. While flying was limited, a pegasus could still scale sheer rock walls with wing-aided climbing, as she had done on numerous occasions, and a unicorn could use self levitation to the same ends - something she had not tried, but she had wings and therefore did not need to. Then again, she vaguely recalled someone mentioning that unicorns simply had an easier time navigating than pegasus and earth ponies; perhaps being a magic-user acted as some sort of key, or pass-code to access parts of the range a non-magic-user could not.

She scowled. Magic-user wasn't the right term; pegasus ponies had magic; flight, and weather manipulation were both magical abilities. They lacked spell magic, which unicorns have. Another question popped up in her mind as she realized this.

"Hey, Joseph?"

"Mmm?"

"Weird question - do you rely on your innate magical abilities, or can you cast spells?"

"Uh, innate, I guess. I've never cast a spell in my life, but one of my sisters is a wizard." He looked back at her again. "Why?"

"Just wondering. I was told that only a flying spellcaster could get around out here." She shrugged. "But I haven't encountered anything that a regular unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony couldn't tackle - especially if they worked together."

"Oh. Well, there is a sort of anti-pony field. That might have something to do with it."

Her head shot up. "What!?"

"Yeah it's..." he paused, tapping his chin with one claw, "I guess it would be a sort of befuddlement spell, I think. All I know is that none of you ponies seem to be able to get past a certain point on your own. Ya'll just kinda start going in weird directions once you hit it, which seems to indicate there's actually some kinda spell at work to confuse you."

"It's confusing enough as it is - and why didn't you mention that sooner!?"

"You didn't ask!" He said flatly.

She glared at him. "And how do you know it's an anti-pony field?"

"I don't, really." He scratched the back of his head. "I just know that I can come and go out here without encountering any trouble, but the odd ponies I've seen try to explore out here wander around for a few weeks then turn back. None of them have stuck around long enough to figure out where all the breaks are - and I'm pretty sure your kind can find them too."

She worked her jaw around a little, turning that idea over in her head. He had a point, and he probably hadn't been around for some of the longer expeditions she'd read about from before the expansion of the magical distortion. Teams of survivalists had stayed out here for months trying to find a way through, but none of them could find their way higher than the foothills. If there was some sort of befuddlement spell in place, it would explain why none of the unicorns had been able to sense the breaks - or even thought to look for the edges between pieces. Well, aside from the lowest level of the foothills, where Dr. Amber had warned her about the sudden landscape changes. She wished she had a time machine to go back and ask him if he'd ever thought to look for the freakin' edges and use them as a sort of landmark, or compass, as Joseph did.

"Alright, that makes sense. So, do you think I'm effected, or is it too soon to tell?" She inclined her head towards him.

"Well, you made it to the goat trails, so you were probably already further ahead than any pony that came before." He said, starting off again.

"So the goat trails are pretty far in?"

"Er... not really, but they act like a central hub, so once you figure 'em out, you can get to pretty much anywhere you want."

"Neat. What about now?

"Now we're only a few days out. Well... actually that kind of depends on how the next leg goes." He tilted his head to the side.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Time moves differently over a lake we must fly over. It... well you'll see when we get there."

Conversation dwindled off after that, and soon the fog lifted, allowing them to take off. It was a short flight heading in the general direction of the lower foothills, and over deep, dense, forest. It was warmer in this region, almost balmy. Joseph signaled that they should land well before sunset, and they set down in a particularly unremarkable stretch of woodland. They walked for a few more hours, wandering along a faint trail that took them in something of a figure eight pattern, which they had to repeat a few times, then double back on, then cross over onto another faint trail, then loop back to where they started from, then finally set off on a rather improbable track that appeared where a jumble of boulders had been previously. Moonstruck knew she'd never get used to such complex path finding.

They stopped near sunset at the ruins of a truly ancient city. It looked like it had been there well before the founding of Equestria. Joseph informed her that the ruins were very old as near as he could tell, and quite deserted, and in no way, shape or form haunted. He also informed her that they would spend the following day there as well, for the airspace above the lake was only accessible at night. At first, Moonstruck was intent on exploring the ruins, but as she crawled into her bedroll shortly after sunset, it dawned on her that for the first time in weeks she could sleep in.

Which is precisely what she did. In fact, she didn't emerge from her tent until after noon, and spent the bulk of the day lazing about their campsite; only wandering through the ruins as evening approached.

They were very strange ruins, she had to admit. Something this old seemed quite out of place here. For one thing, she couldn't recall anything like this on the old maps she had seen - most of the settlements in the region south of Roanamia had been small villages - nothing of this scope. It was possible that the mapmakers simply hadn't known it was here, although she wasn't sure how anypony could miss it. The place was huge, although none of the buildings were over two stories tall, and were masked by many tall trees. A thousand years ago the ancient trees would have been much smaller, and the not-so-ancient ones wouldn't have been here at all. Despite its' age, and the amount of vegetation that was crawling up walls, and into buildings, the stonework was in excellent shape. With some pruning, and a few plumbing upgrades the city could easily be used again.

Any murals that might have graced the walls, and offered some clues were long gone though. There wasn't much statuary either; a few heraldic griffon and dragon sculptures remained here and there, and one particularly large building was flanked by rearing alicorn stallions, but the rest was curiously devoid of figurative work. Even chambers well inside and well protected from the elements were devoid of paintings and frescoes, and ornamental do-dads that would give clue to who had built this place, and why. Although there were many fountains now dry, Moonstruck couldn't find a natural water source, nor any evidence of above ground aquifers (underground water pipes seemed unlikely in ruins this old), so perhaps the original residents had simply up and left when their water source dried up. She knew there was a lake nearby, since Joseph had said they'd be flying over it, but there was no telling where, or when it was actually from, or if it had anything to do with the abandoned city.

Although she regretted spending most of the day being as lazy as possible and squandering a chance to explore more of the city, she was glad to get moving after dinner, and the sun began to sink below the horizon.

They broke camp, and started off into the city at a brisk pace. The lake, Joseph had informed her, had a narrow window of existence - they had to be at just the right place at just the right time to reach it. He led her on a fairly straightforward course through the city, keeping to wide streets, and moving steadily upwards in what she felt was a more or less northwesterly direction.

"Okay, it's hard to explain what happens with the lake," Joseph said as they reached what strongly resembled a warehouse district, "just whatever you do, don't look up or down for very long and keep your eye on the shore straight ahead."

"Alright," Moonstruck scowled, wrinkling her nose. They rounded a corner and padded out onto a waterfront. Or what would have been a waterfront if the lake wasn't bone dry. Or appeared to be bone dry; Moonstruck could smell the water quite clearly even if the stone piers extended out into a deep, empty basin that stretched far into the distance. The dragon came to a stop in front of one dock, and gestured for her to stay behind a line of ornate tile work.

The sun was out of sight below the western horizon now, but there was still a deep purple glow over the western edge of the lake bed. The temperature dropped abruptly, and fog began to ooze out between the buildings behind them. Moonstruck shivered, and watched her breath frost in the suddenly chill air. To the east, a blue-white glow through the tall trees signaled the rising of the moon. As the moon crept into the sky, a ripple appeared on what would be the surface of the lake, moving outwards from the moons rays and rolling silently across the empty gulf. And then, with the feeling of wind off the sea, and the contented sigh of a forest as the first autumn storm brings rain to a parched land, the lake was there.

"Cool," Moonstruck breathed, as Joseph grinned and stepped out onto the pier ahead of her.

"Try to follow me as close as you can." He said as he walked the length of the dock.

Moonstruck nodded and fell into step a half a length directly behind him.

"Especially when we get to the other side, it gets a bit tricky there, and there's no telling where you might end up."

"Right."

Joseph trotted a few steps then lunged off the end of the dock, taking wing in one smooth, powerful motion. Moonstruck followed suit, cantering a few steps and springing off the dock with somewhat less grace, and more frantic flapping, but adequate results. The dragon skimmed the lake for a few minutes then slowly gained altitude, leading her up to about three hundred feet above the calm, black water, where he settled into a swift glide.

Moonstruck fluttered along after him, enjoying the cool wind through her mane and feathers, and the faint and improbable scent of the ocean. The stars wheeled overhead, reflected perfectly on inky, undisturbed surface of the lake. She could see why looking up or down for too long would be disorienting, it was hard to tell water from sky.

As they flew, she found her gaze drifting upwards anyway, entranced by the clear, crisp starlight that seemed to be slipping overhead faster than usual. Actually... she made it a point to stare at a single constellation for a while... actually the stars were moving much faster than they should. She blinked rapidly, and shook her head, absentmindedly looking down, only to jolt up a few feet in shock as the airspace in the reflection was teaming with all manner of creatures crisscrossing the lake in incredible numbers; geese, ducks, herons, ponies, dragons, griffons, hawks, crows, songbirds - even flying creatures that she couldn't even begin to identify! And behind them, above them, beyond them the sky spun, the stars blazed past, and the moon waxed and waned and... and.…

Moonstruck gagged, and squeezed her eyes shut for as long as she dared, fighting back the wave of nausea that was pounding against her stomach, and behind her eyes.

"Told you not to look up or down for too long!" Joseph chortled from up ahead.

"Yeah. Yeah, that was dumb." Moonstruck grunted, opening one eye a crack to make sure she hadn't drifted too far in any direction. She was a little further back than she had been before, and slightly high, but otherwise fine. She worked her way back into position, and bit her lip. She could still see the stars moving unnaturally fast, and it was not helping. After a little experimentation with switching between eyes, she settled on simply squinting so that she only really saw the tip of Josephs tail. It was a bit dangerous, but it'd have to do until the dizziness and nausea settled down.

Impossibly the eastern sky lightened in what she was sure had only been ten minutes, then the sun hove into view. It streaked across the sky over the course of a half an hour, sinking below the western horizon to give way to the moon, and stars. Three days passed in this fashion, leaving Moonstruck decidedly disoriented. The only anchor points she could cling to were the weight of her saddlebags, and the lightly bobbing tail of the dragon flying ahead of her. Thankfully, things came to an end as they reached the far shore of the lake. Joseph shouted to remind her to follow as closely as possible, then sped up to nearly a sprint.

The lake shore grew closer as the sun rose at an alarming rate, Joseph made a slight tail adjustment and gained altitude; Moonstruck labored to keep up, and watched him carefully, ready for any sudden change of course. He continued gaining altitude as they crossed over the border of the lake, leveled off for a hundred yards or so, then swept into a steep dive. Moonstruck gritted her teeth and followed, even though they were only a few hundred feet above the treetops.

Amazingly they did not crash into any trees, the forest seemed to stretch down and away in front of them, even though they appeared to be over a relatively flat area. Joseph flipped his right wing up, rotated onto his side, and slid around an unseen obstacle with wings outspread. Moonstruck did her best to imitate him, but discovered her less streamlined build wasn't well suited to such a maneuver and found herself flutter-galloping along the rock face that loomed suddenly in front of her.

The dragon rotated again, this time flipping upside down and sweeping into a shallow dive. Moonstruck pushed herself off the rock face and followed suit, finding herself inexplicably right side up and rising with the dragon into a cloudless blue sky. She shook her head, trying to find her equilibrium, then Joseph swept into a spiraling dive. She abandoned her quest for balance, and simply focused on keeping up, and not puking. Thankfully the spiral was short lived, and Joseph leveled off as an entirely new landscape rose into view; rounded cliffs that soared upwards, becoming taller, and more dramatic as they swept away into the distance. The dragon led her down to a clearing and landed lightly on a fallen log. Moonstruck was not so graceful, but managed to land without hurting herself.

"Whoo!" Joseph chortled, shaking out his mane. "That always gets my heart racing. One wrong move and SMACK, right into a rock formation!"

Moonstruck sprawled on the ground on her belly and squeezed her eyes shut. "Do I have to go back that way when I leave? Should I have been taking notes?"

"Ha ha, no. Leaving is easy from this side. I'll show you the trick to get out once we're on the other side. It isn't as difficult as that. More about timing, than anything."

"Oh good."

He let her lie in the sun for a few minutes (thankfully the sun seemed to have gone back to a normal speed), then roused her for the next leg of the journey, which would be on hoof for a while. They made their way along the base of the cliffs for half the day, which was rather relaxing after all of the dizzying flying, then scaled a rocky spire that jutted out into the forest from the cliffs. Moonstruck felt her jaw drop as they reached a saddle back in the rock, and stared into the river gorge beyond. It was massive; the river that ran through it was well over a mile wide and likely very deep, and bordered with deep forests of ancient trees. Far upstream, visible even in the hazy afternoon sunlight, were two titanic sculptures of rearing alicorns. Her mind raced back to the ancient map Celestia had shown her.

"This - this must be the Roan River! And that must be the Gate of the Twins!" She gasped.

"Is that what those are called? I just called 'em the big alicorn statues." Joseph chuckled.

"Yeah. I... I don't remember most of the story but they were from a much earlier age - something about a brother-sister duo who set about to bring balance and magic to the world, or something. It's basically an old mares tale - I never even knew these statues existed until Princess Celestia gave me a bunch of stuff to read on Roanamia. The Roanamians took the legends very seriously, and carved those two monuments in honor of the twins, and to mark the southernmost border of their lands."

Moonstruck swept her gaze across the gorge and tried to remember more of the old maps she'd seen, and various other bits of information she'd read, as well as what the mountains looked like from the observation deck of the Stirrup Springs museum. "This is the Roan River Gorge then... it used to run straight down the middle of these mountains, but I have no idea where it is now - it doesn't seem to be there from outside the foothills."

"Lets keep moving. Wanna get as far into the gorge as we can by nightfall, otherwise we might accidentally stray into another break." Joseph ruffled his wings. "We can fly from here."

"Right." Moonstruck shook her head, then crouched, waited a beat for Joseph to take off, then lunged into the air after him.

They spent the rest of the day flying swiftly upstream, keeping to the center of the river to avoid the ample bird-traffic along the banks. There was a much wider variety of birds here, Moonstruck noted; and more evidence of deer and other larger animals the odd times they flew over an island in the river. There also seemed to be more evidence of time passing here; every now and then she'd spot the remains of a pier on either side of the river; occasional vertical poles, or stone structures that indicated that something had once stretched out onto the river. Most of the wood was gone now. The village she'd encountered weeks ago had been stuck in a time loop of sorts, while the abandoned city Joseph had taken her to seemed to have been largely untouched by time. This place seemed downright normal.

They searched for a place to spend the night as the sun neared the western horizon, turning some of the taller peaks of the mountains dazzling shades of pink and gold. Moonstruck was more than happy to land near what was likely once part of a bridge that spanned the river in short sections; hopping from one small island to another. All that was left were the supports on dry land above the flood line. The bridge itself was long gone. It suited their purposes, however, in that it provided handy shelter and plenty of dry firewood in the form of deadfall that had ended up lodged next to the massive stone arches. Moonstruck was also happy to note that the foraging here was especially good. She was able to collect enough food for a proper feast, as well as a number of nuts and roots that would keep for a good long time. This allowed her to replenish her non-perishable foodstuffs for those stretches where foraging didn't turn up much. Joseph wandered off for a few hours to hunt while she set up camp.

"Too bad I don't have time to dry anything, or make some kinda flatbread. I think I remember how to make acorn flour." She mused as she finished setting up her tent. "Not that it's the right time of year for acorns."

She spun around and eyed the fire pit she'd dug, then launched a small spark from her horn into the dry kindling she'd collected earlier and arranged in the pit. The wood caught easily, and soon she had a crackling fire to warm the stone archway they'd chosen as a campsite. She stared into space for a few moments, going over her mental chore list. She'd already washed what needed washing; refilled her water bottles, collected and eaten dinner (as well as some aforementioned long keeping tubers and nuts), set up her tent, and started the fire. All that was left was to wait for the dragon to return so that she could retreat into her tent without worrying about leaving the fire unattended. Not that it could do much damage, it was very damp through here, the forest was almost impossibly green, and tramping around had left her lower legs wet and chilly.

Moonstruck yawned, then unzipped her tent and stepped inside. She spun around so that her head was facing the fire, then plopped down. Joseph was not usually gone for long; if he couldn't find anything to eat in a few hours, he tended to wander back and sleep instead. He'd told her once that he didn't want to stray too far in search of prey and possibly cross over into a sub-fragment that was in a slightly different time than the one she was in. The sub-fragments were often hard to detect, apparently, and while they weren't big problems, they could be big time wasters. Plus, she suspected, there just weren't that many animals out here, which meant the dragon likely had to go hungry quite a bit. He could, and did eat plants, but it wasn't his mainstay.

There weren't many animals in other parts of the foothills, she corrected herself, crossing her forelegs and letting her eyes slide half shut. The gorge was teeming with life. He'd probably have an easy time finding some poor creature to eat.

A/N: Progresssssss!

11. Chapter 10

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 10

They set off just after dawn the next day to continue flying upriver. Signs of long abandoned structures became more frequent as they drew closer to the titanic statues at the far end of the gorge, and the river became narrower, and faster. At noon, they spotted a massive, sprawling city on the east bank of the river. It stretched from the waters edge all the way to the cliffs, and ponies had even carved buildings into the rock faces themselves. Joseph made straight for it, and led her down to land in the very center of town.

"Wow," Moonstruck folded her wings and spun in a slow circle, gaping up at the deceptively delicate spires, and soaring ramparts of the complex city. Most everything had vines growing over it, and weeds were pushing up through the cracks in the pavement. All around her the city was slowly crumbling away, being overtaken by the forest.

"I think... I think this is Pax Rona. It was a huge commerce hub. Goods from all across the world passed through here."

"Makes sense. Some of the houses up in the cliffs are huge." Jospeh nodded.

"Lotta money came through here."

"Alright, this'll be your last chance to gather food for a day or so." Joseph said, trotting towards a large thoroughfare that headed in the general direction of the cliffs. "Going over these mountains takes some careful planning and timing, but going under them is a simple matter of knowing which door to open."

"Under?" Moonstruck pricked her ears up. "There's tunnels?"

"Sorta. All of the crystal mines are still there, and some of the mines connect to the other side. It's considerably easier than trying to get to the few passes that go all the way to the other side." Joseph shrugged.

"Cool," Moonstruck grinned. "I've never been in a crystal mine. We don't have 'em in Trot. In fact, we don't mine anything at all back home."

Joseph led her to a section of the city that sprawled into a narrow side canyon, and to a semi-circular courtyard carved out of the cliffs themselves. A pair of massive double doors stood slightly agape. They lead into the cliff side building, and the mines themselves. Moonstruck noted that the carved outer cliff had a number of extremely sturdy pillars placed strategically around the arena; that the causeway leading out was especially wide, and that the road itself seemed to take a direct route down to the river.

"Bet they had some pretty big cranes up there."

"Probably." Joseph shrugged.

"And they hauled crystals and rocks and stuff down to to the river this way." Moonstruck said, squinting into the distance to see if there was some sort of harbor. There were too many buildings in the way, but she wouldn't be surprised if there were docks at the end of the road.

"Seems logical. Alrighty, it's best to start out first thing in the morning." Joseph said, spinning and heading back the way they'd come. "And it's best to camp a little further into the city. Creatures do come and go from the mines, and not all of 'em are friendly."

Moonstruck trotted after, intrigued. She hadn't encountered much of anything out here, aside from Joseph. Apex predator aside, he was very relaxed out in the foothills, completely unconcerned by the possibility that he might bump into something bigger and meaner than he, which seemed to indicate that he was the biggest, meanest thing out here.

"What kind of creatures?"

He wrinkled his snout as she fell into step beside him. "Some kinda gremlins, I think."

"Gremlins?" Moonstruck furrowed her brow.

"Yeah they're weird little creatures. Kind of like monkeys, but they're green, and they don't have tails. And they walk on two legs. They're very rude. And they stink."

"Weird. Are they dangerous?"

"Eh, only if they catch you on the ground. And only if there's a lot of 'em." He eyed her for a moment. "Rather, only if they catch me on the ground. I dunno about you."

"I am quite capable of defending myself." Moonstruck sniffed haughtily and tossed her mane.

"Just checking. Anyway, I don't think they come to the surface real often, but, better safe than sorry." He shrugged.

"Right." Moonstruck nodded.

They scouted around the neighborhood below the mine entrance and found a townhouse that was still largely intact. They set up camp before they split up to find their respective meals. Moonstruck was able to cook up a sort of roasted veggie salad in one of the cast iron wood burning stoves in the house, which was the first hot meal she'd eaten in ages. If the plumbing still worked she would have taken a bath, but alas, it did not. It started raining as night settled over the city; Joseph returned soon after. It was kind of strange seeing him inside a house, the dragon seemed terribly out of place, although he was able to navigate doorways well enough, and didn't bump into too many things with his tail.

"Good call on this house." He commented as he settled down next to the fireplace.

"Yeah, the roof doesn't leak, and the chimneys weren't terribly clogged. Got 'em cleaned out pretty easy." Moonstruck nodded. She crawled into her bedroll which was a polite distance from him. She didn't bother with her tent; the house was quite solid, and she was able to move an ancient wardrobe in front of the lone window of this particular room to keep the worst of the drafts out.

She had assumed that it would be easier to sleep in a house than outside, but as the night stretched on, and the fire burned low and hot, she came to the startling and ultimately vexing realization that she had grown quite accustomed to sleeping outside, and that the ancient hardwood floor beneath her bed mat creaked every time either of them moved even a tiny bit, and the roof did indeed leak, just not in this particular room. And there was a musty sort of funk permeating everything and it was giving her a sinus headache as well as some congestion.

And then there was the dust. She'd dusted this room, but it seems the other rooms were determined to keep the entire house in a uniform state, and that state was dusty as buck. Even the slightest breath of air would send it wafting into the room to attach itself to her blankets, so that every time she moved she'd kick up even more.

Every time she was able to drift into a doze, some stray noise would drag her back to awareness. Mice in the walls, the ancient plumbing sighing, occasional thunder that echoed eerily through the gorge, the usual creepy-creaky noise that old houses make as they settle and shift on their foundations; every little stray noise would jolt her to full awareness.

"Can you sleep?" She murmured after several hours of sensory torture.

Joseph didn't even flinch. She lifted her head and squinted at him, envious of his ability to sleep pretty much anywhere - and deeply at that. One would assume he'd be awake at the drop of a pin considering he lived out in the wilderness and had to be alert in case something bigger and scarier than him was roaming around nearby. Heaving a sigh, she used her magic to lift a log off of the pile of firewood resting off to the side of the fireplace and set it on the dying embers. It caught quickly, and the fire flared back to life, greedily consuming the aged wood in a bright, cheery display.

The additional light didn't seem to phase the dragon either. Shrugging, she crossed her hooves in front of her, and rested her chin on one knee. Her eyes slid half shut as she gazed blankly into the fire, hoping the flickering flames could lull her back into a doze. She was well past hoping to sleep at this point, and she was fairly certain the sun would come up soon anyway.

It did not, it seemed she had only made it to midnight. When the sun did finally come up she was more tired than when she'd gone to bed the night before.

"The perfect state to go wandering through an abandoned crystal mine." Moonstruck muttered as she trudged after Joseph through the pouring rain.

"Mmm?" The dragon grunted, turning his head to look at her with one eye.

"Nuthin'." Moonstruck shook her head, almost knocking her hood back. She yawned, then wrinkled her snout as a drop of rain hit it.

The door to the mines was still agape, but Moonstruck was fairly certain it wasn't quite in the same position that it had been yesterday. There was no telling if the wind shifted it, or if some creature had.

Joseph paused and stared at the door, probably thinking the same thing she was. He glanced back at her, made eye contact. She lifted a brow. He gestured for her to stay where she was, then trotted cautiously towards the door, veering out of sight of anyone or anything that might be watching from within. Moonstruck made sure not to look directly at him, kept her eyes on the impenetrable shadow within the building. She didn't feel like they were being watched, but it was best to be cautious. She readied a few combat spells just in case, as Joseph edged towards the open door, nose to the ground.

After a few moments, he lifted his head, then edged it around the thick stone to stare into the gloom. She watched his wings twitch, then his tail flick. When he turned back, he waved her over.

"Well?" She asked as she trotted up, the clip clop of her hooves echoing faintly under the staccato rhythm of rain on stone.

"Smells like some gremlins came to the surface last night. They're gone now though." He said softly and squinted into the darkness. "They probably came out to see who was making all the racket out here."

"Guess we'd better be quiet then." Moonstruck grunted.

"Yep." Joseph slinked through the door and disappeared into the darkness.

Moonstruck cast a simple light spell that caused the tip of her horn to glow faintly. She was a little hesitant to draw so much attention to herself, but she also knew there'd be no navigating without it. Joseph trotted along without hesitation, although he did wander off course every so often to investigate a stray scent. After roughly ten minutes, they reached the correct doorway. It did not appear to have been disturbed in some time, Moonstruck could even see where Joseph himself had likely come and gone at some point in the past, unless something else around here left bipedal, three-toed tracks. Impossibly, the mines were even darker than the massive, nearly windowless building they'd just traversed. Even the faint light coming off of Moonstrucks horn shined like a beacon. She hoped it didn't act as one as well.

The first leg of their crystal mine adventure was down a very long staircase. She suspected this may have been a worker access way that the miners used when not hauling anything up or down, for it was too tight to fit any heavy equipment. As they descended, she started to get the feeling that her light was insufficient for the job, and amped up the illumination every few hundred yards or so. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, she had her light turned up as bright as she could make it, but it was only letting off a faint, nearly flickering glow.

"Uh... Joseph?" She hissed.

"Mmm?"

"Is it just me, or is it really, really dark down here?"

The dragon stopped and turned around to give her a weird look.

"My light spell is as bright as it can go, and I can still barely see a thing." She clarified.

"You sure? It's pretty dim." He scowled.

"Yeah, magic's working right as near as I can tell." It did feel like everything was functioning normally... aside from the part where she should have blinded them both by now.

"Dunno what to tell ya." He shrugged and started off again.

"Does magic not work right down here?" She asked. It was the only other thing she could think of - even though it went against her gut instinct. She lowered her head so that the light illuminated the ground in front of her a little better.

"Not that I know of."

She scowled. A few yards down the trail the light flickered out entirely, plunging them into complete darkness. She blinked a few times.

"Well, now what?"

"Let your eyes adjust?"

"There's no light down here at all, there's nothing to adjust to." She wondered if her magic would start working again if she backtracked. Not that her magic wasn't working, as near as she could tell. Everything felt absolutely normal. She canceled the spell, and noted that that felt entirely normal as well.

"Are torches a possibility? Can we just go back?"

"Uh... yeah I guess. But there actually is light down here." He shifted slightly. "The crystals glow a little. Kinda forgot about it."

Moonstruck let out an irate sigh. "Fine, gimme a couple of minutes. If they aren't bright enough I vote for going back for torches."

"M'kay."

She stared into the darkness, not expecting much to happen, but after a minute or so, she did start to notice a faint glow. At first it wasn't enough to navigate by, but it gradually increased to the point that she could see fairly well, although everything was a washed out monochrome greenish gray. Except for the crystals.

She whistled softly as she looked around. With her light spell, she couldn't see much beyond a bright circle, but with the ambient light shed by the crystals, she could see much, much further. The crystals themselves were massive, stretching some thirty or forty feet overhead. They seemed to come in every color, and they glistened slightly, though they didn't exactly reflect anything. And there were hundreds - no, thousands of them, she was sure. It was like a forest of crystals everywhere she looked. "I did not expect this at all."

Joseph chuckled. "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

"Are all crystal mines like this?"

"Dunno, these are the only ones I've been in." Joseph shrugged as they started off again. "But they're pretty impressive. We pass through a place where they did some actual mining - these things are too big to mess with, I think." He tapped one of the towering crystals with a talon as he passed it. It made a very strange ringing sound, something felt more than heard. It sent a chill down Moonstrucks spine.

They kept conversation to a minimum for the most part, Joseph would occasionally point out interesting things, and every so often they would pause to listen for any signs of gremlins. Moonstruck spent much of her time trying to puzzle out the magical disturbance. There was an abundance of magic, of this she was sure; when she went into a semi-trance to feel out the ambient energy she was bombarded with an especially heavy magical field thrumming through the crystals, but even the simplest spells failed to work. It was possible that there was actually so much stray magic flying around that the spells simply got lost in the shuffle, but she was fairly certain that the circumstances were not right for such a phenomenon. She recalled that an abundance of wild, uncontrolled magic would cause spells to misfire, but while there was an amazing magical field down here, none of it seemed out of control. It was just overwhelming.

She didn't realize how overwhelming until some hours later, when they encountered a massive crystal that had fallen across the path. Joseph did a lazy leap-and-flutter to reach the top of the crystal, then hopped down to the other side. Moonstruck had every intention doing the same, but had surprising difficulty getting off the ground. She scowled at the crystal for a moment, then back at her wings.

"Oh c'mon, I've only been on the ground for half a day, you can't have lost it this badly already." She grumbled to herself. She backed up a few paces, lowered her head, fanned her wings, then sprang forward, taking a few bounding leaps while flapping as hard as she could. She smacked into the crystal hard somewhere near the half-way point, and slid down to land roughly on her rump.

"Aw, c'mon!" She snarled.

Joseph appeared on the top of the crystal, amused. "Smooth."

"I can't seem to get airborne." Moonstruck grumbled. She stood up, shook off, then paused. "Wait... wait... I feel fine but..." She jumped straight up as high as she could and buzzed her wings like a hummingbird, but she could not gain any lift whatsoever. She landed roughly, then spun around. "I don't think I can fly down here."

"Um..."

"Is that going to be a problem?" She asked, folding her wings.

"It'll just take longer." Joseph said slowly, scratching the back of his head. "Why can't you fly?"

"Ponies aren't really built to fly," Moonstruck sighed, trotting to where the crystal had originally stood to see if there was a way around the monolith. Thankfully there was. "Our wings are too small, and our bodies are too heavy. But with magic, we can."

"Huh." Joseph grunted, hopping down off the crystal and taking the lead again. "I always did wonder how ya'll could get off the ground with such little wings."

"The thing is," She murmured, pulling her ears back "it's a deeply ingrained type of magic, it's in our bones. It isn't something that can be negated without removing our wings entirely. Which means whatever is going on down here is... " she shook her head. "I just hope it's temporary."

Joseph scowled into the distance. "Maybe I shoulda tried taking you through the passes after all."

She frowned. She wasn't sure if he was right or not. She was sorely tempted to take a long break to meditate and follow the magic to see if she could figure out what in blazes was going on down here, but she also didn't want to spend any more time than she absolutely had to within the disturbance. High level unicorns could go into a heightened state that she liked to refer to as "god mode" to access their full magical powers. This also allowed them to see magic, and weave intricate spells in moments that would normally take hours and perhaps a small team of spellcasters. As an alicorn, she was quite capable of entering such a state, however, she had never been particularly good at it. It took her a good fifteen minutes to achieve it, and she could only maintain it for a minute or so, which likely wasn't long enough to figure out what was happening. She couldn't do it at all if she was under pressure.

Her frown turned into a scowl as she made up her mind. She opened her mouth to suggest they take a break, when a few pebbles clattered to the floor a dozen or so yards away. She froze, staring into the darkness beyond the glowing crystals, her ears swiveling forward to pinpoint the sound.

Joseph came to a stop a few steps away, glanced at her, then to where she was staring. Something scrabbled along about the same distance away in the opposite direction, prompting Moonstruck to flick an ear back to keep track of it. Joseph stood up tall and sniffed at the stale air. She had the stronger hearing, they had discovered; Joseph had the market cornered on sense of smell, and low light vision. Between the two of them not much could go undetected. To the untrained ear, the cavern had fallen silent, but Moonstruck could faintly hear breathing on either side of them; the quick, hurried breath of something relatively small, and nervous.

"There's dozens of them." Joseph murmured under his breath. "We're all but surrounded."

"What do they want?" Moonstruck muttered.

"Dunno. Haven't run into this many at once before." He swept his gaze around the path, focusing on the spaces between crystals. "We should pick up the pace."

"Yeah."

They started off again at a trot, their senses focused on the small horde of creatures flanking them to either side. Moonstruck scowled and did her best to eliminate any and all spells from her usual self defense plan, focusing instead on un-arcane combat. Luckily, as a pony, she was naturally very strong, and even more so after running around out in the wilderness for so long.

They rounded a bend in the trail, then slid to a halt as a very large group of gremlins emerged from the gaps between towering crystals, all jabbering among themselves in what she assumed was their own language. Moonstruck spun around as scrabbling alerted her to the emergence of the groups that had been shadowing them. She took a few steps back so that she and Joseph were standing flank to flank. They were surrounded, and there were even more of them than she'd thought.

"I don't suppose they speak common?" She muttered.

"If they do they've never bothered around me." Joseph grunted.

They slowly spun in a circle, keeping flank to flank, sizing up the gremlins. They were not large creatures, most didn't even come up to Moonstruck's shoulder, but there were dozens - possibly even hundreds of them; their beady eyes darted between she and Joseph, and their strange, monkey like mouth's gaped open to reveal long, glistening fangs. She momentarily wished that she could challenge them to a round of poker, but shoved the thought aside to focus on their every last little twitch. She needed to figure out what they wanted, and/or how to scare them off quickly, with a minimum of fuss.

The gremlins shuffled around and chattered, never taking their eyes off of she and the dragon. They reeked of decay, and the mud one finds at the bottom of stagnant ponds, and there seemed to be a fine layer of dust wafting off of them. She hoped they didn't have mites that also liked to munch on ponies. Their body language wasn't terribly foreign, but it also wasn't helpful; they were generally excited, some were nervous, and many sat very still and focused, but their eyes seemed to pulse with an intense need. She strongly suspected that need was food; Moonstruck did not know how gremlins were generally supposed to look, but the bulk of them seemed gaunt, underfed.

"I don't suppose you know what they eat?" She asked, suspecting she already knew the answer.

"Anything and everything." Joseph growled.

"Figured as much." Moonstruck sighed. "Any bright ideas?"

"I think..." he paused to let out a low growl that rattled the stone beneath them, puffing up his scales and fanning his wings, causing some of the gremlins to back up a few paces.

"I think if we can herd them into a tight area I can take out enough of them at once that they'll decide we're not worth the trouble."

Moonstruck fanned her wings as well, and stomped her hooves warningly.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"You set 'em up, I knock 'em down. I'll clear a path for you, and you make a break for it. There's a narrow spot about a mile down the trail where they'll be packed in so tight they'll have to slow to a crawl to get through. I can swoop in and scorch 'em."

Moonstruck grimaced. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"They're fast over short distances but burn out for the long haul - you can out-pace them easy."

"Seriously, have you lost it?"

"Well, do you have any better ideas!?" He huffed.

"Not really." She lowered her head and glowered at a gremlin who edged out of the pack. "Where do I go after the trap?"

"Keep running, the trail will take you to an old bridge that crosses a chasm. I'll meet up with you there."

Moonstruck nodded, even though he couldn't see. "Right."

"Ready?"

"Sure, why not?" She snorted.

Joseph whirled and spat a bright white fireball into the group of gremlins blocking the trail ahead. Some scattered, while others were incinerated on the spot. Moonstruck broke into a gallop as soon as the flame dissipated, crunching mightily over the scorched rocks, ashes and bones of a few of the less fortunate gremlins. She was dimly aware of the dragon taking off behind her to head down-trail to the narrow spot, and of the gremlins scrambling around in a panic. She hoped that perhaps the fireball was enough to scare them off, but they were upon her soon enough; surging behind her in a putrid green wave of matted fur, and high pitched squeals, their stench mingling with the smell of burnt flesh. She had forgotten, in their peaceful time in the hills, that she was traveling with not only a carnivore, but a fire breathing carnivore. A fire breathing carnivore that didn't hesitate to kill if the situation called for it.

She gritted her teeth as another band of gremlins sprang into view ahead of her, and she realized she was making a hypocrite of herself. She'd killed before. Twice. And now she'd have to do it again, likely many times over. With magic she could easily stun the bulk of them and move them out of the way. Without magic, she didn't have the luxury of mercy. Then again, with magic, she wouldn't have to bother with any of this at all.

The first wave of gremlins surged towards her with reckless abandon, blissfully unaware of the danger a charging alicorn posed. Moonstruck lowered her head slightly and barreled into them, sending them flying to the sides. She didn't use her horn to impale them - this was actually entirely counter-productive; it would at least momentarily blind her, and if she was unable to remove the creature from her horn with a quick toss of her head, her vision would be impeded until the corpse finally fell off. On top of that there was the extra weight, the possibility that she'd be hauling something that might be riddled with parasites and disease around; the slim chance that being impaled didn't immediately kill the creature which would leave her with an enemy attached to her face, and the part where it was just plain gross. Ramming them with her chest and shoulders - which were well muscled - was far better.

The next wave of gremlins were more cautious, swerving out of her direct path to attack her from the sides. She broke stride to kick out with a hind leg to warn three of them away, but as she did so, three more attacked from the opposite flank. She snapped that wing open and struck one neatly in the neck with the leading, bony edge of her wing. It snapped back with a sickening crack and slammed limply into a few of its fellows. The other two were further back on her flank, and were only pushed back by the less deadly part of her wing. A pair that tried to jump onto her back from behind were met with two hard hooves that sent them flying back along the trail.

She let out a startled yelp as at least four of the little buggers latched onto her flanks and wings. She opened her wings violently to shake two of them off, but the other two were on her back, digging their claws into her heaving shoulders, and clinging to her mane. Gritting her teeth, she closed her wings again, and flung herself forward, rotated mid air to land on her right shoulder, and rolled into a somersault, crushing them before she snapped her wings open vertically to propel herself off the ground and complete her roll mid air. Hooves on the ground once again, she kicked a few times for good measure, shook off, then resumed her low flight.

Moonstruck dodged to the side to avoid a half dozen gremlins, leaped nimbly over another half dozen, then slid as tightly around a corner as she could to cut off several more from advancing on her opposite flank. The next section of trail was narrower than the last, and was a good straight away into what looked like another sharp turn a few hundred yards away. Moonstruck put her head down and willed her lungs to take in more air as she pushed herself to maximum speed, ever grateful that she'd had to conduct so much of this journey on hoof.

The cries of the gremlins started to fade into the distance, as the speedier ones grew tired and fell behind, and the rest, perhaps, changed their minds about trying to make a meal out of a pony. Moonstruck grinned to herself as she thundered down the trail, glad that she'd made it out of all of that with only a few minor flesh wounds, and a low kill-count. She reached the next bend in the trail, slowed to take it at a less risky pace, and immediately regretted it. She could see the narrow part of the trail where Joseph was waiting, but she had to race across an open, gremlin infested section, and a series of hairpin turns to get to it.

Cursing somewhat louder than under her breath, Moonstruck dove into the fray, hoping that their numbers worked against them as the little creatures closed in from all sides. She barely had time to think; kick here, stomp there, open wings, dodge one way, roll, dodge another, run, smash, kill, run, run, run! By the time she made it to the other side, she was scraped and bruised, drenched in sweat, and covered in gremlin drool and blood and goodness knows what else. The gremlins were not put off by all of this, if anything it made them run faster. Or perhaps she was tired, and wasn't galloping as fast as she was before.

Finally able to put a little distance between herself and the throng of screeching, stinky creatures, she entered the part of the trail where the walls began to close together. The straightaway was shorter this time, and the turn was a switchback that sent her down a winding section of trail that seemed tedious from a distance, but was even more so in person. Here, the gremlins had a slight advantage, since they were smaller, and could corner faster than she could, but she was able to keep ahead of them just enough.

She reached the end of the switchbacks, and raced into the narrow canyon formed by especially tall and tightly packed crystals; the opening she needed to make it through looked to be barely wider than herself. The gremlins were close behind but now, finally, she knew she could out-run them. Pouring on one final burst of speed, she kept her focus on that void between the crystals and listened intently for anything other than the sound of her hooves on the crushed stone, and the quickly fading scrabbles of her pursuers. Thirty seconds stretched on to eternity, then she was galloping past the crystals into a wide, open space and deliciously cool air.

Moonstruck pulled her head up and gradually slowed into a trot, the sound of a roaring dragon and the screams of his victims providing a surprisingly soothing soundtrack. She maintained her trot for a while, keenly aware that if she stopped too soon, she wouldn't be able to manage anything more than a slow walk for quite a while. She made a mental note to ask Joseph if there was a spring down here, for she was in sore need of a bath after all of that.

"Speak of the devil," she coughed as he winged overhead. She hadn't expected to meet up with him for a few more minutes, at least. "Was just thinking of asking you something."

"Uh, two problems," Joseph grimaced down at her as he matched her pace, gliding above her, "whatever's messing up your magic seems to be messing up mine too, so I -er... wasn't exactly able to roast very many gremlins. And now they're mostly just mad and singed."

Moonstruck stared up at him. His magic wasn't working now? Could he not breathe fire? He did before! Did he use up what magic he had left on that first fireball?

"The other problem is that the bridge is gone." His grimace melted into a concerned scowl.

"There's alternate routes, but those will add a few days to our trek, and the gremlins probably aren't going to leave us alone."

She stared straight ahead for a few moments, ears pulled back partially in irritation, and partially to listen for the advance of the gremlins.

"Are there more gremlins out there?"

"Probably."

"Do they have rival clans or anything?"

"Not that I know of. They fight over food, but they have to actually secure food first."

Moonstruck scowled. They couldn't get the gremlins fighting one another while she was still alive. She struck that off her mental list of Possible Ways To Distract The Gremlins. "Is there anything bigger and meaner in here?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno, a balrog or something."

"A what?"

"Nevermind." She shut her eyes and shifted her jaw around. "Lets go for the bridge then."

"It's a pretty big gap, I don't know how you can jump it without wings."

She nodded grimly. "There's still something I haven't tried yet."

Joseph circled back around to check on the horde's progress as Moonstruck made her way to the bridge, glad that she could trot for very long distances even after running so hard for so long. The trail wound its way around a rocky tor, and passed under a section of the bridge that was still intact. When she reached the top, she made her way out to the edge of the bridge to test its strength, and stare across the fifty foot gap between this side, and the other. It was a stone bridge likely carved out of the living rock, and it spanned a gorge that was only two hundred feet wide, but incredibly deep as near as she could tell. She swished her tail in irritation as Joseph landed behind her a short distance away.

"They're about five minutes behind. Maybe seven - the grade's pretty steep back there."

"I'm gonna need ten." Moonstruck grunted, spinning and heading across the carved stone platform to the opposite edge. She was going to need as much running room as possible.

"I... guess I could keep them busy that long." Joseph grimaced, trotting after her. "I think the main reason they were afraid of me is they were afraid of my fire breath Without that... well, guess it's a good thing I usually just flew most of the way through here..."

Moonstruck grunted and nodded. Reaching the edge, she spun around to face the broken bridge, and let out a shaky breath. She planted her hooves and tilted her head down, closing her eyes.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna fly across that gap."

"Was afraid you were gonna say that." She could practically hear him frown.

"It takes me ten minutes to enter a trance and access all of my powers. If I can do that, I might be able to blast through whatever's screwing up magic down here just long enough to make it across." Normally it took fifteen, but she didn't have time for that.

"And if you don't...?"

"I'll fall to my death, of course." Moonstruck sighed. "I'm dead either way, may as well go out doing something really stupid."

"Right. I'll uh, try to keep that from happening." She heard him shuffle awkwardly. "Well, good luck then. I'll see what I can do to keep those guys busy."

As soon as he was away she shut out the world; ignored the sounds of the advancing gremlin horde, let the cool subterranean air soothe her wounds to numbness. She needed complete concentration to reach deep down inside herself to pull her full abilities to the surface, and for once, she was able to do it quickly. As before, she discovered that her magic was there, ready to use, but it didn't seem to be able to manifest itself. One way or another, she was about to discover why. Glad to see that her personal magic field was unharmed, she plunged deeper, into her own heart and mind for the path to the core of her being, where her very essence thrummed with near cosmic power. This was the gift to alicorns, a power present in all ponies, but expanded infinitely in their near-immortal brethren. She feared it may take all of it to pull of this simple trick. She reached towards the proverbial box that held that power and opened the lid.

"Mooney! Whatever you're gonna do, do it now!"

She opened her eyes as awareness returned, realizing that Joseph had been shouting at her for a few minutes, and that the gremlins were practically up to the top of the tor. It didn't matter now though, she could see everything, the way magic twisted through this place, how it didn't seem to flow in any logical way, and that it seemed to be trying to leach every last ounce of stray power off of her. It was the crystals - the crystals were absorbing all of the magic, but it couldn't drain her of magic if she didn't use magic, which was why spells would be whisked away as soon as she cast them, but her energy was unharmed, safely contained within her personal magical field.

Moonstruck sprang into a dead run, keeping her eyes focused on her goal and her mind on task. Flight. She needed to use her wings for just a few seconds, just long enough to get her across that gap. It wasn't spell magic, it was enhancing an inborn ability that had been overwhelmed by the amount of chaotic power surging through the mines. It should work - it had to work. There was no turning back, she could only go forward now.

She reached the end of the broken bridge and threw herself over the canyon, flexing her wings downward, and pumping all of her magic into them, willing them to carry her over the gap and to the other side. Time slowed like she'd never experienced it before. It seemed to take ages to push her wings downward, then partially fold them as she pulled them back; opened them at the top of their arc, only to push them down again. She could feel every last little vortice of air as it whirled past her feathers, and the magical extensions she was using to lengthen and broaden her wingspan. She could see the magic seeping off of her, being sucked towards the various crystals in the area, but there was too much for them to absorb quickly, leaving her with enough magic to inch across the void with glacial determination.

Everything sped up as she reached the other side and promptly lost control of her spell. She flailed, dropped out of the air, and rolled down the steeply sloping span of broken bridge to the space below where a dozen tall crystals greedily lapped up her magic. Moonstruck gasped and tried to cancel her spell and clamp down on her power, but the dam was broken, and nothing could stop the magic from leaking out in violent spasms. She was letting out more power than she knew she even had; her vision flickering between normal, and being able to see every last strand of magic in the cave. Pain exploded behind her eyes, reverberating back and forth between her ears and echoing down her spine which made her twist, and contort, and kick out in a purely instinctual attempt to do something - anything about the pain.

Joseph landed nearby, but she shouted at him to stay back as a bolt of raw magic arced off of her and struck a crystal. The crystals flared especially bright, her vision lingered in the magical realm for a good thirty seconds where she was able to see Josephs very magical make-up, and the way it interacted with the energy surrounding him. It would have been fascinating, if she could think.

Her vision flickered again, the crystals around her flared especially bright, then there was no light at all.

A/N: Always a mistake to cut through the mines.

12. Chapter 11

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Joseph took a few startled steps back as Moonstruck writhed on the ground, magical lightening arcing back and forth between she and the crystals. He had heard that some unicorns had some sort of strange powered up state, but he'd never expected erie white eyes and... this. He suspected this wasn't normal. He felt a disturbing pressure building up between his ears as Moonstruck lifted off the ground to hover in space, the lightening arcing further and further away from her. All around him, he could faintly hear the crystals squealing as if something was grinding against them. Then the crystal standing next to him cracked. Then another, and another, and... he decided that leaving would be a good idea. He turned tail and lunged into the gorge, diving as deep as he dared as crystals began exploding into thousands upon thousands of razor sharp shards. Luckily he was only hit by a few, for he was just clearing the blast radius as they went.

He waited for a few minutes, gliding along in the darkness, worry eating at his insides. The cavern had settled into a deep, profound silence, even the normally vocal gremlins had ceased their incessant chatter. They had likely fled when the crystals started exploding.

Deciding it had been long enough, he pulled up, rose out of the gorge, then swept around to see what, if anything, was left of the alicorn. He really should have tried going over the passes; usually this way was the most stable, but he hadn't counted on the gremlins being half starved, or the bridge being out. Or for her to do something really, incredibly stupid. He couldn't blame her for it - going back wasn't an option, and going around the gorge wasn't exactly a viable plan either with the gremlins hellbent on a nice pony meal.

A thick cloud of magical smoke still lingered over the area, forcing him to land a short distance away and investigate on foot. The crystals for a good five hundred yard radius had all shattered, and everything beyond that had cracks running through them. It was considerably dimmer here as a result. Thankfully, he could still see clearly enough to avoid anything dangerous. As he reached the epicenter, he noted that there was still a bit of stray magic arcing here and there, flashing bolts of miniature lightening that threw the area into moments of harsh light, before plunging it back into deep shadow. It was hard for his eyes to stay adjusted.

A breeze kicked up, blowing away the thicker smoke to reveal a bruised and battered alicorn lying in the center of a small, perfectly round crater. Joseph padded cautiously over to the crater, slid down to the center where the pony was sprawled, then gently nudged her with one hand. Aside from a small spark that arced between them, nothing happened.

"Mooney?" He asked, nudging her shoulder again. He leaned his head close to her chest, noting that she was breathing raggedly, but had a strong heartbeat. He took note of her injuries, a pang of guilt tugging at his gut; he really should have tried for the passes. They were difficult, but nothing like this.

He lifted his head again and looked around. They couldn't stay here, but he had no idea how long it'd be before she woke up - if she woke at all. Working his jaw around, he let out a sigh and worked a hand beneath her shoulder to test her weight. The pegasus - Sarah - hadn't weighed much. In addition to being underfed, he was pretty sure she'd had hollow bones, so she had been relatively easy to carry down off the mountain. Moonstruck wasn't a mountain pegasus, whom tended to be smaller than your standard pegasus, and she was larger still than her hornless brethren. She most certainly weighed more. A lot more. Too much to fly with. Which meant he could only carry her so far before the extra weight would prove disastrous.

Sighing, he carefully pulled her saddlebags off, placed them over his own shoulders, then stooped to scoop her up onto his back as well. Luckily, he knew of a place to camp before the landscape became too tedious.

Only the highest level unicorns could pick up on a sudden surge of magic, and the magical disturbance had to be relatively near by. Alicorns were better at detecting such things, and they could do so from quite a distance away if the surge was powerful enough to send ripples across the worlds magical field. Pinpointing the origin of the surge was more difficult, and could require hours of meditation to trace the power back to its source, provided the arcane ripples lingered long enough for such careful searching.

For Princess Luna, such lengthy searches were unnecessary. The Dreaming was in some ways a mirror of the waking world; but instead of being populated by living creatures, it was where those creatures thoughts, dreams, and emotions played out unhindered by physical and even magical limitations. It was a dimension unto itself, an unbridled, wild space of endless creation and possibility. Even a faint magical ripple in real time was like a beacon in the Dreaming. Instinct generally guided her to what nightmares she needed to soothe, or problems to be worked out within the infinite sandbox of Dreaming, but larger magical disturbances could offer glimpses of what was happening in real time. In this case, the ripple was more of a tsunami.

Luna startled awake, her sleep mask sliding off her face as she sat up in bed and stared wide eyed at nothing in particular as a scattered, fractured stream of raw power, images and emotions flashed across her minds eye, almost too quickly to comprehend. Her abilities allowed her to slow things down to more manageable speeds, but even then it was a confused, tangled mess and it was all centered around...

She shook her head, noted that the sun was still shining brightly at the edges of the heavy curtains drawn tight across her windows, then slid out of bed. She needed to speak with Celestia at once. Surely her sister had felt the disturbance, and likely so did every other alicorn in the world.

Luna trotted out of her room and down the private stairs that connected her chambers to her sisters, then opened the door to Celestias office without knocking. Celestia was seated at her desk, staring off to the north east, a cup of coffee levitating in front of her, tilted slightly as if she'd been about to take a drink. There was no spilled coffee anywhere, so the cup must not have been particularly full. She barely twitched an ear when Luna stepped into the room.

"What did... what did Princess Moonstruck just do?" Celestia murmured, not turning to look at her.

"I am not sure." Luna scowled, closing the door behind her."I... the images are very fractured."

She flicked her eyes back and forth as if she was reading something, but what had her attention was in her mind, not sitting in front of her. Massive crystals, a dense magical field, fear, pain, an immense amount of power - and what direction was the disturbance actually coming from? It seemed to be coming from multiple places at once, but at the same time it had a clear focal point. Princess Moonstruck had disappeared from the Dreaming the moment she had set hoof in the Broken Mountains; all of the echoes and confusion could very well be because of the distorted magic she was masked within. But her moment of distress were not the only ones that had broken through.

"I think... I think Moonstruck breached the shield around Roanamia."

"What?" Celestia breathed."The shield still stands? But we destroyed it – we had to have destroyed it! Nothing could withstand that much power!"

Luna looked up at her. Celestia had set her coffee down and was staring at her with wide, worried eyes.

"It stands. Even after Moonstruck got through it."

"H-how? How could it still – and how could she - ?" Celestia shook her head.

"I do not know." Luna scowled, reviewing the images again. "All I know is that for over a thousand years Roanamia has not existed in the Dreaming, but for a moment, it was there, clear as the winter moon."

"What did you see?"

"Suffering." Luna pressed her lips into a thin line. "So much suffering."

They were quiet for a time. She continued replaying the few images she had in her mind.

"Sarah was able to get through the shield. It stands to reason that Moonstruck could too. There may be gaps, or flaws that can be exploited or stumbled through."

She frowned. That didn't seem right. What little input she had from Moonstruck herself seemed to indicate that she wasn't trying to breach the shield, but do something else. Moonstruck shouldn't even know there was a shield there – Luna herself didn't know there was still a shield until moments ago. Sarah didn't seem to know there was a shield either, and Luna certainly hadn't noticed any sort of magical disturbance when the pegasus emerged on this side of the Broken Mountains.

"I think Moonstruck may have inadvertently damaged the shield somehow; disrupted it just enough to allow me to get a glimpse of Roanamia in the Dreaming."

Celestia leaned back on her floor cushion and scowled. "So, one can walk into Roanamia, but no dreams can enter or exit."

"So it would seem."

A whiff of green smoke arced into the room, then turned into a sealed scroll with a faint poof. Celestia unrolled it, giving it only a cursory glance.

"I fear it may be time to start rallying our forces."

"I suspect some of the forces will rally themselves." Luna smirked.

"If I don't respond promptly, she certainly will." Celestia smiled faintly, then frowned at the scroll. "What do I tell her?"

Luna bit her lip. There wasn't much to tell. And as it was, Twilight Sparkle was still a ways out from having any official duties as a princess. As a wielder of the Elements of Harmony she had a certain duty to protect Equestria, but without solid information, or even any idea when solid information might be delivered, there wasn't much she and her friends could do. Well, there was one thing.

"What does she know about shield spells?"

"Mm, good idea." Celestia nodded, then selected a fresh sheet of paper, and lifted a quill from its inkwell. Though the sisters were infinitely powerful, there were some aspects to magic they simply were not knowledgeable about. Shield magic was a vast, diverse field, and it was possible that Twilight Sparkle could find something that might shed light on whatever was currently keeping Roanamia isolated.

"It may be prudent to send her the latest updates from the team studying the distortion outside the Broken Mountains."

"Yes, now that we know there is a shield in there somewhere, it may untangle things, a little." Celestia agreed without looking up from what she was writing. "And I will send the same information to Shining Armor, since he is a shield expert."

Luna nodded absently and let her gaze drift to the nearest window, and the view beyond it. It would be a busy night for her, she sensed.

"Again."

"I can't!"

"You can. You just have to focus, Moonstruck."

"I am focusing!" Moonstruck huffed, turning around and glaring up at her mother, whom was pacing along the edge of the room. The grand audience chamber was empty, say for them. No lights were on, but sunlight filtered in from the high, stained glass windows, leaving the vast room in a patchwork of cool shadows and diffuse, multicolored light.

"I can't maintain any connection with my power, okay! And it takes me so long to even find it that I'm too tired to try to access it when I do!" She sighed, straightening up out of the crouch she'd slid in to while trying to plumb the depths of her magic.

Astromida paused and regarded her with a scowl that was somewhere between irate, and concerned.

"Moonstruck, you are an alicorn and a princess. It is imperative that you be able to access your full power - "

"You think I don't know that!?" Moonstruck snapped, whirling to face the tall, elegant mare. "Really? I know it better than anypony!"

Astromida tilted her muzzle downwards and pressed her lips into a thin line. "I know this has been difficult for you, but I assure you, that once you learn to silence your mind, you will be able to - "

"To what?" Moonstruck stamped a hoof. "What? I don't even have my cutie mark yet, so what are you expecting me to do? Huh?"

Her mother jerked her head back, then pulled her ears back slightly. "It's perfectly alright to be a late bloomer, and alicorns often get their cutie marks later than other ponies -"

Moonstruck let out a long, cold laugh. "Tell that to Starshine. Or Acorn, even though he doesn't have wings. I'm nearly an adult, Mom. I should have gotten my mark years ago, and you know it. I'm the oldest blank flank in the queendom."

Astromida closed her eyes and nodded slightly. "You should still be able to access your full powers though."

Moonstruck snorted and rolled her eyes. "It would have been better if Acorn was born an alicorn."

"What?" Astromida asked in a breathy whisper, taken aback.

"He's actually got ambition, and useful abilities," Moonstruck continued, looking down, the bitterness draining from her voice, leaving her sounding as hollow as she felt. "The only thing I'm good for is playing cards, and pulling pranks on everypony. Being an alicorn is overkill for that."

"Moonstruck..." Astromida murmured, lowering her head and lifting a foreleg slightly.

The main doors to the audience chamber burst open, and Captain Whirlwind ran in out of breath.

"Your Majesty! A dragon - a massive dragon - is attacking Whinnyford village! Sir Mighty Oak is already there!"

Moonstruck and Astromida looked over at the captain of the guard in unison. Astromida, then looked back at Moonstruck and scowled.

"Stay here and look after Acorn. Your father and I will deal with this."

"Want me to let Starshine know?" Moonstruck sighed. She never got to go to these sorts of things, although with her powers being locked away as they were, she wouldn't be much use.

"Yes, I may need her help." Astromida said slowly, then grimaced. "It will take her some time to fly to Whinnyford though."

Starshine was powerful, but she hadn't mastered long distance teleportation yet. Or teleportation in general, really. While Moonstruck was a competent teleporter, long distances still eluded her. However, she had helped her father set up an emergency nodestone network that allowed her to cheat a little.

"Right."

Astromida nodded then sprang into the air, fluttering up to the gallery above, and through an open door, likely taking a direct route to the northeast tower, where their magical communication devices and long distance teleportation nodes were set up. Moonstruck trotted in the opposite direction to track down Acorn, then give Starshine a call at school. Hopefully she was in her dorm room when Moonstruck called her.

She located Acorn, then high tailed it up to the northeast tower with her brother in tow. It was unlikely that the dragon would make it all the way to Trot City, but in case it did, even with her limited abilities she was her brothers – and the cities - best defense.

"Are they gonna be okay?" Acorn panted as they trotted up the stairs. Well, Moonstruck trotted, Acorn was too short to make it up the stairs quickly so he was perched on her back.

"Yeah, they'll be fine. Mom's probably already there, and Dad's pretty powerful as regular unicorns go. That dragon doesn't stand a chance!"

"I hope Starshine can make it there in time, so that Mom doesn't have to fight it alone." Acorn said solemnly.

"She won't be alone, she's got a whole army to help her out." Moonstruck shook her head. They were almost to the top.

"Yeah, but she doesn't like to put them in danger if she doesn't have to."

Moonstruck scowled. "Yeah, but it'll take a team to defeat the dragon."

Acorn didn't respond. He knew Mom as well as she did, and wasn't buying it. Astromida would most likely take on the dragon by herself. She was stubborn like that. They reached the top of the stairs. Moonstruck magicked the door open and trotted inside. The military ponies were communicating with the Winnyford team from their own offices, so the tower was empty.

Acorn hopped off her back and began fiddling with a series of gems embedded in a stone slab, while Moonstruck ambled over to one of a series of crystal balls. She powered up her magic, and touched the tip of her horn to the orb. After a few moments, an image of her elder sister appeared in the air above the orb.

"Moonstruck?"

"Hi. Yeah, there's a dragon attacking Winnyford village. Mom and Dad and the guard are over there dealing with it, but Mom wanted you to fly over just in case she needs some serious back up."

"I have class in a few minutes..." Starshine bit her lip and looked away from the orb in her dorm room for a few moments. "I suppose this is more important, my professor will understand. Okay, I'm leaving right now, please have Father tell Mother that I will be there as soon as I can."

"Will do." Moonstruck saluted as the projection faded away.

"Hi Dad!" Acorn chirped as a life sized projection of the gold and green unicorn appeared in the center of the room. Acorn was the spitting image of their father, though Mighty Oak's coloration was somewhat faded, and his mane was mostly gray and white, nowadays. He was still mighty however, easily one of the largest ponies Moonstruck had ever seen. Mother was taller than him by quite a bit, but she was lean and willowy; Mighty Oak was built like a tank.

"Hi Acorn. Um... why are you calling?" Mighty Oak said, half turning to look into the orb on his end of things.

"'Cause Mooney wasn't paying attention!" Acorn laughed.

"It's alright, I was gonna call you next." Moonstruck said, stepping into range of the communication orb. "Starshine says to tell Mom that she's on her way."

"Oh good." Mighty Oak nodded. "I will relay the message. Not that she'll get here in time for anything..."

"I know, right?" Moonstruck chuckled.

"Shush!" Mighty Oak hushed, trying and failing to hide a grin. He stepped out of orb range. Moonstruck ambled over to the control panel and began rearranging the crystals to pull up several other projections. In situations such as these, her father would send out small orbs and either leave them suspended in fixed positions, or enchant them to follow a particular pony to act as a recording device, a way to communicate quickly, and an emergency node stone in case a pony had to make a very hasty retreat, but didn't have a good place to teleport to in sight. They were voice activated so that earth and pegasus ponies could use them as well. To keep an eye on the action, all she had to do was access the command center in Winnyford, and make a copy of all of the displays.

The feeds flickered to life, showing various views of Winnyford, and the dragon as it wheeled overhead. It seemed the guard had already erected a shield to protect the town itself, but everything outside it was still vulnerable to attack. They spent the next ten minutes transfixed to the projections, watching in morbid fascination as the guard attempted to ward the dragon off, and Astromida tried to reason with it, in between having a firefight. Moonstruck wasn't sure why her mother was using a fire spell on a dragon, when an ice, or lightening spell would likely be more effective. She knew better than to mention as much though, Astromida often had her reasons for doing things the way she did, although it often took a while for them to become clear.

The longer she watched, the more she suspected that her mother actually had no idea what she was doing. Her father had some good ideas, but the dragon always seemed to be a few steps ahead. When Astromida finally switched to an ice spell, it only seemed to anger the dragon. Which was when everything turned sour.

"Mooney, are they gonna be okay?" Acorn asked as the dragon unleashed a powerful fireball on the shield protecting Winnyford. The shield held, but it was clear that the unicorns maintaining it wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer. Additionally, the fire had simply rolled off the shield and onto the surrounding countryside, setting it ablaze.

"I dunno..." She murmured, flicking her eyes between the projections. Her mother was never one for combat, and while her father was clever and resourceful, he wasn't much of a fighter either. Between the two of them they did alright, but this dragon seemed to be too much.

"... not if they keep this up - hey Dad!"

The projection of Mighty Oak turned to look at them. "You're still there?"

"Yeah, been watching the whole time. Look, the dragon won't be reasoned with, Mom needs to get serious with this thing."

He scowled at her. "She's been serious with it. We've been throwing everything we've got at it."

"Yeah, badly." Moonstruck snorted. "Have her lead it away from town, and confront it out over the mountains where she can really cut loose."

"No good, we can't support her if she strays too far away from the unicorns. The pegasus ponies can only do so much." He shook his head.

"I know, but if they keep fighting over town, they're just gonna end up destroying everything anyway!"

"I know - Moonstruck, you should take your brother somewhere else, he's too little for all of this."

"I am not!" Acorn piped.

"Shh. I know Mom can take this thing, but she's only gonna hold back if she has other ponies to worry about!" She nudged her brother aside.

"Mooney, your mother isn't a warrior, even if she cuts loose she may not be able to defeat the dragon by herself - which is why she needs to stay close to the guard until Starshine arrives." Mighty Oak sighed. "If you know of a way she can defeat the dragon without serious combat magic, speak up."

Moonstruck scowled and stared at the floor. She did know of a way, she'd come up with it once when she and her friends were playing a table top role playing game. The spells she'd had at her disposal in-game were limited and of the most basic variety, which had forced her to think outside the box. Now if only she could remember….

"Does Mom know how to do a sonic rainboom?"

"What? Of course not, that's just a myth!"

Moonstruck felt a strange thrill race down her spine. "No, I'm pretty sure it's possible - especially for an alicorn."

She vaguely recalled hearing about a filly who'd done it over in Cloudsdale fairly recently. A little filly at that, probably not much older than Acorn.

The dragon attacked the shield again, causing a series of glowing magenta cracks to appear overhead. They healed themselves over, but it was clear that it wouldn't survive another direct hit.

"Mooney, I've got to go!"

"Wait, Dad! Tell mom to -!"

"No time!"

"All she needs to do is -!"

Mighty Oak bolted out of range of the orb. Moonstruck growled and raced over to the control panel to see if she could contact her mother directly. No such luck, Astromida was likely moving too quickly for the orb to keep up effectively. She bit her lip and stared at the far corner of the room, where a circle of arcane runes etched in the floor glowed faintly.

"Acorn, I need you to stay here and try to get ahold of Dad again."

"Mooney?" He whimpered, pulling his ears back. "You're not gonna do something really dumb are you?"

"Yes, yes I am." Moonstruck said. She hit a gem on the control board which would summon someone up to the tower to look after Acorn, then bolted over to the circle. She scowled down at the runes, running over how to activate the spell in her head.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it'll work."

"Pretty sure!?" Acorn yelped, dashing over to her but stopping short of the magic circle.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, either it'll work, or it won't. At this rate though, that dragon is gonna take out half of Trot before anypony can stop it." She cast the spell.

A split second later, she was standing in a nearly identical circle at the Winnyford garrison. She shook static out of her mane and feathers, then darted towards the nearest exit, the weird thrill that had coursed through her body earlier settling into her bones. It was driving her now, pushing her towards this idiotic plan. It was intoxicating, she never wanted the feeling to leave, even though she knew that if her plan didn't work, she'd be dead in an instant.

Once outside, she spared a single glance up to see how the shield looked, then galloped towards the edge of town, hoping that the unicorns were directing most of their energy straight up, which would allow her to push through the shield with little difficulty at the bottom edge. Around her, townsponies ran this way and that, trying to find the oldest, sturdiest buildings to take shelter in. She was surprised there were so many out still, shouldn't they have sought shelter long ago?

She slid around a corner to see the bottom edge of the shield glowing faintly a short distance away. She took wing in a series of bounding leaps, focused on the shield ahead, and cast a small shield spell of her own, and altered its shape into that of a triangle, to make an arrow out of the space around her. She struck the shield at top speed; it rippled, stretched, then let her through. Letting out a triumphant chortle, Moonstruck glanced up, then began teleporting in a reckless zigzag pattern to get above the dragon as quickly as possible.

Normally she wouldn't teleport while flying, as it took too much math to do it safely, but time was of the essence, and there was enough thick, billowing smoke in the air to use as a decent visual reference. When she reached three thousand feet, she leveled off and searched below her for her mother and the guard, spotting the latter quickly enough, as they were sticking close to town. Her mother was further out, leading the dragon away. She smirked, at least her father had relayed her message.

Astromida was having a difficult time keeping the dragons attention, it kept trying to curve back around towards town, which forced her to fly directly in its path at close range on several occasions in the scant few minutes Moonstruck had been watching, leaving herself vulnerable to snapping jaws, and flaming breath. Her mother really wasn't cut out for combat.

"MOONEY!? WHAT IN BLAZES ARE YOU DOING!?"

Moonstruck glanced at the small, floating orb that shouted in her fathers voice when it appeared abruptly next to her.

"Something really stupid."

"Get back down here right now, young lady!"

"I have an idea."

"I don't care! You're not ready for this!"

"Actually, this is quite simple. Acorn could do it if he had wings." Moonstruck snorted absently, speeding up as the dragon swerved away from town again. She had to time this just right to make sure it didn't fall on anything important; the further out of town it was, the better.

"Moonstruck, please!"

She ignored him, focusing on tracking the dragons movements. It was so big it would be hard to miss, but she knew she had to be as precise as possible - she was going to be traveling at an insane speed, one wrong move would send her in any number of directions she didn't want to go in. She gained altitude as she went, running some rough numbers through her head as she did so to determine how high off the ground the dragon was (seemed like about a thousand feet from here, but she could be wrong); how much space she'd need to reach her top diving speed, and at what point she should cast her spell. The speed of haste spells could be controlled, but she only knew the most basic variety, which meant she only had one setting at her disposal, so timing was of the essence. Her angle of attack was another issue; if she knew a more advanced haste spell she could come in at a shallower angle, and make adjustments as needed, but as it was, she'd have to be practically on top of the dragon to score a direct hit.

Moonstruck was almost in position, her mother was still leading the dragon more or less away from town, and the ground below was mostly rolling foothills and empty farmland. Content that collateral damage would be at a minimum, and that she was high enough that most small course adjustments the dragon made were easily accounted for in her dive, she pulled into a hover to make her final preparations. The orb her father was using to communicate zoomed up next to her.

"Moonstruck! I order you to return this instant!"

"No can do. Can you tell Mom to teleport to safety in about... oh... two minutes." She said absently, eyes locked on the dragon far below.

"What!? Moonstruck!"

"Trust me, this will work." She said. Her heart beat faster as she realized that she really believed it. The strange adrenaline rush that had been coursing through her body was at a fever pitch now, making her almost giddy. She grinned. This was by far the stupidest thing she'd ever done. Even dumber than the time she, Breezy, Patch and Windwake had dared each other to jump off of the highest tower into the deepest part of the castle duck pond (without the use of their wings, in she, Breezy, and Windwake's cases).

"Mooney!"

She shot a small spark at the orb, forcing it back a few feet, so that she could focus on the task at hoof.

"Mooney! Hey, wake up!"

Wake up? That wasn't right, her father never told her to wake up, he just kept trying to reason with her until she stooped into a dive, and was moving too fast for the orb to keep up.

"Mooney?"

She twitched, realizing that she wasn't in the airspace above Winnyford, and that she wasn't a filly anymore. Moonstruck grimaced and curled into a ball as pain oozed across her awareness. She ached everywhere, but her wings were especially bad.

"Five more minutes." She muttered.

"Oh good, I was worried you weren't gonna wake up, but then you started muttering in your sleep a while ago." The mysterious male voice said. He sounded nothing like her father, how could she have gotten the two confused?

Moonstruck groaned and cracked an eye open. Joseph stood in front of her, scaly brows furrowed. She opened her other eye, then blinked a few times. It was still dark, but there was a familiar light coming from somewhere nearby. She was wrapped up in her blanket on her bedroll against a jumble of rocks. As she stared at the dragon, the memory of how she got her cutie mark faded, and her latest stupid idea bubbled back to the surface. She grimaced.

"How long was I out?"

"'Bout a day and a half." Joseph said, moving a bowl of water closer to her.

She grunted and rolled onto her stomach before scooting forward to take a sip of water. Normally she would have levitated the bowl, but there was a faint, magical buzz in her head that she was disinclined to aggravate. The water immediately soothed many of her aches and pains, though her head and wings remained stubbornly sore.

"So, I managed to get you to within spitting distance of the exit, but the trail was too steep to climb with you on my back." Joseph said, gesturing with his snout to a point somewhere behind and above her.

Moonstruck blinked a few times and wiggled around to look where he was indicating. The light in the cave was coming from the sun, but the opening to the outside world was a fair distance away, up a steep, winding trail. She frowned, recalling that the bridge wasn't even the half way point through the mines.

"You carried me that far?"

"Er... yeah. Figured it wouldn't be a good idea to stick around for long." He shifted his weight and looked away, scratching the back of his head with one clawed hand. "The gremlins were pretty freaked out, but they can be very persistent."

She grunted, not sure how to respond. A simple thank you seemed inadequate. Lame, even. She said it anyway, but he shrugged it off. Moonstruck pulled herself into a sitting position, and rifled through her saddlebags for something to eat. They lingered for a while in the jumble of boulders, listening for the scrapes and scrabbles of an encroaching gremlin army, but the cavern remained quiet. Once she was done eating, and had taken proper inventory of her overall physical state, they set off again; Joseph fluttering ahead of her on the trail, showing her how to avoid all of the dangerous bits.

Every step she took sent pain shooting up her legs, and every time she had to open a wing for balance it felt like it was going to fall off. She was fairly certain neither of her wings were broken, but they somehow managed to feel worse than way back when she'd spent her first day in goodness knows how long flying; stiff, and sore with a deep ache that seemed to resonate along her bones and down her spine. Even her pectorals – the main muscles that powered her wings - were tender. She hoped that in an effort to magically extend her wingspan she hadn't somehow done permanent damage. She couldn't really figure out how she could have hurt herself, aside from her rough landing, but clearly something had gone wrong.

The climb was slow going, the sun had nearly set by the time she finally collapsed on the plush moss that grew at the cave entrance. It was only a short break, for like the entrance to the mines, the cave mouth was not free of danger, and they soon set off into the gathering twilight in search of a suitable place to camp. Thankfully, they located a sheltered spot beneath a rocky overhang to spend the night.

Moonstruck found the routine both tedious, and soothing. It was good to go through the motions of setting up her tent, and arranging her things, and the crackling fire that Joseph started (apparently his powers were back to normal), cast cheery light over their little nook. However, her body had had enough for the day, so every little motion caused considerable amount of pain, and even thinking about using magic caused her stomach to churn.

"So... what happened back there?" Joseph asked after a while.

Moonstruck opened her eyes and gazed across the fire at him. After being asleep for so long, she was having a hard time getting back to it, even though she was exhausted.

"It's hard to explain."

"I know unicorns have some kinda powered-up state..." Joseph said, shifting a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, that was it." Moonstruck grimaced. "I... that wasn't supposed to happen like that. I don't know what went wrong. The idea was to get across the gap, then power down but..."

"Right." Joseph grimaced as well. "After you passed out you blew up all of the crystals in the general vicinity."

"Really?" Moonstruck lifted her head a little.

"Yep. Pretty impressive. Crystals were cracked a good distance away too."

"That's actually really interesting." Moonstruck mused, gingerly scratching her chin with a forehoof. "The crystals are what are warping magic down there, they're absorbing any ambient magic, which is why my spells didn't work, and I guess why your fire breath fizzled out. Maybe I overloaded them."

"Really? That's what was going on?" The dragon tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah, when I powered up I was able to check out what the magic was doing and," she winced, "when I was out of control I could kind of see everything. Every last strand of magic."

"Wow."

"It's probably why my head hurts now." She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she'd seen in more detail. While it was happening, she had been able to recognize many of the runes flying around, but now it was all a blur. "I don't remember what spell was in action though, just that there was a blend of pony and dragon magic. Or at least, I think it was dragon magic."

She opened her eyes to stare curiously at Joseph. "Did you know your magical signature is different from the magic flying around in the mines?"

"No?" He furrowed his brow. "How did you know it was dragon magic if you've never sensed it before?"

"Oh, basically all spells consist of invisible runes, if a unicorn enters a particular meditative state, they can see those runes. It's part of how high level spells are learned. I'm actually not very good at it." Moonstruck said, resisting the urge to wave a hoof around, "so, when I was out of control, I was entering and exiting that state, which allowed me to see the magical make-up of the mines and everything in it - including you. Your runes were very similar to the non-pony magic that was being absorbed and channeled through the crystals."

"So it's reasonable to say that was dragon magic mixed in there, but not the same type of dragon that you are. Your runes are... well, it was like the glyphs were nearly identical, but yours were a different color."

"Oh. Weird."

"Not really. It actually matches up with the three tribes of ponies." Moonstruck shrugged, then regretted it as a twinge of pain shot up her neck from her shoulder blades - both sets. "Earth pony runes look slightly different from pegasus runes, which look slightly different from unicorn runes. It's all in how magic flows through the body. Earth and pegasus ponies both have inborn magical abilities, but cannot cast spells - which basically creates a closed loop of runes. Unicorn runes have an open ended pattern that can incorporate other spells into the mix. Basically the dragon magic in the spell was from an open ended rune pattern, not some sort of inborn ability."

Joseph blinked a few times. "So they were a different color, eh?"

Moonstruck chuckled, then winced as the laughter hurt her ribs, which made her laugh more. It was a vicious cycle, especially when Joseph started to laugh too. Their laughter eventually settled into a comfortable silence, wherein, Moonstruck felt she might finally be able to sleep. Just as she was about to say as much, Joseph said something surprising.

"I'm sorry, I never should have taken you down there."

"It's okay, you didn't know."

"No, no I really should have factored it in." He shook his head. "Everything's so mixed up out here, and I knew the gremlins could get aggressive, I really should have known better."

"Really, it's fine. This whole trip is risky." Moonstruck shook her head as much as she dared. "Besides, I probably should have warned you that I tend to do stupid things when backed into a corner. Really, this isn't the first time I've hurt myself doing something like that."

He looked unconvinced, but he nodded slightly.

"Well, I am going to try to get some sleep." Moonstruck grunted, rising shakily to her hooves, careful not to let her blanket slide off her back.

"G'night." He murmured.

"Night."

13. Chapter 12

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Moonstruck felt considerably better the next morning, although her wings still ached, and even the simplest spells caused pain to flare up behind her eyes. Her legs, at least, were back to a normal degree of soreness, which she attributed to running full tilt through a sea of gremlins for a mile. She hobbled down to a nearby creek to take a cold bath and refill her canteen, but paused on the way there, as the valley beyond their nook came into full view. It was a wide swath of prairie sweeping down from the steep mountains behind, lush with new grass and wildflowers. It was crescent shaped, as near as she could tell, with a river winding through it, and a tall plateau forming the northern border. A castle ruin stood atop a rocky island in an oxbow lake, and herds of elk or deer could be seen browsing though the new grass. It was a lovely sight.

She'd be here for a few days, at least. She was fairly certain she couldn't keep up a trot for long - if at all - and flying was absolutely out of the question at the moment. As she continued on to the spring, she mulled over why she was pressing onward. Roanamia could still be weeks away, she was in no condition to get there, and it was entirely possible she'd find herself in another situation like the one she'd just barely gambled her way out of. It wasn't like she particularly cared that much about the mission, did she?

She reached the creek and scowled down at the water, trying to remember why she'd agreed to do this. Moonstruck could remember the facts, that Roanamia had been lost to the world for over a thousand years; that it was ruled by a cruel, evil mare whom had turned it into a horrible dystopia; but why she personally had agreed to come was lost to her.

She grumbled to herself and stepped into the water, wincing as the cold hit her. She continued into the creek anyway, wading into a pool that came up to her withers. The cold, at least, numbed out her wings. She dipped under water for a few seconds, then popped up, shaking her mane out a little. If this were a hot spring she would soak for a while, but seeing as how it was snowmelt, she didn't dally in the creek. She climbed out after a minute or so and gingerly shook off. Normally she would cast a spell to dry herself, but decided it'd be best to keep magic use to a minimum for the next few days.

Joseph was back by the time she ambled into camp. "Well, nothing weird out in the valley. The hunting's good though. Really good. Lots of spring growth too. We'll eat pretty good, while you recover."

"Good." Moonstruck grunted, sitting down by the fire to start the long, slow drying process. "How far out from Roanamia are we?"

"About half way, although the next leg goes by quick." He hesitated. "You're continuing the mission even after...?"

She closed her eyes. "May as well."

"Okay..." Joseph said slowly. "Why?"

Of course he'd ask that. She opened her eyes, scowled into space, searched her mind for the best answer she could give, then turned to look at him.

"I'm stubborn."

He frowned, then turned away, shrugging. "Well, I guess there's no turning back at this point anyway. We should probably shift camp down to the castle. It's relatively stable, and safer than up here. There's a few large predators here, and gremlins will leave the caves at night on this side sometimes."

"Right." She nodded.

They broke camp and set off; Joseph promised to meet her at the castle later after he'd spent the day on the hunt. Moonstruck did not mind the solitude, she could only move at a steady walk, and she knew it would take her most of the day to get down to the castle which would likely drive the dragon up the wall.

There was no trail to speak of, just a long sweep of rocky grass and wildflowers. There was no need of a trail, when the going was this easy, Moonstruck knew. The warm sun felt good on her back and soothed her aching joints; as she walked her legs grew steadily stronger, and less stiff and sore. Her wings remained stubbornly achy, but she was able to ignore them, for the most part. She tried not to think much about what happened yesterday, nor why she was still doggedly pursuing the mission, for as she walked, the physical activity made her realize she was more mentally tired than anything. She'd certainly overexerted herself magically yesterday, perhaps it was better to just get to safety, and puzzle things out tomorrow.

"I'm not being lazy," she muttered to herself, smiling faintly. Even though she was, a little. She did still have to spend the day walking, though she suspected she'd be able to trot by the end of the day, provided the motion didn't jostle her wings too much. She let her gaze wander, taking in the landscape with the eye of a pony with a younger brother into botany, and a florist as a best friend; both of whom she tended to tune out whenever they rambled on about their plants. She somewhat regretted not listening more carefully. She recognized many of the plants, but the bulk of them were entirely new to her, and, she suspected, likely unique to this region. Possibly even to this river valley.

Around noon, she stopped to eat lunch, and took note that there were no foothills below the Broken Mountains on this side; the mountains jutted out of the ground without any build-up whatsoever, forming a near solid wall that stretched thousands of feet into the sky. She wondered how anypony could have passed through there on hoof, and if they had always been that way. As she let her gaze wander upwards, she noticed that there were two mountains with large, crescent shaped peaks. She suspected they would almost form a complete circle if viewed from the right angle. The more distant summit looked like it had had its top blown off, and the closer still had some rock near the top of the arch somehow. She knew less about rocks than she did plants, but even she knew that spit of stone should have crumbled eons ago.

The heights made her a bit dizzy, so she scooted around to inspect the opposite border of the valley; the plateau. From here it very much resembled a wall, but she recalled that from the other side of the valley, she could discern cracks and chasms, and crags zigzagging across the plateaus surface. Closer to the valley floor, it seemed much taller than it had before; possibly even impassable. It was to the north, which likely meant they'd have to traverse it somehow. She suspected they'd have to fly over it, there certainly didn't seem to be any good places to climb.

Shifting her gaze closer, she gave the castle an appraising look, noting that it had some pre-classical architecture going on, and was crumbling in a few places. It sat atop what she suspected was an old cinder cone, and was probably quite picturesque at sunup and sundown. She could see some evidence of an ancient road winding towards the castle, but she couldn't see any bridges to cross the river.

"Guess I'll figure that out when I get there," she murmured to herself.

Moonstruck finished up her lunch then set off again, wondering if this place was stuck in some sort of perpetual spring, or if she was now in an area in tune with the rest of the world. The river below was swollen with melted snow, the grass was almost knee deep, wildflowers were abundant, and many fawns scampered and played among the herds of elk and deer - all hallmarks of mid to late spring. She had lost track of time out here, but it didn't seem to matter. Life in the Broken Mountains marched at its own pace, and occasionally broke out into the robot, making it difficult to tell how long it had been outside in more predictable, and better regulated regions. For all she knew, barely three days had passed in Trot since she'd first set hoof on that misty trail outside Stirrup Springs.

She reached the river as the sun dipped low on the horizon. She feared having to swim in the dark in the cold, fast, deep water, but thankfully it was mostly marsh right up to the remains of a stone road that wound its way up to the castle. She got to wade through cold, belly deep water instead. At least it was clean water with willow trees growing here and there. She wasted no time in refilling her canteen, and collecting some willow bark to brew a painkilling tea for her wings. She even chanced a little magic to collect what she needed. Casting the simple levitation spell still caused her pain, but it was tolerable in short bursts.

"Oh, there you are. Was expecting you sooner." Joseph said as she sloshed towards dry land. The dragon landed in a tree, looking like some sort of a long tailed, oversized crow as he was silhouetted against the setting sun.

"Yeah, was taking it easy."

"Have a nice walk?"

"I did." Moonstruck smiled and glanced up at him. It had been nice. It was a splendid day for a walk, even if she was still sore, and her wings continued to throb. "Find any poor animals to eat?"

"Plenty." Joseph chortled. "I also scouted around the castle. There's a room with a fireplace that's serviceable. I already snagged some firewood."

"Oh good." Moonstruck sighed. She could go for a four star hotel and a massage at the moment, but a roof and a crackling fire would do. Especially if she could find a cast iron kettle or something. Cast iron would survive this long if properly stored, right?

"I don't suppose you you've found any cookware or anything?"

"Uh..."

"Like, a cast iron tea kettle?"

"I didn't really look."

"Hmm. Guess we can go exploring a bit."

"Yeah, there's some neat stuff in there anyway. There's no telling what you might find."

She reached the edge of the road and pulled herself on shore, wincing as she did so. The cold had soothed a few remaining knots in her muscles, but it had also played havoc with her joints. She shook off, wincing at the pain, then hobbled onto the ancient cobblestones. They meandered up to the castle, taking in the view as they went. The sunset was spectacular this evening, made all the better by the river, which reflected the red sky, and scattered clouds. Joseph led her to the room in question, which was within the walls of the castle and quite sheltered. It was actually in better shape than the house they'd camped in back in the city by the river on the other side of the mountains. She set up her stuff, then wandered off to see if she could find the kitchens, which seemed like the best place to find a cast iron pot. She could just chew on the willow bark, but she'd rather brew a tea - it was less harsh on her stomach in tea form.

The sun was down by that point, so she reluctantly cast a light spell, which caused a headache to rise up somewhere behind her eyes. Thankfully it was dull, and relatively easy to ignore, for the most part, however it was concerning. Was this going to happen every time she cast a spell? She hoped it was temporary, that after a few more days she could cast spells without any lingering pain.

As they passed a hallway that led outside, a tall, silver and gold alicorn materialized and strode gracefully past them.

"Hey, Mom." Moonstruck grunted automatically, as she often did when lost in thought while passing her mother in hallways.

"Um..." Joseph grunted.

Moonstruck caught up to the situation a moment later, snapped her head up and whipped around to stare down the hallway. Sure enough, her mother was still making her way down the corridor looking rather distracted herself.

"Mom!?" Moonstruck gasped.

"Mom?" Joseph echoed, confused.

She scrambled down the hall after the elder alicorn, dragon in tow. Astromida did not respond to her presence at all, in fact, she didn't seem to be aware that she was not alone in the corridor.

"It's a ghost?" Joseph said.

"Not a ghost, an echo. Like the village where the mountains broke." Moonstruck murmured, slowing to trail after her mother. They emerged onto a terrace that was bathed in moonlight, which allowed Moonstruck to cancel her spell for the time being, although the pain still lingered. Outside, it was easier to see that Astromida was much, much younger than Moonstruck remembered - perhaps not much older than Starshine's current age. She walked across the terrace and onto empty air, where part of the structure had fallen off at some point in the past. A grizzled old griffon stood off to the side. He turned to regard the alicorn, then dipped his beak respectively.

"Princess Astromida."

"General Lionheart." Astromida dipped her head gracefully.

"Are you sure they will come tonight?" The griffon asked.

"Quite. Any time, I would presume." She swept her gaze across the horizon, her mane blowing in some supernatural breeze that didn't seem to effect the griffon at all.

"Well, you generally presume correctly." He chuckled.

Moonstruck walked as far out onto the broken terrace as she dared, moving silently even though she knew the others couldn't hear her.

"What's going on?" Joseph whispered.

"This is... well it's basically a recording. This happened a long time ago, but it's still playing out here, for some reason." Moonstruck muttered. "Haven't you been to that one village?"

"Yeah, but I've never seen anything like this." He shook his head.

Moonstruck stared at him for a moment. "You didn't see the three fillies there?"

"What fillies?"

She quickly related what had happened back at the village she had encountered weeks earlier. Joseph scratched the back of his head and stared at the pony and griffon standing placidly on empty air.

"I've been here before, but I've never seen this. Though I don't remember if I ever came out here at night."

"Maybe it only works for ponies?" Moonstruck shrugged. "And you're only seeing it now 'cause I'm here."

He shrugged as well. "How long ago do you think this is?"

"Over a thousand years, at least."

Joseph whistled quietly.

"Ah, there they are. As you predicted." The general smiled, gaping his beak open slightly.

Astromida squinted into the distance. "General, I may be able to see the future, but your eyesight is far better than mine," she laughed softly.

"It's a griffon thing." He winked.

Moonstruck reared up onto her hind legs to take a look, as Joseph stretched up tall.

"Oh yeah, looks like a couple of pegasus. Maybe alicorns." The dragon confirmed.

Moonstruck ran down the list of alicorns she knew to be active around this time as they waited for them to get close enough for the ponies to see, but dropped it as she realized there was really only one pair that got involved in things in this time period. A few minutes later, Princesses Celestia and Luna landed on the now non-existent end of the terrace.

"Welcome back!" General Lionheart greeted cheerily.

"Well met, cousins." Astromida nodded politely.

"Hello - Luna, you can't keep this up! You just ended up making Lucena - " Celestia argued.

"We are not gods!" Luna snapped.

"But raising the moon in daylight and causing an eclipse just to prove a point certainly makes us look that way!" Celestia growled.

"Ah, that's what that was..." Lionheart muttered.

"I had to! Lucena had everypony doubting that we have any control over celestial bodies!" Luna stamped a hoof. "And she'd convinced them I was barely more powerful than an average unicorn!"

"So!?"

"You've seen the power struggles between alicorns! The only reason we're allowed to rule is because we're the most powerful! If they start doubting us, everything we fought for might be lost to a stupid civil war!"

"It will not be lost!" Celestia said firmly. "We were chosen by our peers to hunt down the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord - which we did. It was agreed upon by all alicorns that it was still our birthright to rule over Equestria, and that we would assume all responsibility for raising and lowering the sun and moon until such time that unicorns recovered from the distortion of Discords magic. There is no reason for the other families to make a power grab - they have nothing to gain!"

"Then explain Lucena! Why are we even here having diplomatic talks with her if she isn't pushing for more influence? Explain to me why she's amassing an army! Explain to me why she has her citizens convinced all alicorns are gods, but she's the god among gods!" Luna snarled. "Explain to me why the rest of House Rosegard doesn't reign her in, or why House Grayfeather is supporting her!"

"I don't know." Celestia sighed.

"Of course not! You were too busy playing around with the Roanamian nobles all day, while I was up all night gathering information!" Luna spat.

"Luna! You know that diplomatic relations -"

"Are horse apples! You only ever saw what Lucena wanted you to see! Roanamia at night is a very different country! A frightening one, wrought with nightmares even I cannot soothe! But you wouldn't know that because you only ever run in the light of your own sun!" She snorted, stamped a hoof, lashed her tail, then folded her wings and stormed away; past Moonstruck and Joseph and into the castle.

Celestia let out a long sigh and lowered her head as an awkward silence settled over the terrace.

"Astromida, I know you do not like to divulge specifics but... will Luna be alright? I am afraid... I am afraid that Lucena got to her somehow."

"The path ahead is dark for her, no matter which way she turns." Astromida murmured, staring after Luna. "But there is hope."

Celestia nodded. "Thank you, that means a lot."

"So... how is it in there?" General Lionheart asked hesitantly. "I still can't figure out why you left your oracle here. Seems like she'd be of most use at your side."

"Bad. Lucena has... she has divided the three tribes of ponies into different sections of the city, and she seems to be neglecting the pegasus ponies to a great extent. Most of the tours I was taken on were of unicorn neighborhoods, but we would pass near enough to other sections of the city to see that life was very different for pegasus and earth ponies." Celestia paused to scowl darkly. "She is insisting that the segregation is voluntary, but I very much doubt that. Beyond that I have not personally witnessed much – a fair bit of corruption, yes, but nothing on the scale that Luna has discovered."

"What has Luna seen?" Lionheart leaned forward curiously.

"A vast army hidden in the oldest parts of the city; acolytes of a strange cult that seem to worship a great dragon, and see Lucena as an avatar of this dragon. And suffering. So much suffering." Celestia shook her head sadly. "I doubt my sister is lying, but I saw none of this for myself. But I was also not in a position to slip away to do some digging."

"And that's why you needed your Oracle! Surely Astromida can confirm all of this!" Lionheart insisted.

"I can, and I do not need to be present to do so." Astromida blinked her large, luminous blue eyes. "What Princess Luna witnessed is quite real, I am afraid."

"And don't call me Shirley." Moonstruck added under her breath. If this had been Astromida in the flesh, she would have whipped around to give her daughter a sharp look, but seeing as how it was merely a memory, she didn't react.

"It is much better that she does not know that house Sol-Chronos has gotten involved. Chronos is always neutral when it comes to alicorn affairs, so Princess Astromidas willingness to aid us could be seen as an act of war. The last thing we need now is war." Celestia frowned.

Astromida nodded. "I would not be involved if there was not a slim chance that Roanamia can be saved." She scowled, then cast a glance to the side, stared directly at Moonstruck for a few unsettling moments. It sent a chill running down her spine.

"Can she see us?" Joseph breathed. Moonstruck couldn't form an answer.

"It is... it is a dim hope. Distant and faint." Astromida said, frowning slightly, then turning back to the others. "But I fear if things continue on as they have been, it may be all we have."

Celestia nodded, closed her eyes for a few seconds, then lifted her head. "It has been a long flight, I should sleep."

"Yes, yes, of course. Good night, Princess." General Lionheart said, bowing his head respectfully.

Celestia walked wearily past them as the echo began to fade, and the players disappeared into the cool night air.

"She knew." Moonstruck said, sitting down. "That sonnova biscuit-eater KNEW!"

"Pardon?" Joseph asked.

Moonstruck got up again and cast her light spell as she stormed back into the castle, ignoring the pain that oozed between her ears. "All of these years of letting me struggle, and she knew! She knew! Aaargh!"

"Wait... so your Mom was an oracle, and... she saw us just now didn't she?"

"Is. Is an oracle. She's still alive. Just... retired, or something. No one's seen her in months – unless she came back while I've been away." Moonstruck growled. "And yes, she probably did see us back then. Which means she knew I'd freaking take this mission! She knew I'd somehow end up here, of all places!"

"I'm confused."

Moonstruck stopped, which caused Joseph to bump into her. "Basically, the future isn't some solid, easily predictable thing. It's constantly in motion, constantly changing. Mom is one of the most powerful oracles of all time because she can see all the parts. Every possibility is spread out before her eyes. But, even knowing all that, she can't say with any certainty what will happen, because time – life - is absurdly complex."

She started off again, tail twitching in irritation. "I mean, even if you focus on a single day in a single ponies life there's an infinite number of possibilities. She could wake up late, she could wake up early. If she wakes up late she will miss the bus and have to run to work. If she's not on her usual bus, she might avoid being in an accident. Or maybe because she had to run to work, she'll miss out on donuts, or she'll be hit by a carriage, or maybe she's just plain old late and nothing in particular happens. Any one of those variables can effect the outcome of the day, and sometimes the variables are super tiny, and super mundane. Like, maybe she wakes up early, and eats a bigger breakfast than normal, and it gives her indigestion, so she ends up not going into work at all. You follow?"

"Er... yeah. I think so. It's like ripples in a pond, right?"

"Yes! And to complicate matters further, every move you make also effects the movement of those around you. No one exists in a vacuum, we're all connected through our shared existence."

"Okay..."

"Basically it means that predicting the future is actually nearly impossible, but Mom can do it. And that's because she can see EVERYTHING, not just snippets like most other oracles. So when she uses her ability, she can also sort out all of the stuff that is least likely to happen, and follow different routes through to the end so that she can make an educated guess where things are headed. But it all hinges on choices. Everyone's choices." Moonstruck shook her head. She really needed to find that kettle. The kitchens had to be around here somewhere.

"So does it really mean anything that she saw us just now? Or, back then?" Joseph furrowed his brow and scratched the back of his head.

"Yes and no." Moonstruck waved a hoof flippantly. "Some stuff is just destined to happen er, more like, basically everything just lines up for it to happen, Mom used to call them temporal bottlenecks, where all paths lead to one event, then branch out again from there. It's possible that we're in a temporal bottleneck, and it's possible that this is just one path."

"Huh. Guess that isn't very helpful, is it?"

"Not without Mom around to tell us which one." Moonstruck rolled her eyes. "Which is why she left, I bet. Things were going to happen that needed to happen, and she couldn't stomach hanging around to watch things go down."

"So, you're leaning towards bottleneck?"

"Yep. Mom never liked to get directly involved in anyponies lives. She didn't do any specific fortunetelling, and she only interfered when she knew that her involvement meant many lives would be saved." Moonstruck sighed. "And she deliberately tried to block out anything to do with her own family. She's an oracle, but she's not some detached omnipresent being - she still has emotions."

"Sooooooooooo... maybe she didn't know?" Joseph asked hesitantly as they turned down a decidedly less ornate corridor, which likely led to the working parts of the castle.

"She knew. She may have seen us well before we were born, but she had to recognize that the mysterious pony she'd seen at the meeting was her daughter, once I was born." Moonstruck shook her head. "This is probably the kitchen."

They poked their heads into the room in question, and Moonstruck reluctantly sent her spark of light up to hover high in the center of the room. The pain increased in proportion, making her seriously consider just going to bed, and hoping her tired muscles would work themselves out while she slept. It was the kitchen, however, and all of the cupboards were tightly shut, which was promising.

"That must've torn her up inside." Joseph noted.

"Probably. I dunno if she actually decided to look into my future though. Probably not. She probably tried to let things progress without any interference." Moonstruck sighed. "I'll take this half of the room."

Joseph grunted and ambled over to his side of the room.

"Which would be fine, except she... well she always had a sort of hooves off approach with me. She pushed me to be my best, but would never offer any guidance. But I'm probably the only one she accidentally caught a glimpse of in the time stream." She frowned, and used a hoof to pry open a cupboard. Empty.

Joseph didn't respond. For a few minutes, the only sound was the creaking of cabinet doors.

"Hey, didn't your Mom greet the other alicorns as 'cousin'?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We're like... sixth cousins or something. Most alicorns are related to some degree. Not so much us younger ones, since most of us are half, or less." Moonstruck shrugged, then winced as her wings added their own ache to her pain symphony.

"Celestia and Luna are the last heirs of House Sol. My family is House Sol-Chronos, which is the joining of a branch from the Sol family tree, and the Chronos family tree. My sister and I are the last alicorns in the line, unless one of us has alicorn foals." She popped a stubborn door nearly off its hinges and chortled. There was a kettle inside among other cast iron pots and pans. She carefully levitated it out, the strain of keeping two spells going at once nearly breaking her.

She set the kettle down and closed her eyes. "Ugh, I hope this wears off soon."

"You okay?" Joseph asked, padding over with the clicking of claw on stone.

"Yeah, it just hurts to cast spells. I should be alright in a few days." She shook her head, and called the spark of light back so that she could inspect the kettle. It was in amazingly good shape; had only a bit of rust on the outside. The inside was surprisingly clean.

She chanced using two spells again to levitate the kettle (which was too heavy to carry by mouth, and lacked any sort of wooden handle that would allow her to do so even if it wasn't), and steeled herself to get all the way down to the river and back.

"Get the fire going, I'll be back up in a few."

Moonstruck set the kettle down next to her, then sank down to the weathered cobblestones as she canceled her light spell. Cool darkness settled over her, the only sound her ragged breathing, and the gently flowing river. She rearranged her list of Stupid Things She Has Done, and placed bringing the kettle all the way down to the bottom of the hill to get a little bit of water at the very top of the list. Her head was killing her, and she still had to actually collect the water, and go back up to the castle.

"What am I doing?" She groaned, rolling on to her back to stare up at the stars shining brightly overhead. She grimaced as the weight on her wings sent pain that rivaled her headache exploding up and down her spine, and down to her chest. She rolled back on to her stomach and let out a pained sob, hot tears streaming down her face. It wasn't the physical pain that caused the tears – physical pain she could deal with; it was everything else on top of the physical pain. The mission; her mothers apparent knowledge that she would take the mission; the fact that she was nearly crippled in the flight and magic departments for the time being; the part where she was weeks away from home in an abandoned castle where a small chunk of history was playing out over and over again; and that she was more angry with her mother than over the greater problem of whatever the heck it was Lucena had done. She was also a bit irritated and confused by Celestias' decision to leave much of this information out of her initial briefing. Really, all of this would have been very useful information – especially the part where her mother had been involved.

Moonstruck was not certain of how much time she spent crying on the cobblestones, but she knew it couldn't have been long. Joseph hadn't come looking for her, at least, and the moon hadn't moved much. She sniffled, wiped a little snot away from her nose with one hoof, then shakily lifted the kettle to dip it into the river. Once she had enough water for tonight's bowl of tea and some for breakfast, she turned around and started the slow climb to the castle. She didn't bother with a light spell, her eyes had adjusted well enough to the dark that moonlight was sufficient to navigate by.

Having only one spell going allowed her to make it back up to their room without putting herself into a coma, but by the time she staggered into the one lit chamber of the whole castle, she was about ready to collapse. She managed to place the kettle on the hook designed to hold it that was jutting out of the fireplace over the fire, then crumpled into a heap on the hearth.

"Er... you okay?" Joseph asked.

"Not really." She closed her eyes and tried to focus on simply breathing.

"Want me to make the tea?"

"That... that would be nice, thank you."

14. Chapter 13

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

Chapter 13

Moonstruck spent the next few days puttering around the general vicinity of the castle, taking it easy for the most part. The pain in her wings gradually subsided, and she found she could cast more spells, though her head still hurt if she maintained any of them for more than a few minutes at a time. In the early evening she would sit out on the broken veranda and watch the memories play out, trying to glean as much information from the conversation as she could. She made it a point to sit in different places to see if her mother would look at her every time, but the apparition did not. She always looked to the place that Moonstruck and Joseph had stood in that first night. It was oddly comforting.

She took up taking short flights as the pain in her wings finally faded to a dull ache that seemed to effect her joints more than anything else. At first she merely attempted short glides (more accurately flutter lazily, since her undersized wings didn't actually allow her to glide properly), from tall boulders to the ground, then fluttered a bit less lazily to boulders a few hundred yards away. As her wings gradually recovered, she was surprised by how sore her muscles were. She had been grounded less than a week, but her pectorals complained as though they hadn't been used for a month or more, and simply flexing her wings seemed to take more effort.

It was perplexing, and vexing, but not as vexing as the solution - which was to keep flying. This very much went against her inclination to sleep it off. But she kept at it, flying a little further, and a little higher every day. Sometimes Joseph joined her, others she wandered aimlessly over the river valley in solitude. By the end of the second week she was strong enough to spend the entire day in the air, though she still lacked speed, but she knew that would come with time. Time they didn't have.

"Well..." she said a day later as she and Joseph were settling down to sleep, "guess we should keep moving."

He looked up from inspecting a secondary feather that had gotten out of whack at some point during the day and raised a scaly brow.

"You sure?"

Moonstruck stared into the fire and adjusted her blanket. "Yeah. No point in hanging around here any longer. I'll finish recovering on the move." She grimaced and shifted her wings.

"My wings still hurt, but they're getting better the more I fly."

"And your magic?"

Her grimace darkened into a scowl. "Also still hurts, but I can maintain spells longer, and cast more of them. That's... there's no telling when I'll fully recover."

Joseph scowled as well, opened his wing and ran a hand over his wayward feather to smooth it back into position. He closed it elegantly, crossed his arms in front of his chest... crop... lower neck region (she really wasn't sure what to call that particular section of his anatomy), and pulled his neck back into a tight s-curve to rest his head on his neck, and his neck on his shoulders very much like a bird. Specifically a duck, Moonstruck recalled watching the various ducks around Trot City rest in such a position. It looked a bit less natural without thick feathers to blur the line between shoulder and neck.

"Two more days." He grunted after a short pause. "The plateau has some distortion around it that places it very high. You'll need to spend a couple of days doing some high altitude flying to get used to it."

"Okay." Moonstruck nodded. "How high we talking?"

He furrowed his brow. "I'm not sure exactly. Over fourteen thousand feet."

Moonstruck sputtered. "I've never flown that high in my life!"

"How high are ponies usually good for?"

"I dunno, maybe five or six thousand? I know pegasus cloud cities will rise up to clear mountains, but they don't stay that high for long." Moonstruck stared at the ceiling and tried to remember the usual physical capabilities of pegasai.

"Some pones do live very high up in the mountains, but I think those are actually earth ponies."

She rubbed her chin with one hoof, and tapped the floor with another. "There's gotta be some mountain pegasus ponies who live at extreme altitudes. Doesn't really matter though, 'cause I'm not one of 'em."

"Guess not." He scratched his chest... lower neck region (she really should ask him about that) with one clawed hand, then yawned. "Guess you'll just have to adapt. We'll only need to be up that high for a couple of days – a week tops. Kinda depends on how we time it."

"Is it one of those things where you have to be at a certain spot, at a certain time?" Moonstruck yawned as well and snuggled further down into her blanket.

"Yeah. Luckily it's stuck in about a week long loop, so it's always nearly the right time."

Moonstruck grunted and closed her eyes, letting the warmth, and crackle of the fire lull her to sleep. For a time it seemed Joseph was doing the same, but he suddenly spoke just as she was drifting off.

"I know I've asked you this before but... why are you still trying to complete your mission?"

Moonstruck opened one eye to squint in his general direction, and twitched her tail. "I told you, I'm stubborn."

"It's gotta be more than that."

"It's difficult to explain." She sighed.

"Do you even know?"

"Not really but – why is this so important to you?" She opened her other eye to glare at him properly.

"It isn't. And I haven't known you that long, but it doesn't actually seem that important to you either. So I can't figure out why you'd risk life and limb to do this thing." He snapped.

"Well, if it's so unimportant to you, why are you determined to guide me into Roanamia?" She shot back. "You could just write the instructions down and leave me on my own."

He lifted his head. "Because I said I would. A dragon never goes back on his word."

She smirked. "So, you're stubborn too."

He opened his mouth to reply, paused, shut it again, then tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah... I guess."

"Anyway... I dunno how much you were able to talk to Sarah, but it's pretty bad in there." Moonstruck shook her head. "I guess in an official capacity I know how important this mission is, and that I really need to give it my absolute best shot. In an unofficial capacity; I tend to make stupid gambles, so I wouldn't be giving it my absolute best unless I doggedly keep making stupid gambles until one of them works, or I run outta options."

An odd weight lifted off her shoulders as she said this. She'd still been avoiding thinking too hard on why she was still doing all this, but something about just sort of blurting it out without thinking seemed to bring things into focus.

"That makes more sense." Joseph nodded. "And I did talk to Sarah a bit. She was pretty delirious. But I've poked around in there enough to know when she was telling things like they are, and when she was completely off her rocker."

Moonstruck gave the dragon a long, appraising stare. "You were absolutely bull-hokeying me back when we first met; about not caring about what happened if whatever's in Roanamia got out."

"Maybe a little." Joseph snorted, looking away. "There's not much I can do as one dragon, but if Equestria gets involved, there seemed like more of a chance."

"So why didn't you agree to help me at first? Or – heck, why didn't you just stay with Sarah and tell Princess Celestia yourself?" Moonstruck furrowed her brow.

"My species likes to keep to itself, and we do that by not meddling in the affairs of ponies." Joseph sniff haughtily, then ducked his head. "I figured I'd watch you for a while to decide if you were trustworthy, and up to the task."

"You totally led me around in circles on purpose." She said flatly.

"Nope, just took you the long way." He shifted his wings a little. "I figured that would be enough of a test. Plus, I was a little concerned that you trusted me so readily."

Moonstruck shrugged. "You don't pose any real threat to me; it's impossible to loose me out in the hills then abandon me because I could just decide to give up and I'd end up back where I started; and you had already gone out of your way to help a total stranger. I figured it was a low-risk venture. Also I was seriously considering becoming Queen of the Goats at that point, so I REALLY needed someone to talk to."

"Oh well that – wait, I totally pose a threat to you!" Joseph huffed.

"If you catch me off guard, maybe." Moonstruck rolled her eyes. "I'm an alicorn, dude. I gots the magic like whoa."

"Except for right now." He smirked.

"Pff, I can kick your tail blindfolded with one hoof tied to my chest." She smirked at him, then yawned. "Can we sleep now?"

"Yeah, I guess. Long day tomorrow." Joseph grumbled and rested his head on the ground.

"And I can kick your tail blindfolded with both hands and one wing tied to my chest."

"We'll have to fight sometime and find out." Moonstruck chuckled, pulling her blanket over her head. "G'night."

"Night."

One of the most enduring controversies among pegasus was whether or not raising their foals on the ground delayed, or somehow stunted their ability to fly. To non-winged ponies this was a silly debate, for they knew that all pegasus would take to the air eventually, and even if they didn't, they could still live full and happy lives on the ground with their flightless brethren. To the pegasus, it was a matter of fear. Not so much the fear that land-born foals would be lesser fliers, since all ponies learn and grow at their own pace regardless of where they were born, but rather the fear of heights. For a foal born and raised in a cloud city, heights were not an issue. They are so accustomed to the ground being hundreds – if not thousands – of feet down that taking that first tentative flight off the edge of the cloud and into nothingness is but a momentary bout of nervous excitement for most.

A land-raised pegasus, however, has a bit of a steeper learning curve. They start out on the ground, and must gradually work their way up. For most, their first flight above tree height is a daunting one. To fly, one must be okay to fall; fledgling pegasus born and raised on the ground must come to grips with this reality – a reality that is not shared with their cloud-born cohorts. The fear does slow their progress somewhat, as it takes them longer to get used to being well above the ground.

Being born and raised in a castle carved out of a rocky outcropping above a fjord, Moonstruck was one of the ground based fledglings. She hadn't felt any real fear of heights since she was fairly young, but now it was all coming back to her. Being almost sixteen thousand feet up in thin, frosty air that made her light headed, while her joints complained at every flex of her wings would do that to a pony. It didn't help that the lack of oxygen was also causing her head to throb and her stomach to turn a little just to get in on the action.

This was higher than they would need to fly to reach the plateau, Joseph had said, but it still seemed to loom tall off her right wing. She tried not to look at it (or look down), as she trailed after the dragon, and reminded herself that they only needed to spend a few minutes this high to see how long she could stand it. Joseph was having trouble too, but seemed better adapted to a little bit of extreme high altitude flying than she was, though she knew he'd be at his limits soon. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head as a wave of vertigo washed over her, and she momentarily lost track of which way was up. She wasn't sure if it was just the thin air, or the sight of the ground being so far away that was disorienting her so – possibly a combination of both.

"How much longer!?" She shouted, then coughed. She sorely wished there were clouds today; a layer between herself and the ground would be most helpful. It was taking all of her willpower to continue to glide and flutter her wings every few seconds. Perhaps it was a trick of the altitude, or her brain being deprived of oxygen, but she seemed to be able to go without flapping for longer than she recalled.

"I think we're good!" Joseph shouted back, his voice hoarse. "Descend slowly; don't wanna make yourself sick!"

"Too late!" Moonstruck quipped, grimacing. She followed the dragons lead as he adjusted his wings and started his descent. It seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to drop down to ten thousand feet, which was about the last point her head wasn't buzzing as near as she could recall. They spent almost the rest of the day at that height, then spent the last few hours of the day spiraling lazily back to the castle, arriving shortly after moonrise.

After a quick dinner of roasted tubers and willow bark tea, they crashed for the evening, then set off shortly after dawn for another high altitude flight, this time lingering at twelve thousand feet for a while.

Both of them were a tad ill by the time they descended, but Joseph was confident that a slower climb to the plateau should stave off the bulk of their altitude sickness. Moonstruck wasn't so sure, but she was having trouble sorting out the altitude sickness, from the woe she'd been experiencing since the crystal mines. For all she knew the altitude was just making all of that worse. She'd find out soon enough, she knew. Being up at twelve thousand feet all day had been uncomfortable, but not as bad as fifteen thousand feet. Theoretically, spending a few days that high would allow her to properly become accustomed to it.

Moonstruck stiffly gathered her things as Joseph groomed his wings; packing up everything but her bedroll, spare blanket, and something for breakfast. The kettle would have to stay; it was simply too bulky and heavy to take with her. She made a mental note to buy a little travel tea kettle for her next adventure (provided she survived this one), then crawled into bed. She gave the room one last look to confirm that she didn't have anything else lying around that she'd need to pack, then laid her head down, and pulled the blanket over her eyes.

They took off shortly after sunrise; catching a thermal and rising swiftly above the valley in a long spiral. Moonstruck stared down at the castle for a while, knowing it would likely be the last time she'd have a proper roof over her head for a while. A month, at least. It had already taken so long to get to this point, that she was unsure if she should poke around Roanamia for very long. She might be able to gather some valuable information, but if it took weeks to reach the outside world, it might not be particularly useful information by the time she got back.

She scowled as Joseph slid to the north, exiting the thermal at about eight thousand feet. They'd have to work to get up to the right altitude, and to the plateau, couldn't just let the thermal do most of the work for them. Something about the angle they needed to approach the plateau by. They settled into an easy pace, and Moonstruck let her mind wander back to the coming weeks. She knew that her duration in Roanamia depended largely on what she found in there, and whether or not she'd be able to maintain her disguise long enough to go poking around in populated areas. She hadn't attempted any more complex spells yet, but her rate of recovery seemed to indicate that she would be able to soon. Flying around in disguise was key – she knew she wouldn't be able to gather much – if any – information without it.

The day passed slowly; her wings hurt for much of the time though it was more of a lingering dull ache. Her lungs burned and head buzzed as they reached their cruising altitude near sunset. Thankfully they were also approaching the plateau, and would be able to land soon. She shook her head as a wave of dizziness washed over her. Double vision was not something she could get used to, she felt. They came to rest as twilight settled on the plateau, the sun out of sight beyond the western mountains, and the glow of the moon just visible on the eastern horizon.

"See, not so bad when we take it slow." Joseph quipped as he ruffled his wings and turned to look at her. He grimaced. "Er..."

Moonstruck squinted at him, and fought back the urge to vomit. She must look pretty bad, for him to be making such a face. "Can we sleep now?"

"Uh... yeah. Plenty of good places to camp in here." He took a hesitant step, watched her wobble. "You know, I'll go find a place you just... sit down and drink some water or something."

Moonstruck grunted and plopped down where she stood, squeezing her eyes shut. She sat very still for a few moments, then carefully slid her saddlebags off her back. Keeping her eyes closed, she rummaged around for her canteen, located it, and clumsily unscrewed the cap with a forehoof. She was not chancing using magic yet – not until she was used to the altitude. Water helped alleviate her nausea and settle down her aching joints, but it didn't do much for her headache. She didn't open her eyes until Joseph returned, and she did so with great reluctance.

He led her along the edge of the plateau for a few minutes, then made a sharp left to go around a jumble of rounded boulders. On the other side there was a shallow ravine that she had not noticed from the air. They walked along the edge of the ravine, traveling north and further on to the plateau. Moonstruck noted blearily that the plateau was huge, stretching far off into the distance. It seemed as though it would go on forever, if not for the high peaks of another mountain range etched against the darkening horizon.

Joseph grunted and pointed at a steep trail that zigzagged down the jagged walls of the small canyon. "This is actually where we want to be. We'll probably be here for a few days, judging by where the sun set."

"Right, good. Should give me time to get used to this." Moonstruck muttered. She started gingerly down the trail after the dragon, glad that her double-vision was not so bad that she couldn't navigate, though it was certainly a tedious climb down to the ravine floor. Thankfully it was only a short climb. While the walls were steep, and perhaps less than a quarter mile across, the ravine was but a shallow cleft in the plateau only a hundred yards or so deep.

Their campsite was a pleasant hollow beneath a large fallen log that was wedged between two rounded boulders. Moonstruck didn't bother setting up her tent, she simply pulled her blanket out of her saddle bag, curled up in it, and collapsed on the lush grass that grew beneath the log. She was asleep before Joseph got the fire going.

Although Moonstruck had experienced similar phenomena before while traveling through the foothills, she was still a tad perplexed the next morning when she dragged herself over to the creek that ran down the center of the ravine, and happened to look up at the late-setting moon. It wasn't that the moon was still out during the day – this happened for various reasons involving tide schedules, last she recalled - no, it was where the moon was setting.

She blinked a few times, furrowed her brow, and wondered if the altitude sickness was causing hallucinations. "Hey, Joseph..."

"Mmm?" The dragon grunted from where he fussed with the fire.

"I was kinda out of it last night, but didn't this ravine open up to the south?"

"It did."

"So... did the whole plateau rotate, or is the moon setting to the south?" Setting to the south almost within those strange, concentric rings in the mountains she'd observed when she'd first trekked across the valley below.

"The plateau rotated. Well, this portion. You know how it works." Joseph shrugged and waved a clawed hand flippantly.

"Right." Moonstruck gingerly shook her head, then waded out into the creek. She'd never seen a shift as dramatic as this. Even when she'd fallen asleep, and woken up to that snowstorm and phantom foals, the landscape had still more or less been oriented the way it had been the night before; mountains to the north, sun came up in the east and set in the west and all that.

The creek water was cold, but not so cold as to send her running back to shore, so she lingered for a bit to let the water soothe her aching joints and clear her head. She half turned to look at Joseph, whom had finished with the fire, and was now gathering up driftwood from the riverbed for firewood.

She finished her bath and crawled out of the creek, shaking off, then daring to cast her go-to drying spell. It was a bit dizzying to use magic, but she felt that momentary nausea was preferable to catching cold at the moment. After breakfast, they decided to explore the ravine a bit, spending the majority of the day leisurely picking their way upstream until they could go no further on hoof. The ravine butted into a solid rock wall beneath which was a wide pool where water bubbled up from underground. Had this place been anywhere else, it would be a very nice swimming hole; Moonstruck almost wished the summer heat would ramp up so that she could take advantage of it.

The next two days passed in a similar manner, for which Moonstruck was grateful. She was still shaky at such an extreme altitude, and while Joseph had been cryptic at best about what they were waiting for, he had informed her bluntly that they would have a narrow window of opportunity to pass through the mountains, and she should be prepared for some serious flying. A few days of laziness seemed like the ideal situation. She was fairly certain she'd only be able to handle some serious high altitude flying once in a blue moon.

She packed her things shortly before sunset the third day, then hopped up onto a large stump at the edge of the creek. The scattered trees growing in the ravine were of the small, scraggly, high altitude type, but this stump seemed to hint that this plateau perhaps wasn't as high up as it is now at some point in the past. Joseph fluttered across the creek to alight on a standing stone. Moonstruck envied his agility for a moment. Though she was a much stronger flier than she had been at the start of her journey, and she could take off with relative ease now even with her lingering aches and pains, there was something about the way the dragon moved that made it look so effortless.

"So, are you gonna finally tell me what we're waiting for, or what?" She drawled, half closing her eyes to watch the sun travel through the red sky towards the circular gaps in the peaks opposite the valley.

"Just sunset." Joseph said.

"And what's so special about sunset today?" Moonstruck lifted a brow and eyed the dragon bemusedly. He was smirking over there on his rock.

"Really? You haven't figured it out yet?" He turned to look at her, smirk edging in on more of a grin.

She scowled. Was it really that obvious? She stared out to the west again, noted that the sun was almost perfectly lined up with the strange rock formations.

"It's gonna set in the rings?"

"Yup."

"This is significant because...?"

"Where are we standing?"

She gave him an odd look. "In a ravine on this bucking high plateau."

"A ravine the lines up perfectly with those rings." He inclined his snout to the geography in question.

Moonstrucks eyebrows shot up towards her forelock as she whirled to inspect the landscape ahead. He was right, those two mountains – more specifically the gravity defying, nearly perfectly circular formations - lined up with this little ravine. She inspected the walls of the ravine, running her eyes over each little furrow of rock, the placement of each boulder. Now that she had an idea what to look for, she noted that the canyon walls appeared as though they'd been blasted out of the plateau, not eroded with the flow of the river. There were even long furrows in the walls that reminded her somewhat of a particular combat spell that acted almost like a drill...

Moonstruck felt her jaw drop open. "Someone blasted those mountains – and this one."

"Dunno for sure, but it sure looks like it." Joseph nodded.

"Someone..." She worked her jaw around a little. "Somepony had enough raw power to destroy mountains. And they used that power."

"Seems like."

"Wha – what direction was it coming from? In or out?" Moonstruck sputtered.

"Outside, I think." Joseph scratched his jaw. "I've only flown over the broken peaks once – it's crazy up there – but the outer peak is wider than the inner. And – well, you know how big this ravine is. My guess is that someone shot some kinda spell towards Roanamia and it bounced off a shield."

Moonstruck found herself nodding along. Celestia had mentioned something about throwing everything they had at the shield Lucena had erected, but she hadn't thought it would be something strong enough to rend mountains!

"When the shield broke, it took everything with it. Time, space, the landscape..."

"Seems logical," Joseph nodded. "Okay, get ready."

Moonstruck bit her lip as she glanced up at the sun sinking into the mountainous rings, feeling like she was on the cusp of figuring out something vital, but unsure of what dots she needed to connect to complete that portion of the picture. The feeling left her as the sun slid into the rings and she felt the world ooze around her.

"Go! Go!" Joseph shouted, whirling and taking flight. Moonstruck lunged after him as he mightily pumped his wings to zoom deeper into the ravine. She kept pace well enough; the canyon was too narrow for the broad winged dragon to fly too quickly, and the landscape seemed to be oozing around a bit as they went, though she wasn't sure if it was actually shifting, or if her altitude sickness was acting up again. All the while the sun shone intensely on their backs, and starkly illuminated the way ahead, boulders and stunted trees along the creek bed casting long, ominous shadows. They reached what should have been the end of the ravine with its inviting pool, and were greeted instead by rock walls that towered hundreds of feet overhead, and a canyon that extended for miles further into the plateau. A wild river roared through the canyon below, not a placid creek.

The sun still lingered on their backs as they raced into this new portion of ravine, twisted through a complicated maze of canyons and crevasses beyond. Moonstruck knew logically that they were no longer flying due east, and that the sun should be below the distant mountains by now, but the golden light seemed reluctant to fade, and they were doing their best to ride it as far as they could. All the while, her ears popped constantly, and the walls of whatever gorge they were barreling down grew ever taller, even though they had remained mostly level as near as she could tell. Then, they rounded a corner, flipped into an upside down dive and into intense darkness. Moonstruck felt her stomach churn as she felt the world heave around her. Her ears did a sickening, off kilter quadruple pop, then a horizon appeared in front of her, dotted with a few high scattered clouds, and emerging stars. She was fairly certain she'd been upside down, but now she was right side up. She was also fairly certain she would puke soon.

Joseph slowed and gestured for her to veer to the right. She did so, and found herself slicing past a tall outcropping of rock. She drifted out further from it, swinging over a ridge to see a chain of rocky foothills sweeping away from her, and a wide valley in the near distance. A vast city filled much of the valley, and a great, twisted tower rose out of the very center of the metropolis, rising high above to rival the mountains. And at the very top of the tower...

"Get down! Dive! Land! Land!" Joseph barked.

Moonstruck happily did as told, tucking her wings and sweeping into a steep dive. She landed heavily on a boulder strewn slope near a tangle of dead trees, took a shaky breath, then promptly vomited into the dust. Joseph landed while she was emptying out her stomach. He stepped over and absently patted her on the back.

"I don't... I don't think it saw us." He hissed, as she quieted down.

"What in blue blazes was that?" She choked, sitting down and squeezing her eyes shut.

"The Eye of Magmanus."

"I think I've heard of a spell like that. The eyes aren't usually so big."

She wrinkled her snout. Floating atop the tall tower in the center of the city had been a great, glowing green eye with a slitted pupil. Like a cat, or a dragon. It seemed to have been staring straight at them. There was a scrying spell that was similar; it manifested a floating, disembodied replica of the eye of the caster, and it could be sent around to spy on things. The spell was not widely used, as it was a difficult, high level, and costly spell to preform, but it turned up quite often in role playing games.

"Can it see this far?"

"I don't know." Joseph shook his head. "It didn't seem to react to us. We might be out of range, or Magmanus might be deeply asleep."

"He keeps it going even in his sleep?" She grimaced. "That must take up a ton of energy."

Joseph shrugged. "No idea. I dunno how it works, I just know to stay out of sight."

Moonstruck grunted, heaved a sigh, and got to her hooves. Silently they moved upwind and in to the grove of dead trees. There would be no fire tonight, she knew. If these mountains were as closely watched as Sarah and Joseph claimed, even a dim light spell would be like a beacon. Thankfully there was just enough lingering twilight to navigate by, and they were able to find a thicket to bed down in without much trouble.

Moonstruck had hoped to get a full nights sleep, and set off after dawn, but Joseph shook her awake an hour or so before sun-up. The way out of Roanamia was nearby, and it could only be accessed at dawn or dusk, it seemed. She reluctantly packed what few things she'd dared to pull out of her saddlebags, then set off after the dragon. She hadn't seen him this nervous before; out on the Equestria side of things, and even past the crystal mine he'd been extremely relaxed, but here he moved silently, and paused often to listen, or sniff around bushes, or he'd stand perfectly still and stare at something she couldn't see for a few tense moments. He was behaving like a small, non-magical animal. She supposed she couldn't blame him; if an extremely territorial dragon of monstrous proportions was sleeping somewhere in these mountains, she'd be nervous too.

She shook her head. There actually was an extremely territorial, monstrous dragon sleeping out here somewhere! And an evil alicorn queen down in the city who seemed to make a hobby of rounding up and enslaving the few free pegasus who lived in her queendom, and said queen had the power to control dragons. Moonstruck should, by all rights, be shaking in her boots (which she forgot to pack). She wasn't sure why she wasn't. Perhaps she was just too mentally tired to really grasp the situation.

Tired, and too busy trying to remember how they were getting to wherever they were going. This stretch of hills was broken up much like the hills on the Equestria side of the divide, so being able to retrace her steps would be vital if, for some reason, she and Joseph were separated.

She froze as Joseph did, and looked around, swiveling her ears to try to pinpoint any stray noises. There weren't any. There weren't any noises at all; there should be a plethora of animals up and about at this hour, but everything was unnaturally still. Apparently satisfied, Joseph started off again, moving at a good clip across a dried up riverbed, then up the embankment on the other side in a series of wing-assisted leaps. Moonstruck followed suit, and looked back for a moment to confirm that nothing moved behind them. The only signs of life in the riverbed were their respective prints and a few wilted plants growing between some of the larger rocks This gave her pause.

"Hey, Joseph?" She whispered.

"Mm?" He grunted.

"Hoofprints."

"What, where?"

"Ours." Moonstruck turned to look at him as he bounded back. "Is it okay to leave tracks?"

He relaxed slightly. "Here, yes. There's no getting to this area without already knowing how to get here." He inclined his snout to more distant hilltops peeking above a nearby ridge. "There, not so much."

Moonstruck frowned, then started off after the dragon again. That certainly complicated things. It meant she, at least, had to keep largely to the air. Her raven illusion was excellent, but she'd still leave pony tracks if she were to land and walk around. She mulled over an alternative disguise as they picked their way up an old rock slide; bounding quickly from boulder to boulder, then doubling back on a slightly different route, then going back along their previous route in something of a figure eight pattern. They reached the top of the slide after the third loop, then jogged along a jagged ridge for a short while. The ridge led them to a narrow crevasse between two towering peaks. The crevasse gave them passage to a small, triangular canyon beneath three conical peaks. There was a pool of water at its base – the first water she'd seen all morning. It was very dry on this side of the mountains.

"Okay, this is how it works," Joseph said, gesturing to the pool. "You can only get here just before dawn, or right after dusk, but you can only get out at noon, when the sun is directly over the pool."

"Remember the swimming hole back at the ravine in the plateau? This pool connects directly to it. At noon, fly up to where the sun is at your back, and dive in; there won't be any water, just darkness. Just keep flying straight, you'll pop up on the other side in a couple of minutes. The water's on the other side – you'll be able to see it as you approach, so you'll know when to hold your breath."

"Trippy." Moonstruck grunted.

"Very. Even I start to panic going this way, but it's the most direct route." He ruffled his wings. "Anyway, the stable parts of the landscape come almost all the way up to the higher mountains here, so it's not hard to find the right path to get here, if you know where to start. If you can outpace your pursuers, they'll just get lost once you're in."

He started back the way they had come in. "I wonder if Sarah accidentally hit one of these spots, and that airship was following close enough to keep up." He mused.

"Probably. How many other places like this are there?" Moonstruck fell into step beside him, for the path was wide enough for two, at this point.

"Maybe a half dozen, that I know of" He scratched the back of his head. "Some are more confusing than others. I wouldn't have thought to dive into the pool if others hadn't told me about it."

"Yeah, was wonderin' about that." Moonstruck grunted. "So... does your kind come and go out here a lot?"

"Er... sorta. Kinda happens in waves as dragons come of age and decide to do dumb stuff." He grinned.

Moonstruck chuckled. They fell into a comfortable silence as the path narrowed and they were forced to trot single file. The sun was up by the time they emerged from the crevasse, which made the going much easier for Moonstruck, but put Joseph on high alert. They exited the distorted chunk of real estate and took to the air, soaring above half-dead forests and vast stretches of dry grass and scrublands with dark stretches of blackened earth and charred stumps where wildfires had once raged. With the sun up, Moonstruck realized that it wasn't simply a desert on this side of the mountains; Roanamia seemed to be in the midst of a very bad drought. Entire forests stood parched, indicating that at some point in the past this entire region was lush and green. Finding water would be a trick, as would securing enough food to last her however long it would take to gather some useful information. The landscape being sparser than usual also meant that they'd have to be extra cautious about where they traveled on the ground; hoof prints would be plainly visible from quite a distance up, and there was less cover to hide in.

They spent a bit of time meandering through the higher parts of the foothills, though below most ridges to stay out of sight of the Eye, trying to decide how they wanted to proceed. Camping would be rougher than usual on account of the various problems involved in having a fire, and the need to be able to flee at a moments notice if they were discovered, so maintaining a sort of base was out, unless they could find a suitable cave to hole up in for short periods of time. Moonstruck would need to venture out of the foothills in the guise of a raven to do some proper spying, though the lack of birds in the area made her a little hesitant to do so. If most of the wild animals had moved on, a lone raven hanging around might seem suspicious. It was possible that birds simply didn't venture this far into the hills, and that they'd find some at lower altitudes.

In the meanwhile, it occurred to her that flying around as an alicorn probably wasn't a good idea. When they finally stopped for breakfast in a decaying grove of tragically parched trees, she experimentally cast a few simple spells, then donned her plain 'ol pegasus illusion, slightly modified from what she'd used to travel up to Stirrup Springs. She didn't bother making herself shorter, simply glossed over her horn, and left herself otherwise unchanged; she likely looked ragged enough to pass for one of the local pegasai anyhow.

"Mmm, oh yeah, any chance we'll bump into any pegasus out here?" She asked as she settled into her illusion, noting that her head only hurt a little from the magical effort. It was simple enough, she should be able to maintain it for several hours at a time. Thankfully she'd slept off the bulk of her altitude sickness and was only slightly dizzy, though her wings continued to ache in places. She found the feeling familiar, in a way, but she couldn't place it.

"Possible, but unlikely." Joseph grunted. "They're extremely secretive, and with this drought they've probably moved to greener pastures."

"Right." Moonstruck nodded absently, scanning the sky. "I wonder if that means fewer patrols out here."

"We'll probably find out soon enough." Joseph grimaced.

They finished up their meal, then set off again, gliding towards the east to circle around to the farthest spur of the foothills and the vast plains of Roanham. Theoretically there should be small villages out in that direction, since the city of Bridle-Dur extended up into the lower foothills, in every direction but north, where the valley opened up into the plains. Moonstruck knew better than to go poking around in a suburb of a big city. A small town a decent distance from a major metropolitan area she could sneak around with relative ease, but suburbs were too close to the main hub for comfort. If something went wrong in the suburbs, it would be more difficult to escape, but in an outlying town she'd likely be well out of the area before any serious threats could arrive.

Unless the whole spy network was super efficient, then it may not matter where she goes snooping around. She was beginning to wonder what Celestia actually expected her to do here if security is as tight as Joseph and Sarah claimed.

They stopped for a breather around noon in another grove of desiccated trees. Moonstruck sparingly sipped her water, and partially filled a bowl for Joseph, who was having trouble remembering where all of the watering holes were.

"The drought must have gotten worse from the last time I was here." He noted as they relaxed in the shade for a few minutes. It was quite warm here, far warmer than the crescent valley they'd departed from just a few days ago. Moonstruck was tempted to snooze for a while in the shade, and set off near sunset. Night flying might be a better idea in this weather.

"When was the last time you were here?" Moonstruck asked around a mouthful of dry grass.

"I dunno, fifteen, twenty years ago. It's been dry here for a long time, but not like this." Joseph shrugged. "There should be a few creeks that still have water in them this time of year, but so far I haven't noticed any."

"Might have to go up into the distorted areas." Moonstruck scowled.

"Yeah."

Moonstruck had the sinking feeling that they may only be able to stick around for a week if there wasn't water, nor anything for either of them to forage. She finished up her snack of dried grass, placed the remaining portion back in her saddlebag, and lifted a tuber out of it. She hadn't roasted it, and she wouldn't be able to roast it without being able to start a fire, which was most definitely out.

"I dunno, you think it's hot enough to roast this in the sun?"

"Nowhere near." Joseph chuckled. "Don't you know a spell for that?"

"No." Moonstruck sighed. She put the tuber back in her saddlebag, just in case they ran into a wildfire or something.

Joseph opened his mouth to say something then froze. Moonstruck was about to ask what was wrong when she heard it; wings. Feathered wings. Several pairs. She couldn't place how many, exactly, nor where they were; there were too many echoes. She pulled her saddlebags back on and got to her hooves as Joseph stood up tall and inhaled very deeply.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

They whirled to see a gangly brown pegasus perched on a rock above and behind them. He was young, not much older than Acorn, and he had the same distinctive head, lean build, and large wings as Sarah. "Got us a couple of poachers!"

"What is it, Brian?" Came a second voice from a short distance downwind. Another pegasus came into view; a paint mare that was more white than brown. She was missing most of one ear. "Whoa!"

Then there was a small swarm of pegasai; a dozen in all, swirling overhead then landing in a circle a wary distance away from Moonstruck and Joseph. She noted that they were all fairly young, and in less than ideal health. The main ailment seemed to be lack of food. She saw far too many ribs shifting beneath their earth-tone coats.

"So, you think you can just waltz into some other clans territory and steal all of our food and water, eh?" The first pegasus – Brian – drawled, hopping off the rock and taking a few steps into the circle. "Well, you're wrong."

"Whoa, hold on, we don't want any trouble, we're just passing through." Moonstruck said, taking a step back. This was certainly awkward; these ponies posed no danger to she and Joseph, but they had to act like they did to maintain cover. She was somewhat surprised they weren't particularly phased by the dragons presence.

"No one just passes through these parts." The paint said, snorting a short laugh. "Ponies come out here to try to disappear. Doesn't work though; none of you soft city ponies can last long out here, and the catchers get you anyway."

"Er..." Moonstruck grimaced.

"Hey... hold up, she's a pegasus, but she has one of them fancy magic butt symbols!" A third pony; a buckskin colt said, gesturing to her cutie mark. "I thought only super strong unicorns had those?"

"And what's that bird thing she's got with her?" Queried a sorrel mare.

Moonstruck blinked and exchanged glances with Joseph. They didn't know he was a dragon. And they didn't know what a cutie mark was. She scanned the group, noting that like Sarah, they all lacked cutie marks. And now that she was really paying attention, there was no way she could pass for one of them; they were far more gaunt than she'd expected. None of them had long, curly manes, all of their manes were fairly short, and not by choice. It was simply a result of hard living.

"Er..."

"So what's your deal, you half unicorn or something?" Brian huffed, getting in her face. "You're not all purple or something, at least."

Moonstruck resisted the urge to shove him rather hard, and instead took a timid step back. "Ah ha ha, you got me, I am, actually. It's... it's been troublesome, as you can well imagine..."

The ponies let out disgusted noises and shuffled a few steps back.

"Oh great, she's gotta be some kinda lovechild of a unicorn and his pegasus slave. Probably been pampered and sheltered or something. I mean, look at her, she looks perfectly healthy. Can't have been out here long." The paint mare sneered, rolling her eyes. "Well, guess what sweetheart, adventures over. We should kill her."

There were a few murmured agreements from the others.

"Hold on, hold on, she's still a mare." Brian said, looking her up and down. "A tall, oddly built mare, but a mare."

"We have plenty of mares." The paint snapped. "Besides, for all we know she's a spy. She's already seen too much."

The agreement was a bit louder this time.

"Look, I'll tell you the truth – we're trying to find a way out. Out of Roanamia." Moonstruck huffed, pretending to glance around nervously.

The pegasai burst out laughing, but quickly quieted down, eyes scanning the skies, and ears swiveling rapidly.

"Nobody gets out of Roanamia." Brian shook his head once he and the others seemed to silently agree their short outburst hadn't attracted any attention. "Maybe you're right, Mindy. We should just kill her. And eat her."

"We're not so bad off to resort to cannibalism." The sorrel mare rolled her eyes.

"We will be in a few weeks." The paint – Mindy - muttered. "It didn't rain at all this winter."

"Hey, how about we just leave now, and pretend we never saw you. Problem solved right? We don't use up any of your water – which we haven't even found yet, by the way – or eat any of your food, and you don't have to go to all the effort of killing us."

"I don't think so." Brian shook his head, and stood too close again. "We really do have to kill you."

"Hey! I figured out where all of the rabbits went!" Someone said around a mouthful of something.

Brian half turned, and Moonstruck leaned around him to see a black mare with white socks land a short distance away, she had a rabbit in her jaws. A dead rabbit. Moonstruck felt her blood run cold. They ate meat here?

"Way to ruin the mood Agnes." Brian said flatly.

"What? That's what we were looking for, right?" She gave him a funny look then reached down and tore into the tiny carcass.

They eat meat here! Moonstruck felt her stomach tie itself into knots as she watched the mare devour the cute fuzzy bunny. Her mind flashed back to Sarah, to her curiously long, sharp canine teeth. She managed to tear her eyes away from the feasting pegasus to look at the other ponies. They gaped their mouths open and licked their lips enviously, revealing teeth better suited to a carnivore. Of course they do, Moonstruck realized, also remembering that the doctor back in Stirrup Springs had mentioned that Sarahs digestive tract was quite different than your average pony. If they'd been in a drought for so long, and nutritious plants were few and far between, you ate whatever you could. And a pegasus needed more calories to fly than an earth-bound pony, so meat was the best option. She wondered vaguely how things were going with Sarah.

"We've got something better than rabbits." Brian scoffed, moving aside so that the newcomer could take a look at their catch.

Agnes looked up, licking blood off her jaws. She'd already eaten the bulk of the rabbit. "Weird. How's this better than rabbits? Can we eat the bird thing?"

"We're gonna eat both of 'em." Brian nodded.

"We are not resorting to cannibalism!" The sorrel mare insisted.

"Yet." Mindy added not quite under her breath.

"Aw, c'mon Brian, that's just gross." Agnes sighed.

"Well, we have to kill them now, may as well make the best of it." He huffed.

Agnes scowled. "You sure we have to kill them?"

"YES! They've seen too much!"

"Have they?"

"They know we're in the general vicinity!"

"Um, really, we'd like to get moving. Just passing through and all." Moonstruck said sheepishly.

"Nobody just passes through out here." Agnes rolled her eyes.

"So I've been told."

"They think they're going to find a way out." The sorrel mare chortled.

Agnes snorted a laugh. "I dunno, she looks weird. And the bird thing might be edible. Might want to take them back to see your uncle and the elder."

"And reveal the location of our home and water source!?" Mindy gaped at her.

Agnes shrugged. "Well, you wanted to kill them anyway, Brians Uncle will probably agree. If the bird thing is edible the whole clan can eat, and we won't have to haul it back in pieces."

"She has a point." Brian noted.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't eat my friend, actually." Moonstruck piped up.

"I second this." Joseph added, much to the surprise of the pegasai.

"It talks!? That changes things." The sorrel mare yelped.

"No it doesn't." Mindy hissed.

"It kinda does." Agnes grunted.

"Uggggh, fine. We'll take them to see Uncle Reggie and the elder. They can decide what to do with them, and whether or not we can eat a bird thing if it talks."

The band nodded their agreement. Before Moonstruck knew it, they were at the center of the formation, flying swiftly through the foothills. She was confident that Joseph could easily out-fly the pegasai, or scare them away with his fire breath, but she wasn't sure if she could. Flying was more than something that these pegasus did; it was their livelihoods, it was everything. If they couldn't fly, they were dead meat. Which meant even the best fliers in Equestria couldn't out preform these ponies – especially not on an empty stomach. She had magic, and could use all kinds of tricks to escape, but she wanted to avoid using magic in anyponies presence for as long as possible. Which meant that for now she needed to play along until such a time that she could slip out of sight for a moment and teleport. It seemed that Joseph was on the same page, and was gliding along placidly behind and a little to the left of her.

It was a relatively short flight over some incredibly rugged country; more vertical than anything else. Moonstruck had a hard time believing that anything other than mountain goats and hawks could ever possibly live out here even with the proper amount of water, and she saw neither. The goats and hawks had probably already moved elsewhere; why these ponies were still here was a mystery. They dipped down into a narrow, rock walled valley that, at one point, seemed to have a mighty river flowing through it, and a few rolling hills of what had once been lush grass and woodland, but was now a barren waste say for a few stubborn bushes here and there, and a tiny, pathetic creek running down the lowest portion of the riverbed.

The breeze shifted, bringing with it the scent of water. Moonstruck pricked her ears up, curious. As they approached, she could hear the water as well, and was surprised to spot a thin waterfall descending from the southern cliffs. Above the waterfall, carved from the living bedrock, was the ruins of a castle long abandoned. She jolted and glanced around at their escort. Sarah had said she was from the Waterfall Castle Clan, could this be her clan?

The pegasai made a b-line for the castle, taking them up to the main gates which had long since rotted away, then landing in the grand courtyard beyond. They trotted into the castle, giving Moonstruck no time to try to date the ruin based on its architecture, and down a set of spiraling stairs. At the bottom was a vast, airy room that looked as though it may have been part of a natural cave system at some point. What was left of the river was here, flowing out of a large, ornately carved opening in the south wall, swirling in a small pool, then gliding out of an opening to the north. The pool of water was much smaller than it should be, Moonstruck noted; the basin was quite large, and took up much of the room. The water itself only occupied what would have been the deepest portion, and it was perhaps only a hundred feet across, and likely not very deep. The smooth cobblestones beneath her hooves were slick with condensation, though they had no moss or algae; it was largely growing where the river entered the room. The cavern was deliciously cool, and lit by a long line of tall windows that opened up to the north.

"Uncle, we have captured intruders and possibly food!" Brian shouted as they approached another dozen ponies that were surrounding the pool. The second half of the group seemed to consist largely of ponies minding young foals, and a few who were carefully harvesting moss off of the stones near the rivers entrance.

"Intruders?" A largeish stallion with a dappled gray coat, and a scar across his snout said, stepping away from the group of moss harvesters,

Most of their escort trotted over to the pool to drink water, nibble on moss, and visit with younger siblings or nieces and nephews, leaving Moonstruck and Joseph to stand awkwardly by themselves.

"Uh... hi. We were just passing through – I know, I know, nopony does that. But we were. We'd appreciate it if you didn't kill and or eat us." Moonstruck grinned nervously.

The stallion whom was likely Brians Uncle Reggie paused a short distance away, glaring daggers at them. The rest of the clan gathered behind him. Though he was large in comparison to the other ponies, he was still a good five inches shorter than Moonstruck at the shoulder, which made her feel more out of place than she already did. She wasn't used to being taller than everyone.

"Also, it would be super nice, but totally not necessary if you'd let us refill our canteens." Joseph added cautiously, also grinning.

"Oh, yeah, we want to at least eat the bird thing," Brian supplied helpfully. "I don't think it matters if it talks."

"It doesn't." Reggie grunted, staring hard at Moonstruck, then at Joseph. "Well, she ain't from around here, that's for sure. Where you two headed."

"Out." Moonstruck shifted her weight. "Out of here. Out of Roanamia."

Not surprisingly, the pegasai all erupted into condescending laughter.

"Oh, this is rich!" Reggie guffawed. "We're practically out of food, the river has been getting lower by the day, catchers have been scouring the area for months since they managed to catch a few of us, and now we've got some pampered city half-breed mare trying to get out of the country. What's the matter sugar? Got tired of eating every day?"

The character that Moonstruck was currently playing was quite insulted. "I'm trying to find a way out to get help for everypony. Including you and your clan." She said through gritted teeth. "And I don't see what me being half unicorn has to do with anything. And how do you even know, I'm half?"

"Nobody 'round these parts has a curly mane, or a short snout, or one of them fancy magic butt symbols. Everyone knows only unicorns have short snouts and the magic stuff." Reggie smirked. "Besides, you ain't in rough enough shape to just be from some other clan. And a mare from another clan would just know better."

Moonstruck scowled, she couldn't get a read on this guy. She didn't think he'd kill in cold blood, but at the same time, he probably wouldn't hesitate if he genuinely felt his clan would be better off. She didn't have time to challenge him to a round of cards to know for sure, and she was fairly certain he wouldn't know how to play, anyway.

"Look, we really are just passing through. We don't want any trouble."

"Shoulda thought of that before you left home. Kill her, and the bird thing. I wouldn't normally kill a talking critter, but the foals are hungry." Reggie said cooly and a touch apologetically, lowering his head as several other largeish stallions fanned out behind him.

"You don't have a chance against that one, Reginald." Came a voice that was somehow small and old, but still strong enough to resonate with a wizened clarity.

The stallions jerked their heads up and looked back towards the river as Reggie let out a long suffering sigh.

"What is it this time?"

An old mare walked slowly, but steadily into view. She was thinner than all the others (which was quite the accomplishment), with an iron gray mane and tail. She was a paint, mostly brown with white splashes, and the wrinkles around her dark eyes were heavy, and sad. She very much resembled Sarah. Or, perhaps, Sarah very much resembled her.

"That's a dragon. You'd be dead before you could land a kick on him." Said the old mare.

The stallions took a step back as Joseph grinned and let out a small puff of smoke.

She ran a critical eye over Moonstruck. "And she's a lot stronger than you think, and healthy. It'd take the whole clan to kill her, and she'd take out a few of us before she goes down. Not worth the hassle."

"Glenda..." Reggie sighed. "You know how it works."

"I know. But I also know a lost cause. I'm lookin' at one right now." She quipped, eyeing the stallion sharply. "Best to let them have a bit of water, then send 'em on their way. No trouble, right?"

"Right." Moonstruck nodded.

"So, how'd you know I'm a dragon." Joseph asked, crossing his arms over his chest/crop region and shifting his weight.

"I've seen your kind before, a long time ago. I was just a fledgling. I know you all come and go from here sometimes. Might live way up high in the mountains, might come in from outside. Either way, you know your way around." She said, inspecting the dragon cooly. "And you know the way out. Or if you don't, you can find it."

"Glenda, we all know there is no way out." Reggie said gently. "I know you want to believe that your granddaughter managed to escape, but - "

"She is alive!" Glenda huffed, stamping a hoof. "I can feel it in my bones. She is alive, and she is out of this forsaken place!"

Reggie closed his eyes and hung his head.

Moonstruck exchanged glances with Joseph, wincing inwardly. It was entirely possible that Glenda was Sarahs grandmother. It was taking all of her willpower not to break character and spill every last bean she was holding.

"And you're already aware that venturing out into the broken parts of the mountains may well be the only way the clan will survive." Glenda added, breathing a little heavily. "Even if she didn't make it out, she may be up there somewhere, out of reach of the Watchers and Catchers."

Reggie nodded, eyes still closed. He heaved a heavy sigh, then looked up at Moonstruck and Joseph, then over at Glenda, who was shaking slightly, but still staring evenly at him. Her body was weak, but her eyes were sharp as blades, and bright as dragon fire.

"Alright, you can have some water. No food. If we see either of you again, we will kill you." Reggie said after a long pause. "You owe Elder Glenda your thanks. And her missing granddaughter – normally I would not be so forgiving."

He cast them a stern look, threw a somewhat sour one at the old mare, then spun and walked away. Moonstruck sighed and slumped with relief. Reggie had not gone ten paces before a pegasus burst in from one of the windows, in a panic and out of breath.

"Catchers! Catchers coming in from the Northeast! They're heading straight towards us! We have ten, maybe fifteen minutes!" She shouted, landing haphazardly, then collapsing.

"What direction did you come from!?" Reggie barked at his nephew.

"Uhhhh... Southwest. More south, than west." Brian said timidly, eyes darting around as ponies began bolting towards the south wall, where several ornately carved doorways stood, likely leading back into the mountain, and to freedom.

"Bad timing then. EVERYONE OUT!" Reggie bellowed "GET THE FOALS READY TO FLY!"

"Now what!?" Moonstruck yelped, dancing in place.

"I think we get to evacuate." Joseph said, watching the organized chaos with trepidation. "But probably not with them."

"Guess we could go out the front, I can... uh... hide us." Moonstruck muttered. It wasn't necessary to be quiet, the room was already empty; the last echoes of hooves and a few scared cries of foals rang dully out of the emergency exit tunnel and merged with the soft babbling of the river.

Moonstruck spun and started towards the stairwell at a trot, puzzling over how to cast an invisibility spell over herself, and Joseph. She'd done it before, but it had not worked out quite as planned. Thankfully the particular spell that she'd cast had a time limit on it, otherwise, they'd probably still be looking for Acorn in the back yard.

It took her a few steps to realize that the dragon was not trotting along behind her. She paused and looked over her shoulder, surprised to see him still standing where they had been, staring over at the pool. The chamber was not as empty as she had previously thought; one mare remained, seated at the waters edge. Moonstruck pulled her ears back and scowled. Then she put her head down and cantered over to Joseph.

"Did they abandon her here?" She hissed as she clattered to a stop next to the dragon.

"When everyone bolted, she just sat down by the water." He frowned. "Sometimes, in times of famine elders will starve themselves so that the youngest can eat. She might be too weak to fly."

Moonstruck swore under her breath. Glenda certainly looked like she had been eating far less than the others – and they probably barely ate at all. She and Joseph started moving at the same time, she wasn't sure what they could do to help her escape, but they could at least give her some closure.

"Don't worry about me," Glenda said as they approached, her voice sounding smaller and weaker than before. "They won't bother with such an old nag."

"Sarah is your granddaughter." Joseph said bluntly.

Glenda sat upright, and gaped up at the dragon, dark eyes wide with shock. "How did you - ?"

"I saw her come over the crest of the mountains. She made it out. Barely. I helped her down the other side." Joseph said. He locked eyes with the old mare and tilted his snout downwards slightly.

"So she is...?" Glenda gasped, tearing up.

"Doing quite well, I'd assume. She was pretty beat up when I saw her, but recovering. She's with good ponies." Moonstruck said casually. She stared down at the water, noted that the water level was a little low to touch her horn to the waters surface. She let the illusion fall from her features, and cast a spell that allowed her to walk on water. She plopped off the edge and trotted out a short distance.

"You – how - ?" Glenda gaped at her, then spotted her horn. She scrambled back, but bumped into Joseph. "You – you're – you're a - !"

"Alicorn. Yeah. Kinda useful sometimes." Moonstruck said, waiting for the ripples from her hooves to settle down before she cast her spell. "We were lying earlier. We are spies. But not from Lucena. From outside." She lowered her head and touched the tip of her horn to the water and let the memories she had of Sarah play out in the rippling pool.

Glenda stared down at the enchanted reflection in a strange mix of awe, and horror that gradually changed to hope. Likely the sight of Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance was disturbing, but seeing her granddaughter up and about, being treated as an honored guest should be encouraging, at the very least. Glenda reached a hoof out towards the last image Moonstruck had of Sarah, then collapsed onto her belly.

"My granddaughter... my granddaughter was all I had left. Catchers took so many of my family..." She said, her voice wavering, tears streaming down her face. She shakily stood and opened her wings, staring Moonstruck dead in the eye.

"How do you I know you're not lying? That this isn't some cruel trick!?"

"Um... good question, actually." Moonstruck said, shifting her weight as a faint twinge resonated behind her eyes. She let the mirror memory spell fade, though the twinge continued to twitch away.

"What would we gain from fooling you?" Joseph asked. "I mean, who'd want a flock of half starved pegasai?"

"You'd be surprised." Glenda snorted.

"I'm pretty sure I have more food in my saddlebags than you have here. Not water though." Moonstruck added. "And he actually does know how to get up into the distorted areas, and there's probably better foraging up there."

Joseph nodded. "And I know how to get out."

"Yeah, I mean, we just got here last night. And I'm still kinda nauseous from the whole trip." Moonstruck shrugged.

"Plus, it's actually really stupid to even be standing here talking to you," Joseph pointed out. "You've got catchers coming in, and she's supposed to be super incognito."

"Oooh, good one. I'm not even supposed to be seen by anypony, much less talk to them. Which kind of makes the whole spying thing kinda difficult." Moonstruck mused, then scowled at the spiral staircase across the room. "We should probably get going."

"Alright, I believe you." Glenda said, shaking her head and carefully folding her wings. "Unless you're an incredible actor, you're not smart enough to do something so cruel as to toy with an old mares heart."

"Nope." Moonstruck nodded. There was a large crash from somewhere overhead, and the sound of many hooves thundering across the courtyard above.

"I thought they said ten or fifteen minutes?!" Moonstruck barked as she fluttered back onto shore. She landed and stumbled, her vision swimming in and out of focus. "Aw, not now..."

"What, what!?" Joseph asked, trotting over.

"I think that memory spell and the water walking spell was a little much." She grimaced, squeezing her eyes shut. It didn't really hurt, but she felt far more tired that she should, and her stomach seemed convinced she was on a boat in rough seas.

"Fantastic." Joseph grumbled. "I guess I could just take them all out or something."

"You - you can't escape?" Glenda asked, staring back and forth from dragon to alicorn.

"I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'." Moonstruck muttered, she listened to the approaching ponies as she lifted her head and walked in a small circle, trying to shake of the nausea. Illusions were out, invisibility was out, combat was out, though Joseph could put a big dent in 'em. She probably couldn't fly well at the moment. She opened her eyes and stared at the dragon and old mare. There had to be a way out of this. Then it hit her.

Magical illusions were out; the best illusions often didn't require any magic at all. She'd already dropped her magical illusion, so now everypony and their dogs would know she was an alicorn. An alicorn was always royalty. Royalty always got special treatment. She let out a shaky breath.

"Okay, I'm going to spin some serious horse apples here, so just play along. Glenda just, try not to cower too much, look like you're right where you belong."

She cautiously and – ah, there it was now – painfully transferred her saddlebags to the old mare while pulling her cloak out. She was very glad that the packs bore no identifying marks.

"Joseph, whatever you do, look official."

"Uhhh?"

She draped her cloak across her back, tossed her mane, then marched over to the edge of the pool as the rain of hoofbeats made it to the bottom of the spiral stairs.

"It's a shame they let this place fall into ruin," Moonstruck said loudly, "What's left of the architecture is quite lovely. And the waterfall is oh so quaint!"

Joseph gave her an odd look. She blinked at him a few times, then looked over her shoulder at the approaching catchers. They were unicorns, for the most part; with a few earth ponies here and there hauling large cages. They all wore dark brown uniforms with pendants and insignia's of a large, green eye with a slitted pupil. There were almost a hundred in all, which was a little surprising, though Moonstruck figured it'd take quite a few to round up a full herd of feral pegasai.

"Well! It's about time somepony showed up! I was beginning to think we'd wander around in these blasted mountains forever!" She adopted her most snobbish tones, and held her head high, half turning to regard the charging unicorns.

The ponies slowed as they realized she was neither earth pony, nor pegasus. She scowled and wrinkled her nose, casting her gaze across them shrewdly.

"Well? Who are you? What's all this? Who's in charge here?"

"Um... Ma'am, this is a restricted area." Said one stallion hesitantly, flicking his eyes over to Joseph (who'd had the place of mind to look tall and imposing), and Glenda (who was standing awkwardly half hidden beyond Joseph). "No one is allowed past the gates into the mountains, you will have to - "

"Excuse me?" Moonstruck stamped a hoof. "I have no idea where I am. I was a part of a trade caravan that got caught in a particularly nasty thunderstorm. My carriage was hit by lightening and my escort was killed in the crash. Though thankfully my bodyguard and maid were both unharmed." She inclined her head towards the dragon and pegasus. "We've been out here for months!"

The silence in the chamber was so thick it could be cut with a dull knife.

"Where are you from?" The stallion, whom Moonstruck decided must be the highest ranking officer, said slowly.

"Bananalund, by way of Timberwhisp." She added a healthy dose of annoyance to her voice. "What does it matter? We're half starved, and I haven't had a hooficure in ages!"

"Bananalund?" The stallion asked, wrinkling his nose.

"The Banana capitol of the United Equid Confederacy. On the southern coast? South of Equestria? Timberwhisp is on the north eastern edge of Griffon territory. We were en route to the Eastern Nations when we were thrown off course."

Moonstruck stood corrected, this silence could be cut with a dull knife. Possibly a spoon.

"Wait, wait, are you saying you're from outside Roanamia? From beyond the mountains?" The stallion asked, taking a step forward and eyeing her critically.

"Yes, where else would I be from? Roanamia has been lost for eons." Moonstruck scoffed. "Are you saying this is Roanamia? Such a poorly run country, I must say."

The unicorns erupted into bawdy laughter. Moonstruck externally fumed, and internally laughed along with them, though they weren't in on the joke as deeply as she was.

"Alright boys, pack 'em up. These three get to tell their little story to the inquisitors back at the base." He nodded, and a dozen unicorns closed in on the trio. "Relay a message back to the airship: we have a rogue unicorn who's probably completely off her rocker, and a... bird... dragon... thing to deal with."

Moonstruck lifted her head and stared down her nose at them like they taught her in charm school, stamped a back hoof and flared her wings, which also had the effect of billowing her cloak dramatically.

"This is an outrage! I refuse to be treated like a common criminal, and I demand to speak to someone in charge at once!"

A/N: Long chapter. And rank pulling!

15. Chapter 14

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

It was amazing how small minded individuals reacted to the unexpected sight of an alicorn in their midst. The catchers froze in abject terror, eyes glued to Moonstruck. If Moonstruck wasn't worried about them suddenly snapping out of it, she, Joseph and Glenda could have simply walked away. Alas, their shock was short lived, and soon enough they were being frantically apologized to, then escorted out of the cave room beneath the castle and back up to the courtyard above, where still more unicorns awaited with much larger cages, and netting, and sullen looking earth ponies pulling cruel wagons. A wave of murmurs preceded them as the strange procession made its way through the parting crowd. Moonstruck inspected the troops out of the corner of her eye, taking note of what sort of weapons they carried, how fit the unicorns looked, how many of them had cutie marks, and whether or not they'd managed to catch any fleeing pegasai. The cages and nets stood empty, so it was possible that their dalliance had bought the clan more time.

As for the weapons, there were few. Officers had throwing knives that they could fling with telekinesis; lower ranking soldiers had clubs that they could wield with their mouths. Nopony had a cutie mark. She was fairly confident that most of these unicorns could only use the most basic of spells.

There was a rushed conversation between the officer in charge of the group that was escorting them, and another high ranking pony; worried and confused glances were cast in their direction, then they were led over to an extendable walk way that stretched to a massive airship that was drifting placidly beyond the castle walls, out of sight of most ponies in the courtyard. Several smaller airships were tethered beyond it, though they lacked any way to reach the ground. It was likely that they merely flew support. Each smaller airship seemed to have some sort of cannon attached to it; Moonstruck suspected that it threw nets. They were similar in design to the airship seen from Stirrup Springs, though Moonstruck felt they were smaller. That could simply have been a trick of the magical distortion.

She glanced briefly at Glenda to make sure she was keeping it together, and was heartened to see that while the mares eyes were wide, and wild, she stared fixedly ahead, and did not hesitate to step willingly onto a walkway that likely led to a life of torture and hard labor of so many of her kin. Moonstruck wasn't sure about her entire plan of action, but seeing to it that Glenda survived, and was reunited with her granddaughter was at the top of her priorities list.

"Admiral Desmond will speak to you now." Said a slim, prim mare in narrow spectacles and a uniform that looked like it had been chiseled out of stone. Her mane was pulled up into a bun so tight that it appeared painful. "Follow me."

"Finally, someone who knows what's going on!" Moonstruck huffed, tossing her mane as she stepped into the airship, Joseph and Glenda in tow. It was considerably cooler inside, which Moonstruck found impressive. Either it had a top notch air conditioner, or somepony was quite good at climate control spells. The mare took her through a maze of wood and brass corridors that Moonstruck would be hard pressed to backtrack through, then stopped outside a set of large, ornate wood doors.

"Your staff must wait here." Said the prim pony in clipped tones, scrutinizing Joseph and Glenda critically over the top of her glasses.

"Of course." Moonstruck inclined her head, then threw a meaningful glance at Joseph. Stay on your guard.

Joseph nodded once, crossed his arms over his chest/crop region, and turned so that his tail was to the door. He made a very intimidating bodyguard. Glenda, thankfully, shuffled over to stand behind him in the corner, eyes downcast, which worked wonderfully well.

Moonstruck marveled for a moment that all of this was working out so well thus far, then used her magic to open the double doors and march in to the surprisingly spacious office beyond. One would assume that space would be at a premium on such a ship, but clearly this only applied to common soldiers. The admiral was at his desk, a hunched figure with a chestnut coat, and a short cropped mane going over paperwork. He did not hold the paper up with magic, Moonstruck noted. He also didn't look up at her when she burst into the room. This was likely a subtle power play. She felt inclined to shatter it.

"My goodness, what in blazes is going on in these parts!? This is quite possibly the worst run country I have ever set hoof in!" She said before he could speak.

Admiral Desmond flicked his eyes up, then did a double take. He had perhaps been planning on brushing her off as some sort of high strung nuisance, but the sight of her wings slightly fanned, her horn glistening in the afternoon sun, and her oh-so prominent cutie mark seemed to have forced him to change strategies. He recovered better than his underlings at least; he only stared for a few seconds.

"F-forgive me, I was told someone extraordinary had appeared, and I had not quite expected your highness." He said, standing, then moving around his desk, where he had enough space to bow deeply. He was not a tall stallion, but he was powerfully built. He bore a cutie mark but it was oddly faint. Moonstruck did not chance staring at it long enough to figure out what it was.

"I was unaware that Queen Lucena had any living relatives aside from the prince, and her cousin."

"I have no idea who that is." Moonstruck batted her eyes and sniffed. "I am Duchess Angelina Francesca Bananafana Fo'Fesca III of Bananalund."

It was a ridiculous name; it was the first thing that had popped into her head, and for reasons unknown, no one was questioning it. Granted, everypony here had some pretty weird names, but she was pretty sure this one was absurd everywhere. It was difficult to keep a straight face, but she was determined to see the joke to the very end.

Admiral Desmond hesitated for a moment. "I...see."

"It's a part of the United Equid Confederacy. South of Equestria? As you can likely surmise, our chief export is bananas." Moonstruck half closed her eyes.

"I am afraid I do not know what a banana is." The Admiral shifted his weight. "But... I do take it you are from outside Roanamia, then?"

"Yes." Moonstruck sighed heavily. "I have been trying to explain to your underlings that my caravan was thrown off course in a thunderstorm. I have no idea how we ended up here, but we have been wandering these blasted mountains for weeks! Possibly longer, for all I know. Things are so strange here! And nopony seems to have any clue what I'm talking about!"

"There is a shield around this country that cannot be penetrated." The admiral said slowly, carefully. "And the closer you get to the shield, the more distorted the landscape becomes. No one gets in, no one gets out."

"Well, that certainly explains a few things." Moonstruck huffed. She certainly hadn't noticed a shield in place, though it was possible that the ponies living here had been convinced there was. It was also possible that the spell that was throbbing through the crystal mines was the remains of a shield spell that had deteriorated and become corrupted over the eons.

"Yes. Though I don't see how you could have gotten past all that."

"Nor do I, but here we are." Moonstruck spread her wings wide for a moment, then folded them neatly at her flanks.

Admiral Desmond frowned deeply. "This will require a higher authority."

"I will require accommodations befitting myself and my staff." If Moonstruck was going to be stuck with some crazy unicorn slavers for a while, she was getting a decent meal and a hot bath out of it.

"Of course, your grace. I will have my staff prepare the VIP suite." He bowed his head. "Oh... by the way, did you encounter anyone while you were wandering the mountains? Any wild pegasai?"

Moonstruck looked him dead in the eye. "Not a soul."

As soon as the door to the moderately spacious VIP suite on the catchers airship shut, Moonstruck cast a quick spell to check for the standard array of eavesdropping devices both mechanical and arcane. Thankfully it was a very minor spell and it didn't cause much pain. She slumped as soon as she knew the room was clear. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna puke."

"So much for going unseen." Joseph rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but now we get VIP treatment. Glenda, you can have anything edible in my saddlebags."

"HOW IS THIS BETTER!?" Glenda yelped as Joseph lifted the bags off of her back and started rooting around in them. "HOW IS THIS ESCAPING!?"

"Easy, we're guests, not prisoners." Moonstruck sat down on a cushion. The first cushion her rump had met with in quite some time. It was a good cushion.

"We'll ditch these bozo's as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Even if they tell, no one will believe them. Besides, they're probably just taking us back to their base, and it's probably fairy remote. It's impractical to launch operations like this from the heart of the city."

Glenda worked her jaw around a little. "I am thinking that perhaps you are more cunning than you let on."

"Every now and then." Moonstruck grinned. "Seriously, eat. They should feed us, but you look like you're about ready to collapse."

Joseph pulled a baggie of dried greens out of the saddle bag, opened it, and offered it to Glenda, who did a double take.

"This is all the food you have? I-I can't -"

"It's a lot greener on the other side of the mountains." Moonstruck shook her head. "I've been eating well, all things considered. Have at it."

Glenda bit her lip, stared down at the proffered bag then slowly accepted it. She set it on the floor and gingerly pulled a few leaves out, eating pensively. Joseph stepped past her and began cautiously exploring the room. He moved very carefully, as if he'd never been in a building with furniture before. Moonstruck suspected he had not.

And neither had Glenda, she realized a moment later. She frowned as it occurred to her that if they were going to pull this off, she'd need to show Glenda the ins and outs of pretty much everything; indoor plumbing, doors, drawers, being a completely inconspicuous personal assistant – the whole nine yards. Actually, she should acquaint herself with the plumbing first, in case Roanamia used something weird. Plus, she was filthy, and as princess, she got first dibs on the shower.

"I'm gonna get cleaned up." She grunted as she reluctantly stood. "They'll expect us to be clean and presentable by the time we land, so you guys'll have to bathe too."

"Um... okay." Joseph furrowed his brow and scratched the back of his head as Glenda gave her a confused look.

Right, she'd have to show Joseph as well.

"I'll give you guys a crash course in a little while." Moonstruck chuckled. She ambled over to the first of three closed doors and pushed it open to find a small bedroom. The next was a much larger bedroom, the third was the bathroom. She glanced back at the others, about to mention that they were a bedroom short, then realized that Joseph would probably have a hard time fitting in the smaller bedroom with his long tail. He'd probably be more comfortable, and a more effective bodyguard on the sofa. Shaking her head; she stepped inside, flicked the lights on and shut the door behind her with a hind hoof.

It was compact, as she'd expected, but very efficient. The plumbing was nothing exotic, and there were fresh towels on all the racks, and some heady floral scented soaps scattered around on every available surface. There was no bath, but Moonstruck suspected the potential for disaster was greater in a ship such as this with a tub that might leak or overflow. She'd have time for a long soak later, she knew. She shuffled over to the glass walled shower, slid the door open, then cautiously turned on the faucet. The water sputtered out of the shower head in rusty bursts, which compelled Moonstruck to give it a minute or two to clear out the pipes. It was highly likely this suite wasn't used often.

She closed the shower door and stepped back to the mirror to take a look at the sorry state of her mane, then stared at her reflection for a few long moments. It might just be a trick of the light in here, but it appeared as though her periwinkle mane and tail were now bone white. She opened the door to let in more light from the main room and the windows. Her mane did not change color.

"Hey, Joseph?" She called, poking her head out.

"Yeah?"

"Since when is my mane white?"

He squinted at her. "Um. Wasn't it always white?"

She gave him a flat look. "It was periwinkle.

"Er..."

"Light purple." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, right right. Umm..." he shuffled awkwardly, "since after the crystal mines, then. I think."

"Why didn't you say anything!?" She barked, whirling to look at her reflection again.

"I thought you'd already noticed!" He yelped.

"Well, I didn't exactly have a mirror, and water always washes my mane out so I never pay that close attention to my reflection in water!" Moonstruck turned back to the dragon.

"Oh. Well. Now you know."

"It looks nice?" Glenda offered timidly.

"Thanks." Moonstruck sighed. "I don't hate it, I'd just like to be informed of these things."

Actually, she liked it, though she wasn't sure if it was a bad sign, or not. Magical overexertion could most certainly cause white hair, though she'd never heard of someone having their mane and tail completely bleached in one go. She closed the door again, then gave the water coming out of the shower head another inspection. It was now clear, and of an agreeable temperature. She stepped under the stream, slid the door shut, and watched the water at the bottom of the shower turn brown as all of the dust she'd accumulated since the last time she'd taken a bath ran down the drain. She hoped she didn't clog the plumbing.

Although she desperately wanted to linger for a while, as this was the first hot shower she'd had in some time, she kept it short, and chanced telekinesis to help speed up the shampooing process, and minimize the amount of awkward twisting she'd need to do to get everywhere. Her wings were especially tricky in such a small space, though they didn't exactly require soap, just some good splashing off and some grooming later. It seemed especially difficult to get them thoroughly wet; they seemed larger than she recalled. She couldn't open them fully without hitting the walls or ceiling. Yet, the shower was large enough to accommodate a good sized pegasus. Strange.

Once all the soap was rinsed out, she splashed off the thin layer of mud she'd left on the walls of the shower, then reluctantly shut the water off. She stood for a few moments with her eyes closed, listening to the water drain away through the maze of pipes beneath her hooves, the slow drip of the shower head, and the hum of the idling airship.

She startled herself awake, surprised that she'd fallen asleep. She shook her head, then shook off more vigorously to start the drying process. Once she was sure she wouldn't drip on the floor too badly, she slid the shower door open and stepped out onto the bath mat, where she cast her drying spell. The magic didn't cause much discomfort, though it seemed to take more effort to cast. Now dry, and smelling strongly of lavender, she heaved a sigh and opened the bathroom door.

"Next."

Joseph and Glenda stared wide eyed at her, then exchanged glances.

Moonstruck slumped against the door frame. "I'm serious; they'll expect us to be clean and presentable when we get to wherever we're going."

More wide eyed staring.

"Fine. Joseph, get in here. You have scales, and scales don't need as much water."

He grumbled, then reluctantly hoisted himself off the sofa. Moonstruck showed him how all of the plumbing worked, wished him luck with fitting in the shower, then shuffled out, closing the door behind her. Glenda watched her curiously as she fished a pair of brushes out of her saddlebags and began brushing down her dark gray coat. She'd groom her wings next, then eventually tackle her mane and tail.

It wasn't exactly an awkward silence, but nor was it comfortable. Moonstruck wasn't used to such scrutiny from near total strangers while she did mundane tasks. The silence was broken as she realized that more than just her mane, and possibly wings had changed.

"Huh, look at that."

She lifted a fore hoof to show Glenda, who raised an eyebrow.

"Your... hoof?"

"Yes, well, the flags." Moonstruck rotated it as much as she could to take a look at the longer fur growing around her hooves. "I was wondering if I'd end up with some feathering – I tend to take after my dads side of the family, and they're mostly draft-types."

"Draft?" Glenda scowled.

"Er... more of a stocky, powerful build. Sometimes with feathering like this." She waved her hoof. "Usually you see draft type Earth ponies, but that side of the family is mostly unicorns. Kind of unusual." She set her hoof down and brushed out the flags, then moved on to her other hoof.

"So you are half unicorn." Glenda said pensively. "I did not know the offspring of a unicorn and a pegasus produced an alicorn."

"They don't, usually. My moms an alicorn." Moonstruck muttered as she carefully extracted a burr that had embedded itself deep in the flags of her right front hoof. "I'm Moonstruck, by the way."

"I am Glenda." She said hesitantly. "But you already know that."

There was a soft knock on the door. Moonstruck let the brush fall to the floor and hauled herself to her hooves. As she ambled to the ornately carved wooden door, it occurred to her that Glenda should really be answering the door. Now was one of those times that she wished Windwake was here; she hated to admit it, but his staunch professionalism and adherence to decorum would be useful right about now. Shrugging, Moonstruck magicked the door open herself as she adopted an annoyed look, looming over the small unicorn in the hallway.

"Yes?"

"Y-your m-meal, Y-your Grace." The unicorn bowed deeply and stepped aside to reveal a cart loaded down with a small feast. Moonstruck was mildly surprised they had that much to eat on board.

"I am also honored to inform Your Grace that we will be underway very shortly."

"Good." Moonstruck inclined her head slightly as she stepped aside to allow the unicorn to timidly push the cart into the suite.

"If the Admiral does not have any need of me, I would prefer not to be disturbed for the rest of the day, if at all possible."

"O-of course, Your Grace. There is an alcove up the hallway where one of your staff may leave the cart for collection." Said the unicorn, stopping the cart in the center of the room, then backing away, eyes downcast. He never even looked up at Glenda, whom was seated awkwardly on the floor near the sofa, nor Joseph whom had just stepped out of the bathroom with a towel on his head.

"There is also a button by the door, press and hold it if you need anything."

"Thank you." Moonstruck dipped her head regally, then closed the door behind the retreating unicorn. Once his hoof-steps faded down the corridor, she slumped and ambled back into the room.

"Wow, what a haul." Joseph grunted, peeking out from under the towel.

"Yeah. Think they slipped something into any of it?" Moonstruck asked, lifting a lid to see what was hiding underneath. Steamed carrots with some kinda greens and a honey glaze. She vaguely recalled a spell that checked for poison, but she was disinclined to attempt it in its semi-remembered state. Especially when a certain dragon whom was currently dripping all over the floor could do the same thing.

"Hold still."

"Eh?" Joseph gave her a funny look as he slid the towel back to rest on his shoulders. He yelped as Moonstruck cast her drying spell on him, then shook out his wings as the hot air fizzled out. "The heck was that?"

"Drying spell. Very important when you have a curly mane and tail and live in a drizzly country." Moonstruck smirked. "Anyway, can you tell if anything smells off?"

"Of course!" He snorted. He sniffed over the cart in general, then began lifting lids to take inventory of what was underneath, pausing every now and then whenever something piqued his curiosity. "Seems okay. Not any meat though."

"You can hunt later." Moonstruck rolled her eyes.

"I was more worried about her." He pointed at Glenda, who was staring at the food laden cart in shock.

"You alright with just plants for a while?" Moonstruck asked.

"I... uh... yes." Glenda shook herself.

"Good. Lets eat. I can show you the wonders of indoor plumbing after."

The rest of the day went by surprisingly quickly. Teaching Glenda about the marvels of indoor plumbing was a minor fiasco that thankfully did not result in a flood, or anything broken. Personal grooming took a bit of time, as did coming up with a comprehensive, unified story for their presence out in the mountains. They moved on to etiquette as the sun began to set. It boggled Moonstrucks mind to be teaching others how to conduct themselves around royalty, when generally she was pretty bad at it herself. She supposed not being found out and consequentially executed (or worse) was a pretty good motivator. If her sister had been here she probably would have died from shock.

They staggered off to bed once it was fully dark, too tired to continue. Moonstruck blearily showed Glenda how beds worked as Joseph stretched out on the sofa, which was actually too small for him, though he didn't seem to mind. He could always switch to the floor if being draped over the furniture was too uncomfortable. Moonstruck tossed a spare blanket at him, then shuffled into her room. She drew the curtains shut with magic, flopped on the bed, closed her eyes and fell instantly into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The others were not so lucky. Although Moonstruck had shown him earlier, Joseph had a little trouble turning the lights off in the main room. He eventually figured it out, and thankfully he only broke one small portion of a pull chain that no one would notice. As the room settled into darkness, he closed his eyes and listened to all of the unfamiliar night noises that came from sleeping indoors. He'd slept in abandoned houses before, but never occupied ones. They had a different sort of nocturnal symphony, and this one was especially alien to him, seeing as how it was a great flying machine. His hearing wasn't as good as Moonstrucks, but he could hear the engines clearly, as well as the clicks and whirs of various other devices busy at whatever tasks they had been built for. Too there was the sound of ponies moving around in hallways all around, and perhaps in other rooms like this one. With the strange artificial lights, ponies could stay up well past dark, and judging by the amount of activity buzzing around them, they may well be at it for a while.

The sofa was not uncomfortable but he was limited in how he could lie on it, considering it was meant to accommodate the anatomy of a small pony, and not something with a long tail, and large wings. After a few minutes of contorting in various ways, he gave up and slid down to the floor. He wasn't sure why he'd tried the couch at all, since he typically slept on the ground anyway. He pulled the blanket down with him; it was surprisingly chilly.

Joseph heaved a sigh and closed his eyes again, letting the thrum of the engines lull him into a light doze. He suspected he would not sleep much tonight.

Glenda was in a similar state, though she was standing awkwardly in the middle of her small room. The only building she had ever been in was the castle, and it was crumbling so badly that the only stable part of the place was down in the cave room – which is where the clan resided, for the most part. She'd explored the rest of the castle in her youth, but it hadn't been anything like this wood and metal monstrosity. It was merely stone upon stone, any finery long since removed, or decayed away. It seemed to be more an extension of the mountain, than something a pony had built.

She had been trying for hours to wrap her brain around how the day had turned so bizarre so quickly. This morning she had wondered if the others would find enough food to go around so that she could eat, and perhaps live a few more days. This morning she had been reminded as she had been for every morning since the rains stopped that she was the oldest living member of the clan, and the very last of the elders to cling to life. This morning she had known with certainty that she would not live to see the moon wax full once more.

Then the strangers arrived. She hadn't even considered that the newcomers would bring about even the smallest change, and even if she had, she would not have factored herself into the new world. That was why she had sat down, and waited for the catchers to come. They would not have bothered with her; they only wanted young, strong pegasai. It was possible that they would have been merciful and put her out of her misery.

But now, here she stood, simultaneously a prisoner and a free mare with a full belly, a soft bed waiting for her, and the knowledge that her granddaughter was alive, and being cared for beyond the borders of this wretched country. She couldn't shake the possibility that Moonstruck was lying to her; playing some cruel joke, but she also felt that the alicorn was being honest. It was vexing, being of two minds about things. Glenda sighed heavily and hung her head, listening to the strange noises the airship made, and absently sniffing the floor, which had a plush covering that Moonstruck had called carpet. It smelled of dust, mostly, and of metal, and steam, and grease. None of it particularly strong.

She glanced behind her as the light went out in the main room. It was very dark on the airship, her room had no window, so she could not use moonlight to see. Deciding that she may as well attempt to sleep, she cautiously stepped over to the plush bed, then carefully climbed under the blankets. She'd never had a blanket before, nor a bed so soft. The closest thing she'd come to this had been when she would snooze in the warm sand by one of her favorite creeks (back when the creeks had water). Sand was softer than other things, but it still didn't give quite like this. Moonstruck had said it would be good for her joints. Glenda was skeptical, but she was willing to give it a try.

Moonstruck lifted her head as she heard a firm knock at the door to their suite. She blinked blearily and stared beyond her partially open bedroom door to the small piece of the sofa she could see, willing Joseph to get up and answer the door. It was still mostly dark in the suite with the curtains drawn, but daylight was seeping past them enough to allow her to see fairly clearly, and inform her that it was after dawn, at least. There was another knock at the door. Something just beyond the sofa twitched, followed by the grumbles of a sleepy dragon.

Moonstruck relaxed slightly as she heard the dragon drag himself to his feet, then shuffle over to the door. The door opened with a faint creak, and there was a soft, short conversation. The door shut. A few seconds later Joseph poked his head into her room.

"They say we'll be arriving soon."

"Thought so. What time is it?" Moonstruck yawned and slid out of bed.

"I dunno."

"Wow, this thing must move slow." Moonstruck muttered. It couldn't take that long to get down to wherever their base was, did it? She sidled over to a window and opened the curtains. Bright sunlight assaulted her optic nerves forcing her to squint and look away; when her eyes adjusted, she found herself fully awake, and on the verge of panic.

They weren't approaching some remote base lower down in the foothills, they were sailing swiftly over a vast, dingy metropolis wreathed in steam and smoke, and towards a great, twisted tower that loomed out of the heart of the city. Moonstruck let out a choice curse, then scrambled out into the suite.

"This is bad! This is so bad!" Joseph yelped, bounding after her.

"I know!" Moonstruck gritted her teeth and pushed Glenda's door open. The pegasus was curled up on the floor, partially under the bed. "Glenda! Gotta get moving!"

"Wha-what're we gonna do? Can you talk your way out of this? Did you mean to take them to their supreme leader, when you demanded to talk to someone in charge yesterday!?"

"I don't know yet and – no! I expected to be tossed into the bureaucracy!" Moonstruck snapped. "Corrupt governments always have an absurd bureaucracy to get lost in!"

"What's going on?" Glenda asked, looking back and forth between the two as they scurried around in a panic.

"You always wanted to see Bridle-Dur, right?" Moonstruck asked as she opened all the curtains.

Glenda yelped and ran out into the main room, then she backed herself against a wall. "No... no, no, no, this is no good!"

"Joseph already sent me that memo." Moonstruck stopped in the center of the room, closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth. She had to think. There had to be a way to keep them all alive, and mostly well. She felt better after a good nights sleep, so she could probably do some more advanced spells today; if push came to shove, they could just make a break for it. They probably wouldn't get very far, but it was worth a shot.

"Mooney!?"

"I'm thinkin'! I'm thinkin'!" She snapped, glaring at the panicking dragon. "You wanna trade? I be the muscle, you be the brains?"

Joseph growled irately. "I don't know anything about pony politics! You're the expert here – and you got us into this mess! Argh! I knew I shoulda just bolted after I showed you the way in!"

Moonstruck rolled her eyes. She did get them into this. It was still a pretty good plan, she just hadn't anticipated being taken straight to the capitol to meet with the queen. She really should have factored that in.

"Alright, we're gonna stick to the plan." She said firmly, magicking her brush over to her to try to loosen up a few curls. "It's still a viable plan, we just have to stretch it out for a while. If I can convince Lucena that I am too dumb and/or incompetent to pose a threat, but too interesting to just have executed, we might be able to survive long enough to figure out how to escape."

Joseph let out along groan.

"If you have any better ideas, feel free to speak up." She said sweetly as she glared daggers at him.

"I don't." He grumbled.

"What about me? She must recognize where I'm from!" Glenda whimpered, crouching slightly.

Moonstruck turned to look the pegasus up and down. That strange thrill that had gone coursing through her body in the crystal mines was back, seeping its way into her bones as a wild realization reared its head.

"She doesn't know that pegasai outside Roanamia don't look like you."

Glenda blinked a few times and straightened up out of her crouch.

Moonstrucks heart beat faster as she continued brushing her mane. "That's right... Lucena is as out of the loop as anypony else. She has no idea what's been going on out in the rest of the world for the past thousand years."

"She's also completely off her rocker." Joseph remarked dryly.

"I can work with that." Moonstruck said vaguely. She resisted the urge to let out a manic giggle and shook her head. "Right. We need to get ready. C'mere Glenda, lemme do something with your mane and tail. Joseph, pack the saddlebags, but leave my little velvet pouch out."

Twenty minutes later, they were being led down to the loading bay, where they were met by Admiral Desmond. Moonstruck had managed to tame her curls somewhat and looked fairly presentable all things considered; and Glenda looked appropriately demure with a neatly braided tail, and a few small braids in her mane. Joseph didn't have to do much of anything, since he tended to keep himself impeccably groomed anyway. He was lucky like that.

The admiral bowed deeply as they approached. Moosntruck dipped her head respectively, and allowed him to lead her down the ramp; Joseph slightly behind and to the right of her, and Glenda a tad further behind and to the left. Moonstruck wished that she had a spare cloak so that both she, and Glenda could wear one. They'd opted to drape the travel cloak over Glenda to gloss over how emaciated she was, and giver her a hood to hide in if things got to be too much. Plus, the saddlebags hiding underneath the cloak beefed up her silhouette a tad. Moonstruck didn't want anyone suspecting that Glenda was too weak to fly at the moment.

Her mind buzzed with possibilities as they were formally introduced to the captain of the guard, whom was a tall, lean, stoic, bluish gray unicorn stallion called Falcon. They were then informed that the queen would see them immediately. Their entourage grew as a dozen guards armed with cruel looking halberds fell into step around them. Admiral Desmond remained in the lead, though he was joined by the captain of the guard.

No one spoke while they made their way up to the audience chamber, which gave Moonstruck the freedom to take inventory. The guards wore armor, so she had no idea if they had cutie marks or not – likely not. Captain Falcon seemed to have a faded, vague cutie mark not unlike Admiral Desmond, and she could not even begin to identify what it was, even though he was walking only a short distance ahead of her. The faded marks reminded her of an ink drawing that had been placed in water; the design blurred and lifting off the paper. She did not remember reading anything about Roanamian ponies having strange cutie marks.

The tower seemed lightly staffed with guards stationed every hundred yards or so, and she did not see any domestic staff running around, though it was entirely possible that they had been cleared off their route for security reasons. The carpet they walked on was downright ancient, she was surprised that it wasn't unraveling beneath their hooves. The ceilings were extremely high; a good forty or fifty feet overhead, and pointed at their peaks in flying gothic arches. This particular hallway had no windows, but a corridor they turned down did; tall windows to their left with stained glass that reminded her of the elegant galleries of Canterlot Castle, though these windows depicted no fables, nor feats of heroes. It was the same design in every window; a mottled red field upon which rested a great green eye with a slitted pupil. The red light shining across the red carpet gave the whole place a sinister, bloody glow. At the end of the hallway there were a pair of massive double doors, carved with the same eye motif, though they had not painted the doors, merely stained them very dark.

A slim, pink, unicorn mare in a black uniform stood in front of the doors, watching them approach with sharp, half lidded eyes. She had no cutie mark, as near as Moonstruck could tell. When they were a few paces away, she stepped forward to briefly speak with the stallions, threw a glance at Moonstruck, then spun and marched up to the doors. She used telekenisis to open them both wide, then stepped into the chamber beyond.

"I present Her Grace, Duchess Angelina Francesca Bananafana Fo'Fesca III, of Bananalund." She announced, her voice silencing the crowd, and resonating clearly across the audience chamber. She stepped aside and bowed deeply.

Moonstruck half closed her eyes, stuck her snout in the air, and marched smoothly after the stallions, careful not to do more than glance at the crowd gathered in the audience chamber. It seemed that the royal court was in session, and the hall was filled with nobility from across Roanamia. All of them were unicorns, and only a small number of them had cutie marks. She noted that only the older ponies seemed to have them; the younger members of the court had blank flanks.

The gallery was lined with tall, narrow, red stained glass windows alternating with tapestries depicting the various family crests of the court. Above each tapestry was a blood red crystal that emitted a deep crimson light. Overhead was a skylight; thankfully it was neither stained glass, nor red; though judging by the shadow the support beams left across the floor, it was a complex spiderweb of steel and glass which had a very foreboding effect. Nopony wanted to be caught in this web.

She focused forward, to where the queen was waiting on her throne in a tall alcove of twinning roses carved from red crystal. Above the alcove was an eye with a slitted pupil carved from a truly massive emerald. Lucena herself was in a surprisingly undignified position for a queen holding court; lounging as she was on her exquisitely carved wooden throne. The reason for the strange pose became clear as they grew closer. Queen Lucena had... altered herself.

Moonstruck very nearly stumbled as she realized that the queen had somehow stolen, or perhaps adapted the body of a minotaur; she walked on two legs, not four, and had hands instead of front hooves. Her black wings were arched over her back in what had to be an uncomfortable position to hold for any length of time. She wore a gossamer dress over her blood red coat and lean frame, and her black mane and tail were streaked with gray. Her large yellow eyes were surrounded by fine lines. It was jarring to see an aged alicorn; Lucena was around Celestias age, yet Celestia still appeared to be in her prime.

"Well, well, what have we here?" The queen said, as they approached. Admiral Desmond and Captain Falcon bowed deeply and moved aside as the party came to a halt in front of the dais upon which the throne rested.

"A little lost alicorn from afar? And a mere duchess? Things must truly be strange out in the world."

"Greetings, Your Majesty, and well met." Moonstruck dipped smoothly into a low, wide winged bow, hoping Joseph and Glenda were following her lead.

"Rise. And tell me what house you belong to. I am afraid I am unfamiliar with Bananalund nor... "

"The Bananafana Fo'Fescas." Moonstruck supplied as she straightened up. "It's a relatively new house, less than three hundred years old. It's the joining of a minor branch of House Drui and House Loma."

Moonstruck was pretty sure House Drui and House Loma were dead houses, since no alicorns of those lineages lived, and the bloodlines that lived on in common ponies hadn't produced a pony of note in some time, but Lucena didn't know that.

"Mmm... agriculture lines. Of course." Lucena nodded. "How is it you are but a duchess? Are there truly enough alicorns to have superfluous relatives whom hold no queendoms of their own?"

Moonstruck sighed heavily. "Yes. I am but a cousin to the clan heir, and a second daughter at that. I have a modest holding, though I act as minister of trade for the country and clan."

"I see, I see." Lucena leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "They figured out how to get the magic to breed true, did they?"

"Yes, though I don't know it." Moonstruck huffed. "They never tell us younger alicorns anything. At least not until they've decided we're ready."

Lucena cackled and leaned back in her seat, steepling her fingers in front of her chest, and twisting so that one flank was visible in the slit of her long dress. Unlike everypony else, her cutie mark was distinct and clear; a green eye with a slitted pupil.

"Yes, they are quite secretive, aren't they?" She narrowed her eyes. "Tell me, how did you come to this country? How did you get past the shield, and over the mountains?"

"I have no idea. The last thing I knew I was in my carriage with my caravan; we were on a tour of Equestria and the Northern Lands, heading to the Eastern Nations and had just left Timberwhisp, which is on the northeast corner of Griffon territory. A freak thunderstorm caught us by surprise, and my caravan was struck by lightening – most everyone died." She gestured with one wing to Joseph and Glenda.

"Only myself, my bodyguard and my maid survived. Most of our goods were destroyed in the crash. All I can say for certain was that the storm blew us far off course. We've been wandering the mountains ever since."

"So, Equestria still stands? Is it still powerful?" Lucena lifted a manicured brow shrewdly. If the idea of a violent thunderstorm somehow allowing two ponies and a small dragon to breach her shield seemed impossible to her, she didn't show it.

"Yes, of course. It never fell." Moonstruck blinked cluelessly, unsure how she should respond to that and deciding that genuine confusion was the best course of action.

"What of Princess Luna?"

"She and her sister had a bit of a falling out a while back, and she was banished to the moon." Moonstrucks mind whirled. Her gut was telling her that Lucena would not be happy to hear that both Luna and Celestia were alive and well.

Lucena let loose a wide grin. "And Celestia?"

"She's still around, though the fight with her sister left her considerably weakened. The other houses decided to remove her from power. She simply manages the sun and moon now."

"Fascinating. And she finds this arrangement agreeable?"

"Likely not, though she doesn't have much say in the matter. If she doesn't do her job, everypony dies, and she can't stomach that, even if she hates going on as she is." Moonstruck waved a hoof flippantly as Lucena erupted into raucous laughter.

"Oh ho ho, that is far better than I had hoped would happen!" She clapped her hands together, then sat up straighter. "You have a cutie mark, but you are powerful, I assume. What of the lesser ponies?"

That was not a question Moonstruck was anticipating. It seemed that Lucena knew why so few ponies had cutie marks, but without this knowledge, Moonstruck could not think of any reason why ponies outside of Roanamia wouldn't, and she didn't have time to hesitate.

"Most ponies have them."

"Hmph." Lucena rubbed her chin with one hand. "That must make things more difficult."

"Make what more difficult?"

"Keeping everyone in line, of course."

How Moonstruck wished she could just ask about the cutie marks! She sensed that she wasn't in a position to ask prying questions at the moment; only answer them. And her answers had to be interesting enough to keep the queen engaged. She shifted her weight and rolled her eyes, trying to think of the laziest, most diabolical way to oppress ponies – preferably without them knowing it.

"Not really. It just takes so much effort to keep everypony in line through force, so we let them think they're following their destinies or whatever." Moonstruck said, allowing herself to drawl a tad. "It's basically a carrot on a stick. They toil away at their little projects, make money and goods, pay taxes, but never really get anywhere. Some of them even spend thousands and thousands of bits and gems on higher and higher education in an effort to attain better employment, but mostly they just end up in massive amounts of debt that they have to work off doing menial jobs because there simply isn't that much demand for such highly educated ponies. Meanwhile, we alicorns sit back and watch our wealth grow, since we own most of the biggest corporations, and run the governments."

Lucena tilted her head back and stared at her for a disturbingly long time. Moonstruck was convinced she was about to order their execution, when the elder alicorn cracked another wide, disturbing grin.

"I like it. I prefer a more proactive approach, but I like it." Lucena chuckled. She turned her gaze to Joseph. "And what of your draconic bodyguard? Are dragons now under pony control?"

Moonstruck silently showered praises on Joseph for keeping his head bowed, eyes downcast and hands clasped in front of him – she knew this must be driving him up the wall.

"Swiftclaw? Oh, he's not a dragon, he's a draeglach – a sort of chimera. True dragons are too difficult to control, so somepony a while back figured out how to make something more manageable."

"Hmmm, fascinating." Lucena said, flicking her eyes over the silent dragon.

Don't try to control him, don't try to control him, don't try to control him... Moonstruck chanted silently to herself. She had a weird inkling that Lucena couldn't control Joseph, but either way, trying to control him would be bad. If she could, it blew Moonstruck's pet theory out of the water, and forced some massive changes to their plan; if she couldn't, she wasn't sure how the queen would react. She might simply buy Moonstrucks explanation and move on, or she might take offense – or worse.

Lucena seemed content to merely look, and turned her gaze back to Moonstruck. She smirked.

"Forgetting our manners?"

"Your Majesty?"

"It is rude for an alicorn to appear in such a -" her lip curled up into a sneer "-bestial state before a higher ranking alicorn, though I can forgive your nudity, all things considered." She leaned back in her throne and crossed her legs, drumming her fingers on the arm of the chair.

Moonstruck was about to explain that most of her personal effects had been either destroyed or abandoned, when she realized what the queen meant. She expected her to be able to transform into some sort of weird pony/minotaur thing. Moonstruck laughed nervously, mind racing to find an explanation.

"Oh! Of course! Forgive me, your majesty. I have been out in nature for so long, and intent on preserving my energy that I simply had not thought of it." She chuckled, and bowed. Moonstruck did not know a single transformation spell, so an illusion would have to do. She hoped that it would be enough.

She fanned her wings over her head, closed her eyes, and did her best to mimic Lucenas strange transformation, picturing herself as a similar creature. She also added a bit of smoke and sparkles for the effect. When the spell finished, she slowly stood, pushing herself up on her hind legs as she did so, just in case the illusion wasn't quite as complete as it should be. It was a good thing she'd been observing Joseph all this time, otherwise she'd have no idea what to do with hands. She hoped she could maintain this as long as she needed. Walking around on her hind legs would probably be the most difficult part, but she couldn't afford to have her physical body mismatched to the illusion at the moment, even if it was invisible. Hopefully she would have the chance to come up with something better later.

"I'm afraid my wardrobe is lost somewhere." Moonstruck said, running an illusory hand through her illusory mane to shake it out a little. "So this will have to do for the time being."

Lucena nodded once, content, it seemed. Then she lifted her gaze beyond the trio to the double doors at the end of the hall, that were in the process of swinging open.

"I do hate when he does this..." she muttered just loudly enough for Moonstruck to hear.

Moonstruck half turned to take a look at the semi-unannounced guest.

"I present Prince Maximus Dragonwing of House Rosegard." The pink pony announced from the center of the aisle just in front of the doors. She bowed, and moved aside, allowing a tall figure to stride into the room.

The prince was one of the largest ponies Moonstruck had ever seen - even for an alicorn; which he was - in a very general sense. She found herself drifting aside as he moved closer. He seemed to have a mix of both pony and dragon features. He had blood red fur, like the queen, but he also had glossy white scales over much of his back and shoulders. He had a black mane that was more leonine than equine, and a long, fleshy tail with silky looking black flags. His large black wings were like a dragons, with leathery membrane stretched between spindly fingers, and his horn twisted in a rough, almost scaly spiral. The green eye with slitted pupil motif was carried over here as well. Those eyes may well have been his eyes. He did not appear to have a cutie mark, which was surprising, though it could simply indicate that he was young, perhaps around her age. Ponies here didn't seem to get their marks until later in life – if at all.

The prince stopped before the dais, swept into a bow, then stood again on his hind legs, now in the same strange guise as Lucena, albeit taller, bulkier, and more menacing. "Mother."

"Your manners are atrocious, my son." Lucena said, inspecting one hand lazily. "We have a guest from afar. Perhaps you should greet her properly."

Maximus threw them a brief glance. "I see that. I also know that you instructed me to report to you as soon as I returned."

"I suppose you are punctual, at the very least." Lucena muttered. "Very well, what news have you? And make it quick, you're embarrassing me in front of the duchess."

He narrowed his eyes. "Lord Vertram refuses to stand down. The shield spell holds sound, and he insists that he will only negotiate with you, and you alone. He is threatening to cull half of his work force if his demands are not met."

"You flew all the way back here just to tell me that?" The queen sighed. "You could have sent a message and saved me the trouble." She turned to Moonstruck. "Don't you just hate it when unicorns let their pathetic power go to their heads?"

Moonstruck rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yes, it's such a chore putting them in their place."

"Oh, I enjoy that part, I just find it absurd that they think they can challenge me at all. And really, it's been ages since I've had a proper challenger. These lot are vexingly pathetic." Lucena cast a sour look at her son.

"Almost as vexing as when young stallions don't obey their mothers. Greet our guest, Maximus."

He let out a sigh akin to a growl, spun elegantly, then dropped into a low bow. "Prince Maximus, at your service, milady."

"Duchess Angelina Franesca Bananafana Fo'Fesca III of Bananalund." Moonstruck said, bowing in return, and nearly falling over. Luckily she was able to complete the motion into a sort of curtsy.

The prince straightened up, then turned back to his mother. "Now, the matter of Lord Vertram..."

"Yes, yes, I suppose I can have a word with him." Lucena lifted herself out of her chair slowly. "He most likely is just doing this all for the attention, such a needy thing." She snapped her fingers, and a dark green unicorn mare wearing a smart black uniform stepped out from behind the throne.

"Prepare a guest suite for the Duchess and her staff." She said. "Tonight we feast in honor of our improbable visitor. Perhaps the Duchess shall demonstrate her abilities for our entertainment, since I assume it has something to do with card tricks."

Moonstruck smiled and bowed as the queen stood fully, relief sweeping over her. For the time being, they were in the clear.

"It would be my honor and pleasure, Your Majesty!"

16. Chapter 15

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

The rooms were ready by the time they climbed the two dozen flights of stairs to reach them. Moonstruck was about at physical and magical limits as they were escorted in, and given a brief tour. As soon as the tower staff left, she cast her anti-snooping spell, determined that the room lacked any sort of listening devices that she could recognize, then dropped her illusion as she sank gratefully back onto all fours. The combination of magic, and walking in such an awkward position for so long was playing havoc with her back and head.

"Oh good gravy have I stepped in it this time!" Moonstruck groaned, dragging herself over to a truly ancient looking fainting couch and flopping on it. It smelled funny, but it at least wasn't dusty.

"Agh! That pony gave me the creeps!" Joseph said, loudly shaking out his wings. "I dunno if she was looking at me like a piece of meat or what but – gah!"

"Queen Lucena is even more terrifying in person than I imagined." Glenda said her voice sounding small and frail.

"Luckily she never even gave you a second glance. Not even sure she gave you a first glance."

"Y-yes."

"And what was with the prince? I mean... what is he supposed to be?"

"He is half dragon, as far as I know." Glenda said, sounding a bit disgusted.

"Going by nomenclature..." Moonstruck said into the couch, "I'd say he's the unholy offspring of Lucena and Magmanus."

"That is the rumor." Glenda grimaced.

"I'm pretty sure that's not possible." Joseph said firmly, wrinkling his snout.

Glenda shrugged. "It was supposed to involve some strange magic. There are many legends about it. I don't know how magic works, so I couldn't tell you which is more likely."

"It doesn't work like that." Moonstruck muttered. Magic could create some strange hybrids, but they were chimeras not... offspring. It was possible that Lucena had created the prince in her own image and claimed him as her son, but there had been something about his face, and the way he moved that seemed to indicate relation, and not a mad scientists rendition.

"Now that I think about it," Joseph said slowly, "he didn't really smell different from other ponies."

"You go around smelling strange ponies?" Glenda quipped.

"With a nose like this, I can't help it." Joseph snorted.

"Was he directly related to Lucena?" Moonstruck asked.

"Yes."

The room settled into silence, Moonstruck very much wanted a hot bath, and a long nap, but she sensed she had time for neither. For the immediate, she needed to cook up an illusion she could maintain even while her magic was doing strange things. For the long run, they needed to figure out how to get out of here without anyone noticing right away.

Heaving a sigh, Moonstruck pushed herself into a sitting position, and inspected her troops. Neither of them had experience with espionage, but they were both successful predators, so they could be quite sneaky if they needed to. Neither of them had spell magic, but she remembered many of her fathers spells that would allow her to enchant objects that they could use. They would both need invisibility cloaks, and teleportation nodes at the very least. She couldn't set up a nodestone network until or unless she got out into the city, since the spells would be relying on her memories of the destination. She nodded once to herself as priorities began to line themselves up.

"Okay, first order of business. We need to find a way out of the tower – pretty much everything we need to do to get out of here hinges on being able to come and go. Places like this usually have secret passageways, Joseph, you're in charge of finding them."

"Right. Er... wouldn't the queen know about all of the secret passages though?"

"I'm sure she knows about some of them." Moonstruck shrugged, sliding off the couch. "The tower's so big, she can't know about all of 'em. I just want you to find 'em, don't go exploring 'em yet. I haven't gotten a good read on her yet. There's no listening devices or anything in here, so either she's not expecting betrayal, or she's so arrogant that she doesn't think anyone can really challenge her."

"Can you challenge her?" Glenda asked.

Moonstruck scowled; that was a good question. "At full power, yes; I can be quite the headache. At the moment, no. Which is why I'm gonna play the airhead duchess for a while. Gives both of us time to recover, and do some scheming."

Glenda pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded.

"I need to build a puppet that I can throw that absurd illusion over, so you're gonna help me round up stuff." She inclined her head to Glenda. "Just whatever we can find around the suite will do."

"What about the prince?" Joseph asked as he poked his head behind a large tapestry depicting an ancient battle.

Moonstruck flopped her ears to the side. "He probably knows about the passageways too, but I got even less of a read on him than I did on the queen. I'll have to play that one by ear. Really wasn't thinking there'd be another alicorn around to deal with."

The admiral had mentioned the prince, but omitted the alicorn part.

"The prince is said to be immensely powerful." Glenda said, following Moonstruck as she began inspecting pieces of furniture.

"I doubt that," Moonstruck muttered as she picked up a wire waste basket and flipped it over. "This'll work for something."

"Can you detect the power of other alicorns?" Glenda asked, giving the waste basket an odd look.

"Not without casting a spell that would also inform the alicorn in question that I was checkin' their power levels." She shook her head. "He doesn't have a cutie mark. No pony without a cutie mark can tap into their full potential."

Moonstruck scratched her chin as she stared at a life sized wooden bust of an unnamed unicorn mare sitting on a shelf. She wondered if anyone would notice if that went missing periodically. Until or unless she was able to figure out a better illusion, or possibly even a doppelganger spell, she needed her puppet to disassemble.

"What is a cute mark?" Glenda asked as Moonstruck lifted the bust and placed it in the waste basket.

"Fancy magic butt symbols."

"Oh.

"They..." Moonstruck paused and scowled into space. It was one of those concepts that was so familiar that it didn't often need to be explained, which meant that when it came time to explain it, it was oddly difficult. "They're important. Basically when a pony finds their true purpose in life, they get their mark – which has something to do with that purpose. Then they spend the rest of their life doing whatever it is they do."

"I... see." Glenda scowled. "So this is something that unicorns get?"

"No, all ponies. Earth ponies, pegasus, unicorns, alicorns – even zebras have a sort of cutie mark."

Glenda took a small step back, eyes wide.

"That transformation spell was impressive, but I bet it's costly – probably why none of the higher ranking unicorns were using it, and why he didn't cast it until he was all the way up at the dais." Moonstruck smirked. "Plus, I bet delaying it drives his mother up the wall."

"Sure it wasn't just an illusion, like yours?" Joseph piped up from across the room.

"Yup." Moonstruck grunted. "I was watching for any clues to see how they do it, and that definitely wasn't an illusion." She didn't mention that she was surprised that Lucena didn't recognize that her transformation was merely an illusion – or if she had, she didn't care. Of course, she might just be toying with her, intending to throw it in her face later. This was going to be difficult; Moonstruck sincerely hoped that Lucena would be up for a few rounds of poker at some point in the near future.

The next few hours were spent building a crude puppet that she was able to throw a more solid illusion over, and practicing with it, to be sure it was convincing enough for what could be a lengthy party. A small team of dressmakers interrupted them shortly after lunch, forcing Moonstruck to do a rather awkward puppet show that she was amazed convinced the tailors that they were fitting her for a dress meant for a two legged being, instead of a hodgepodge of cobbled together household items attached to the back of a four legged being. Thankfully the dress itself was a ridiculous affair with puffy sleeves, clashing colors, oodles of ruffles, and something called a "hoop skirt" that completely engulfed her natural body, which made hiding under the puppet quite a bit easier.

The whole ordeal left her with a splitting headache, and she was forced to take a willow bark tea break, and a long nap as soon as the tailors left. When she woke two hours later, she was as groggy as she was after a long night camping with her friends – which usually involved some heavy cider consumption, a lot of impractical jokes, and very little sleep.

Joseph and Glenda were chatting softly when she shuffled into the main room of their suite. The dragon had disappeared off somewhere shortly after the dressmakers had appeared, and going by their conversation, seemed to have just returned.

"Wow, you look like something the cat dragged in." Joseph grunted, frowning.

"Yeah, dealing with the tailors really took it out of me." Moonstruck grumbled, pouring herself a cup of water from a pitcher that had been left on the coffee table.

"That was worst-case-scenerio interaction there. Had to really beef up the illusion, and hide my real body, and figure out how the dress was supposed to look natural over the puppet, when that whole stupid form is the epitome of unnatural."

"It was kind of scary." Glenda nodded, eyes wide. Moonstruck had tweaked the spell so that Glenda was immune to the illusion so as not to disturb her as much. She must have gotten quite the show from wherever she'd hidden when the tailors showed up. Moonstruck couldn't really blame her for hiding.

"Where'd you get off to, Joseph?" Moonstruck asked.

"Just poking around." Joseph shrugged. "Found a couple of possible secret passageways in the suite, then went out to explore the terrace and stuff. Our terrace is semi-private, but there's patrols every half hour." He scratched his chin. "All of the guards are unicorns, and they fly little airship things. Dunno how fast they are, but from what I saw, they didn't seem as agile as me, or a pegasus."

"Hmm." Moonstruck was impressed, she hadn't expected him to think to do any reconnaissance beyond looking for secret passageways. "You didn't leave, did you?"

"A little. Hopped over to some neighboring terraces between patrols. Looks like most of the rooms around us are empty, and the Eye can't see anything this close to the building, as near as I can tell."

Moonstruck grunted and nodded. "Okay, that's probably safe enough. We haven't been cleared to come and go yet." She eyed the dragon for a moment. "Actually, you know, I think I'll see if I can get you special clearance to hunt. That should give you a good excuse to disappear for a while on a regular basis."

"Good idea." Joseph agreed. "And I can bring something back for Glenda, if she needs it."

Glenda started. "You don't need to do that."

"It's alright." Joseph bobbed his head.

Moonstruck stared down into her cup of water, which she was levitating effortlessly. It seemed like she was recovering more quickly now. A few days ago even this would have been too much after overexerting herself. She sighed, and mulled over anything else she needed to have Joseph and Glenda do. Her mind was still a bit mushy from earlier, and she was still puzzling over how to conduct herself at the party. Really, what needed to be done would have to wait until at least tomorrow – she had a lot of ponies to get a read on at the party later, and whether or not she was sufficiently amusing would determine what level of autonomy they'd all have in the immediate future. Well, provided Lucena wasn't merely toying with her. Joseph and Glenda may end up doing most of the leg work, if that was the case. And it might all be for nothing.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, pushing that thought aside. "Well, I guess that's enough for you guys for the day. You can take it easy. I've got a lot of poking around to do myself at the party."

"You sure? Some of those passageways didn't seemed to have been used in a while, I can probably investigate further." Joseph offered, frowning slightly.

"Nah." Moonstruck wrinkled her nose. "It's too dangerous right now. Even if they haven't used them in a while, they might suddenly start using them again now that someone's staying in this suite. Sometimes staff uses them as servant entrances and stuff, and it's an easy way to spy on the occupants of rooms. Gotta keep an eye on 'em for a while to see who uses 'em to come and go."

"Right, hadn't thought of that." Joseph scowled. "What do we do if the tower staff use's em?"

"Learn their schedule." Moonstruck shrugged. "If they put spies in there, we'll have to figure out a clever way to deal with 'em. Maybe set up an ongoing illusion in the room to make it seem like we're doing typical mundane stuff."

"Shouldn't we eliminate spies?" Glenda piped up.

Moonstruck was only mildly surprised the old mare had said that, considering how her clan dealt with intruders. "That would actually be counter-productive. We don't want to be spied on, but taking out the spies would just draw more attention to us. Better to feed them misinformation."

"You know an awful lot about this sort of stuff." Joseph scratched the back of his head and furrowed his brow. "I thought you said you were a card playing dragonslayer back home?"

"Eh, heh, lets just say hide and seek at my house was serious business." Moonstruck chuckled. She closed her eyes for a few moments, trying to judge if she'd recovered enough to fiddle around with a routine for later. There was, she supposed, only one way to find out. Opening her eyes again, she set her glass down on the coffee table, then retreated to her room to dig out her deck of cards.

She had a few things she did to entertain important guests (and foals, and not so important guests and, occasionally random passer-by on street corners if she was bored) back home, so she wasn't entirely unprepared to put on a little show at the party tonight. What she wasn't ready for was working the puppet into every aspect of it. It certainly ruled out any and all acrobatic choreography, though she didn't have smoke machines or lasers to do any of her more flashy routines anyhow, and she doubted she'd be able to round any up in the few hours left before the party. Locating her cards, she shuffled back into the main room, absently shuffling them.

"Think I'll run through a simple routine a few times without the puppet first, then see how I have to tweak it." She said mostly to herself as she stopped in the center of the room. She threw a glance to her left, at the sofa. "Could you move that aside, please? And the coffee table."

"Sure." Joseph grunted, stepping over, and easily sliding the furniture out of the way. He perched on the newly relocated sofa and began grooming his wings as Glenda hid behind it, peeking over the back.

Moonstruck stepped to the very center of the large area rug that covered the ancient hardwood floors, spread her wings, and floated the deck of cards in front of her. For a quick warm-up, she sent them spinning around her in an intricate, interlocking pattern, careful to keep track of each suit as it went so as to present an alternating sequence of black and red to the viewers. Then she spread the cards out and swirled them into a figure eight pattern that then spawned small vortexes near where the lines interconnected. She bit her lip, then sent them around the room, dipping and diving like a flock of small birds. That was a good idea... she split the deck in half, then brought them back together again two at a time so that the cards flapped like wings, which made the bird allusion even stronger. She spent a few minutes playing with her card flock, directing it around the room, then brought them all back down to form a simple house in front of her. Releasing her magical grip on them, she waited a few moments to see if the house would fall, then gently blew it over.

Applause and faint stamping pulled her attention back over to Joseph and Glenda; the former of which was supplying the applause, and the latter of which was stamping her front hooves on the sofa, which she was now seated upon, and not hiding behind.

Moonstruck sketched a short bow and flashed a cheesy grin. "Thank you, I'll be here all week!"

She straightened up and gathered her cards up again. "Hmm, what do you guys think of audience participation?"

"Uhhhhhhh...?"

She scowled, "I mean, have them draw a card or something? Mess around with a little slight of hoof a bit before I get into the fancy stuff?"

"I dunno how that even works." Joseph furrowed his brow.

"Oh, well then, I'll show you!" Moonstruck shuffled the cards then spread them out face down in front of Joseph. "Pick a card, any card."

The dragon scrutinized the floating cards for a moment, then carefully selected one out of the deck.

"Now, look at it long and good, but don't show it to me. Got it memorized? Good. Now put it back."

Joseph slid the card back among its fellows.

Moonstruck shuffled the deck. "This is an old trick, very simple. You just have to have the skill, yanno? A particular kind of magic."

She winked and tapped her head with one hoof. "Okay, cards are good and shuffled, lets see if we can find it again, eh?"

She set the deck on the floor, then stomped a hoof next to it while adding a little extra puff of air with magic, which sent the cards flying. She snatched a card out of the air, and held it face up. "Is this your card?"

"Y-yeah!" Joseph raised his head, and blinked a few times. "How'd you do that?"

"A magician never reveals her methods." Moonstruck grinned. She scowled as she gathered the cards again. "That feels too gimmicky. It usually goes over better with foals, anyway."

"I thought it was pretty cool." Joseph muttered, as Glenda nodded.

"You're not a snobby unicorn." Moonstruck pointed out.

"True."

She called the cards back up to float in front of her. "The black and red pattern is a keeper, and the bird thing was pretty cool, right?"

"It was all amazing!" Glenda piped.

"I liked the house of cards, too." Joseph added.

Moonstruck nodded. There was something oddly poetic about blowing the house over. Maybe it was because she was currently gathering information to blow this particular house down. She smirked, then brought her cards to the ready. "Alright, lets see what else I can throw in there."

An hour later she had a routine. An hour after that she had a decent handle on how to do the routine with the puppet strapped to her back, and her field of vision limited to a basic remote viewing spell that allowed her to see things from the puppets vantage point. She was glad that she'd gone with a puppet, and didn't try to do a doppelganger spell; remote viewing through something that is physically touching her is far easier than trying to create a solid, purely magical puppet, and see through its eyes. And still see through her own eyes so that she didn't bump into stuff while working the puppet invisibly nearby. She was beginning to wonder if she could track down that transformation spell – it would be simpler, at the very least.

The dressmakers returned as she was putting the final touches on the routine. Once the dress was on, she shooed them off to run through the routine one last time before she took another nap to rest up for the party. She was feeling okay, but she didn't want to run the risk of overexerting herself again, and the party wasn't until after the sun set, anyway. She also had no idea how long the party would actually go for, much less when she would be allowed to retire for the evening.

Joseph woke her when dinner for he and Glenda was delivered. It seemed her staff was not yet authorized to mingle with the tower staff, so they were treated to room service for the time being. It was likely a better meal than whatever the tower staff ate. It wasn't anything spectacular; just some crusty oat bread, bean patties, dried alfalfa, and some sort of grain that reminded her of couscous, though lacking most of the good stuff one typically found in couscous. She made a mental note to smuggle out some fruit or desert for them as she strapped the puppet to her back and fired up her various spells.

The sun was just dipping below the horizon when she stepped out of her room in all her ridiculous glory, absently fiddling with the cards in her puppet hands to remind herself how to use said hands with cards.

"Shouldn't you have been out of here a few minutes ago?" Joseph asked as he tore off a piece of bread from the main loaf. They were seated on the couch; the cart sitting in front of them, utensils ignored. Glenda was munching directly off of a plate that Joseph had likely set on the sofa for her, while the dragon was just grabbing select morsels off the cart itself.

"Nah, gonna be fashionably late." Moonstruck remembered to shake the puppets head, and not her own. Interacting with other ponies was going to be the most difficult part, she knew. She watched the two of them for a moment, and made another mental note to teach them some table manners before they were expected to take their meals with the tower staff.

Frowning, she circled the room, mildly intrigued by how everything looked through the puppets eyes. Most basic remote viewing spells had a sort of tunnel vision effect, and this one was no different, it was just that she was taller than she'd ever been. Or at least, she knew what everything looked like from such a height. It was rather disorienting, all and all; especially since she could still see with her own eyes; the spell just gave her a sort of picture-in-picture view of the world from the puppets vantage point.

"How am I moving? Does it look smooth? Natural? As natural as it can be?" She blurted a few circuits later, turning the puppets head to look at them.

"As natural as it can be, I guess." Joseph wrinkled his snout.

"You seem to be moving better than before. Earlier it was kind of jerky and weird." Glenda added.

"Good." Moonstruck grunted.

She glanced outside, decided that it was dark enough, then straightened the dress and tucked her cards away in their pouch which was now around the puppets neck. "I'm gonna head out then. See you guys later. I'll teleport back if I screw up, and we have to make a break for it."

"Right. Don't screw up." Joseph grumbled.

Glenda nudged him reproachfully, then half turned to look at her. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Moonstruck chuckled and headed to the door, only one set of hooves making a clip clop noise on the floor. She was wearing the shoes that went with the dress on her front hooves, and had tied towels around her hind hooves to muffle them. It was a little slippery, but it'd have to do. She was stretched thin enough as it was, she didn't think it'd be wise to add a silencing spell on top of every other spell she was currently juggling – including a stealth magic spell to hide the glow of all of the telekinetic puppeteering she was doing. She was amazed that six week course she took on puppetry a while back was proving itself so useful.

She stepped into the hall, closed the door behind her, and headed for the stairs, though she barely made it a dozen paces before somepony was shouting at her.

"Y-your Grace!" A small orange and purple unicorn stallion wearing the tower livery panted, galloping up to her. He slid to a stop a respectful distance away, and bowed deeply, chest heaving.

"I- forgive me, I was instructed to escort you to the party and I -"

"It's quite alright, I know the way." Moonstruck said, unsure how snooty she should be with the staff. It was probably safe enough to be polite and professional to them when no one else was around, but an arrogant brat when in the company of of important ponies. She doubted they'd mention that she wasn't horrible to them when no one was looking.

"Er... that's not – I-I mean you can go that way, but it's much faster to take the lift." He stammered, standing up and hastily straightening his uniform.

"Ah, of course." She inclined the puppet head towards him, and let him lead her in the opposite direction. It made sense that a tower this size had elevators, though she had no idea why they hadn't just taken it earlier.

He led her back past her own door and down a dimly lit hallway that went towards the interior of the tower. The elevator was at the end, judging by the glowing signage, and there were doors lining the hall on either side. Moonstruck wondered if they were more guest suites, or offices, or store rooms. Likely not store rooms, or servants quarters; the woodwork around the elevator was too ornate. Store rooms would be near a freight elevator, and those were generally utilitarian; a staff-only lift would not be elaborately adorned either.

The doors opened as they approached, revealing a middle aged unicorn mare who stood at attention with military precision.

"Your grace," She sketched a short bow. Moonstruck made the puppet nod curtly.

"The great hall." Said the stallion escorting her. He stood aside to let Moonstruck enter the car first, then stepped on once she was situated awkwardly in the cramped space. At least, she was awkward from her place under the silly dress – the puppet was riding tall and proud on her back.

The elevator attendant used her magic to pull the lever to shut the doors, then she pressed a button on the console with her hoof. Moonstruck pricked her actual ears up a little as she gave the mare a closer inspection. The elevator lurched downwards. Generally one had to cast a specific spell to judge another magic user's power level, but the mare's professional facade seemed to crack slightly as she preformed the spell. Was even that trivial of a spell a strain for her? Or was she simply tired from doing it all day? Despite being older than Moonstruck, the mare did not have a cutie mark peeking out from under her uniform. There was also no way to discern how long she'd been on the job today – well, aside from asking, which she knew better than to do.

Moonstruck frowned as the elevator slowed, gave a concerning shimmy, then continued on its way. She would have to be extra cautious around the tower staff – she was very chummy with the castle staff back home, and it'd be easy to slip up and fall into her usual pattern.

The elevator ground to a stop, and the mare pushed the lever to open the doors. Her escort marched out, stopped a few paces beyond the doors, and bowed. Moonstruck strode out into the hallway, and fell into step behind and to the right of the stallion, whom had started off again at a stately walk. They emerged from a narrow passageway to a more spacious hall that Moonstruck had been through earlier on their way in to the tower. They turned down the same gallery of red windows, and approached the massive double doors, which were presently propped open, and guarded on either side by unicorns in flashy but highly impractical ceremonial armor. Her escort left her at the doorway, bowing deeply yet again, then trotting away as she stepped into the great hall.

Activity did not cease in the immediate area, but it did slow down a little as she made her way in to the room, the crowd parting around her. She ignored them, looking instead at the strange decor. Many couches, lounge chairs and small tables had been moved into the room; all draped in black velvet. More black velvet had been hung from the ceiling to break the massive room into smaller sections, though there did not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the arrangement, aside from the obvious VIP area near the throne. Great censors with pinholes drilled into them to let minute points of light through were hung from the ceiling, and likely held glowing crystals. Flares of what was likely magical fire were lined up outside the windows to cast a sickly, writhing red light across the macabre scene. The entire effect was eerie, to say the least; a stark contrast to the music, which was ancient, but otherwise fairly standard chamber music for shindigs such as this.

The entire chamber was full of unicorns. It seemed the entire tower staff was comprised of unicorns as well – she hadn't seen an earth pony, nor a pegasus pony among their ranks, though admittedly she hadn't seen much of the staff at all, since they'd been here less than a day. From what Sarah had said, pegasus ponies mostly pulled flying carriages, and earth ponies seemed to do most of the grunt work.

There didn't seem to be much of a spread, but waiters wove their way through the crowd carrying trays of horderves and some sort of libations – presumably fine cider, or perhaps wine, or champagne. Moonstruck sampled a few goodies as she leisurely wandered towards the VIP area; popping the small morsels into the puppets mouth area for show, while stealthily teleporting them down to her actual mouth.

The food wasn't bad, but it was nowhere near what she expected. Plain, would be a good word for it. Nothing flashy or glamorous about it, really. She wondered if the food in the VIP area was better. It was possible Lucena saved the good stuff for her inner circle, and let the bulk of the court munch on basic oatcakes, lentil patties, rhubarb tarts, and other pedestrian goodies. She enjoyed those goodies, but found it a little weird that a party of this importance would use those old standards.

Generally the host went all out for these sorts of things – her mother certainly had, and she was never particularly big on parties. Her father, Starshine and herself, generally did the bulk of the party planning along with the heads of the castle staff (who were doing the bulk of the work – though Moonstruck made it a point to personally sample any and all foodstuffs before it got the green light) – at least until Mighty Oak died a few years ago. Then it was split evenly between Starshine and Moonstruck, and the staff, with Acorn helping out here and there.

She decided not to try the beverages as she continued leisurely towards the VIP area, her mind drifting back to the last big dinner they had with the ambassadors from Llamauania. That was the last party Astromida had attended. She'd only really made a brief formal appearance, leaving Starshine and Dandilion Dream – their minister of trade – to do the bulk of the informal political jockeying. Moonstruck generally provided the entertainment, and a goofy, disarming counterpart to her sister's cool professionalism. She'd won a few juicy trade agreements that way. Some ponies did more business at parties than they did during official talks and meetings. The ambassadors from Neighpon were like that; very formal during meetings, and high profile shindigs, but absolute party animals during the after party. She was almost certain the bulk of their trade with Neighpon was because she knew where all of the best karaoke bars, and cider houses in Trot City could be found.

She swept her tunneled gaze around the room, and swiveled her actual ears, trying to gauge what sort of off-the-record negotiations were going down among these party-goers. Roanamia couldn't do anything with any outside nations, but different regions produced different goods, which means there'd be some bartering going on between various regional leaders. At the very least there'd be idle gossip, and political maneuvering on a smaller scale as the various families and organizations jockeyed for better positions within the queens favor.

It seemed to be mostly idle gossip, with a distinct drop off in conversation as she moved past various knots of ponies. They also cast furtive glances at her, but went to some effort to avoid her – or rather – the puppets gaze. This went against pretty much every formal or informal function she had ever attended. Moonstruck was used to being ignored around Trot City, as she spent a good portion of her time goofing around town and was therefore uninteresting to the locals, but this was different. These were high ranking ponies who were generally compelled to at least greet her politely, if not attempt to talk her ear off about some pet project or cause. She wondered for a moment if her illusion wasn't working, and they were simply all too terrified to point it out, but a few glimpses of her herself in various reflective surfaces scattered around the room indicated it was still running smoothly.

Nopony spoke a word to her until she was to the VIP area, and even then the guard attending the velvet rope only gave a formal greeting before allowing her inside. This was shaping up to be the weirdest party she'd ever been to – which was saying something because Patch and her bridwatching friends threw some seriously weird parties. She still couldn't look at certain shorebirds without flinching.

"Duchess Angelina Francesca Banana Fanna Fo'Fesca III, I presume?" Asked a tall, lean, frosty white unicorn mare with a mane and tail streaked with icy blue. Unlike nearly every other pony Moonstruck had encountered in Roanamia, this mare had a cutie mark. It was a bit fuzzy around the edges, but it was still recognizable; a snowflake resting in a circle of silver roses. She wore a snow white dress with gauzy, transparent panels on her flanks to display said cutie mark. She stepped over, easily levitating a goblet of a curious smelling clear liquid.

"Indeed I am." Moonstruck bowed politely and lifted a glass of the same liquid off a tray as a waiter wandered past.

"I am Duchess Eira Frostgard of Maredor." Said the white mare. She dipped her head regally.

"Well met." Moonstruck dipped the puppets head as well. "I am afraid I am unfamiliar with the families of Roanamia, are you cousin to the queen?"

"I am. Rosegard is the main branch of the family, Frostgard is an offshoot. We tend to be ice wielders, and so we rule the territory north of the planes of Roanham." She sniffed her drink, then inclined her head to the other occupants of the VIP area.

"Between you and me; the queen, the prince, you and I are the only true important ponies here. They're regional barons, but posses no alicorn blood in their family lines."

"A shame." Moonstruck sighed, sniffing her drink as she teleported it down to her actual mouth and replaced the goblet the puppet held with an illusion. She inspected the occupants of the VIP area. There were perhaps a dozen ponies here, most older, and bearing distorted cutie marks, going by the stallions, who wore no expansive gowns. They mostly chatted among themselves and cast a few curious glances in her direction, but like the bulk of the party goers, did not seem inclined to come bother her just yet. A maroon mare with a gray mane, wearing dark robes sat off to the side, brooding at a small table by herself. She did not look over, but Moonstruck suspected that she was paying attention all the same. An empty goblet rested in front of her.

"That is Kyrenai. You'll be wise to keep an eye on her." The duchess said cooly, following the puppet's gaze. "She's the leader of the queens private magic corps. You may gain the queens favor, but no one gains hers."

"Noted." Moonstruck murmured, then took a sip of her drink. The drink did not taste the way it smelled. In fact, it's flavor reminded her very much of the way paint thinner smelled. She couldn't fight back a cough.

"Pardon me, what is this?" She croaked as she replaced the actual goblet in the puppets hand.

"Potato spirits." Eira wrinkled her nose at the goblet. "The queen enjoys it immensely. Personally I prefer grape wine, but that has been hard to come by lately, even for us."

"Distilled... potatoes?" Moonstruck wrinkled her nose as well.

"Do they not have those in the outside world?" Eira quirked a brow.

"Potatoes, yes. We don't distill them, though this is very similar to a liquid we use to thin paint."

The duchess chuckled. "Desperate times."

Moonstruck could well imagine. With the drought so bad in the mountains, crops had to be failing left and right down here. Grapes took a lot of water, last she recalled.

"Well met, your highness." The duchess said, sweeping into a low bow.

Moonstruck whipped around and set her eyes on the nightmare visage of the prince in formal robes. She repeated the formal greeting and bowed as well, the puppet tilting forward as she bent her front knees. This contraption was a bit awkward, but certain motions were fairly natural.

"Well met your grace...es." The prince grumbled, bowing as well. "Mother will be down shortly."

"Excellent." Eira took another sip of her drink. "I heard that Lord Vertram was stirring up trouble again. Was she able to smooth everything over?"

"Yes, negotiations went well." The prince said in near monotone. "After she forced the shield down and took out most of his personal forces, he was far more willing to cooperate."

"I would assume so!" The duchess chuckled. "Duchess Angelina was just telling me that they do not distill potatoes in the outside world."

"A shame." The prince said wryly as he nevertheless scooped a goblet off a passing tray and downed half its contents in one gulp. Moonstruck wondered if he could breathe fire – she suspected a fire breathing creature wouldn't be too bothered by that.

"What do you drink out there, then?"

"Cider, ginger beer, grape wines. Kirsch, is rather nice. It's made from cherries." Moonstruck swirled her potato spirits in her glass, and thought fondly of the bottle of kirsch that the delegates from Germaney brought a few years back. It was fine to drink, though she preferred it in cakes.

"Apple cider, I'd assume?" Eira asked.

"And pear."

"How droll." Eira smirked. She finished off her drink and placed the empty goblet on a passing tray. "What do you suppose Kyrenai is brooding over this evening, Maximus?"

"Likely the arrival of Duchess Fo'Fesca." The prince sighed. "It shouldn't be possible."

"So I have been told, many times." Moonstruck rolled the puppets eyes, as well as her own.

"Few understand the shield spell. She's more likely wondering how such a powerful individual could wander into the country unnoticed." Eira noted, taking a proffered horderve. "Keeping an eye on the extreme borders is supposed to be one of her responsibilities."

"No one's been able to maintain the old borders for some time." The prince shook his head. "Between the drought and the distortion, it's a lost cause."

Moonstruck silently grabbed an horderve as well and munched while she listened. This one was considerably better than what was out in the main party – a dried fruit tartlet with some sort of cheese, and honey.

"Really? I hadn't realized it was that bad." Eira frowned. "Though I haven't been to Bridle-Dur in some time. I had assumed you were still gathering pegasus out there."

"Presumably your shield-side borders should be suffering the same fate." The prince pointed out. "And I haven't overseen slave acquisition for several years, so I could not speak to that. You would have to ask Admiral Desmond."

Eira wrinkled her nose. "The shield falls on the glaciers – even without it there it's so desolate no lone pony could make it by herself – even an alicorn." She sniffed. "And if somehow someone did, they wouldn't be attending a party right now. They'd be at a base near the glaciers being interrogated."

Ah, there was the bureaucracy; one simply had to approach Roanamia from the north to find it. Moonstruck resisted the urge to point out that spies could slip in more easily that way, but remained silent. She couldn't go around being ironic until she knew what sort of mental opposition she was facing.

"I can't say I mind the party, all things considered." Moonstruck said instead. "It's been months since I've had a proper bath, a good nights rest, and a decent meal. My servants are loyal, but not good conversation partners."

Eira chuckled, the prince nodded silently.

A hush settled over the partygoers, prompting the three of them to turn around and stare down the length of the great hall to the massive double doors. The pink unicorn from earlier stepped out into the middle of the red carpet.

"I present her Royal Majesty, Queen Lucena of House Rosegard." The mares voice rang loud and clear across the hall. She bowed deeply and stepped aside, head still low.

The hall rippled as the queen stepped into view, the ponies closest to her bowing so low their noses touched the floors, and those beyond them followed suit. Moonstruck sank into a kneel with the rest of the guests in the VIP area as the queen strode forward. She wore another gauzy dress, this one with a long train. Her salt and pepper mane was tied up in an elaborate bun, and she wore a delicate crown of twinning roses made from various gemstones. Moonstruck would be absolutely paranoid about wearing such a delicate headpiece in public. Or at all.

Nopony moved until she was standing before the throne. She turned around, swept her yellow eyes around the room, then lifted her hand. "Let the feast commence!"

Cheers erupted from the gathered dignitaries, then music and conversation sprang up once more as waiters began bringing in long tables and various trays of food. The queen sat on her throne, and nodded to those in the VIP area.

"Ah, Eira, you made it. I was afraid it was too short notice even for you."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, dear cousin." Eira chuckled, strolling over to the throne. "It is not every day we have such an esteemed guest. What is it you do again, Angelina? Can I call you Angelina?"

"Yes, that's fine. And, I am minister of trade for Bananalund." Moonstruck said smoothly, not surprised that the duchess had been given the lowdown on her already.

"It must truly be strange out there, to have such a low ranking alicorn." Eira mused.

"It seems strange to me that alicorns do not occupy most important positions." Moonstruck countered.

"Touche'." Eira inclined her head towards her.

"The alicorns in charge must be immensely powerful." The prince said cautiously.

"Akin to gods." Moonstruck chanced taking another sip of the vile liquid. It wasn't any better on second tasting. She hoped they had water with dinner.

"As it should be." The queen grinned, leaning back on her throne and pulling a grape out of a bowl that had been set on a small table next to her just moments before she reached into it. She popped it into her mouth. "I was just reminding Maximus earlier that power is our birthright, and we are meant to wield it however we choose. He has difficulty doing so when it comes to dealing with the barons, I'm afraid. I should not have to interfere with such trivial matters."

"I was attempting to preserve as many of his resources as I could." Maximus sighed. "It's no good to the queendom if we carry out his threats for him."

"Bah," Lucena waved a hand dismissively. "Making an example of him will serve us better in the long run. Besides, he was only bluffing. As soon as I incinerated his militia he backed down."

"Well played, cousin." Eira nodded. "Though I daresay the prince has a point. Vertrams holdings are no good to anyone if they're destroyed."

"I suppose." Lucena sighed dramatically. "Though he doesn't produce much out there anymore. Been having bad luck with the slaves. They seem to be loosing the will to work. He's likely pampering them too much. If he acts up again, I may just kill him and be done with it. Though it really should be you enforcing my will, Maximus."

Lucena lazily inspected the spread that was being set up on scattered tables around the VIP area. Then her eyes fell on the brooding mare in the corner.

"Oh, Kyrenai, come over here, no need to cloister yourself away like that!"

The maroon mare flinched, looked over, scowled at the four of them, then got to her hooves, her scowl only darkening as she approached. There was a second empty goblet resting next to the first on the table she'd previously been occupying.

"There now. Duchess Fo'Fesca, this is the Wizard Kyrenai, head of my personal magical forces."

"Well met." Moonstruck nodded.

"Well met." Kyrenai grunted, eyeing her darkly.

The mare stared up at the puppets face, but Moonstruck wondered if she knew this whole silly contraption was a sham. A high ranking wizard should certainly be able to spot an illusion when she saw one. So should an alicorn for that matter.

The longer Moonstruck was getting away with this, the more she wondered. Did they know, and simply didn't say anything? Or were they all completely fooled? And if they were fooled, how in blazes could such powerful sorcerers be fooled by such a simple illusion? Or, series of simple illusions, rather.

"After dinner, Duchess Fo'Fesca will entertain us with card tricks. Won't that be quaint?" The queen chuckled.

"Quaint." Kyrenai repeated softly. "Yes, it will be quite quaint."

"Card tricks, oh my." Eira chuckled. "I haven't seen anyone do card tricks since I was a foal."

Moonstruck made the puppet smile, not sure how to respond. Thankfully she didn't have to, as dinner was brought out, and the conversation shifted again, and the barons who had been carefully avoiding them seemed to sense that it was safe to come over and chat. Moonstruck made idle conversation with a few of them as she munched, and kept an ear on the conversation between Eira, Maxamus and Lucena. Kyrenai retreated back to her table to brood. She took no food with her, but acquired another goblet of potato spirits from somewhere.

As far as power plays were concerned, the only clear player was Eira, though what she was gunning for was unclear at the time. She seemed on very good terms with the queen, but also seemed to be trying to win the prince over in some manner. It wasn't until Lucena got drawn into a conversation with a pair of older baronesses that Moonstruck realized what was going on.

"How have you been lately, dear?" Said Eira, gently nudging the princes hand. They were all lounged around one of the larger tables, so the height difference between the bipedal alicorns, and the un-transformed ponies wasn't so great.

"Nothing to report." The prince said, not returning the gesture, but also not insulted by it, apparently.

"We've missed you up in Maredor. Icereach hasn't had a proper summer since you stopped coming around."

"I've been busy."

"I suppose you have. What with the queen grooming you to replace her." Eira sighed. She sidled a little closer to him and smiled coyly. "Perhaps I should start some trouble so that you'd have to see to me personally."

The prince finally glanced down at her; scooted away a little. "I suspect Mother would feel compelled to step in, since I am inadequate, in her eyes."

"Oh, you know she only wants the best for you." Eira frowned.

"Yes, she always wants the best." Maximus murmured, then excused himself. He stood, then strode off towards a side door in the VIP area that Moonstruck had been informed lead to the lavatories.

Eira sighed heavily and rolled her eyes towards Moonstruck, whom was making a good show of inspecting a stuffed, roasted tomato. These tomatoes were amazingly bland. She had half a mind to get Acorn in here to show these poor ponies how to properly grow their fruits and vegetables.

"Stallions," Eira huffed, "you practically have to spell it out for them! And even then..."

Moonstruck chuckled, keeping her nervous grimace off the puppets face. If she were the prince, she'd be a bit disturbed as well. Eira was probably fairly closely related to the queen. "Cousin" was just a catch all term for ponies whom were related in a complex way. Royalty was notorious for keeping things in the family, but considering how long Roanamia had been isolated, how closely the duchess and the queen resembled one another (coloration aside), inbreeding could potentially be a serious problem. Not to mention it was just plain creepy to be hit on by someone who was probably closer to being an aunt than a distant cousin.

"Angelina, perhaps you should – oh, where did that lout go?" Lucena turned around, scanning the VIP area and the crowd around it.

"Lavatory, I assume." Eira grumbled.

"He has the worst timing." The queen snarled. "Very well then, when the prince returns, you may start your little show."

"I would be honored." Moonstruck nodded the puppets head regally. "Should I do it here, or clear a space out there?"

"Oh, out there. Something as quaint as a card show can be enjoyed by all the guests." Lucena smiled. She gestured to a waiter, whispered something to him, then sent him off.

Moonstruck wondered again if they knew this was all just an illusion. Outing her in the middle of her routine would certainly be a cruel way to go about things.

The tower staff began clearing a space closer to the center of the great hall, pulling curtains back and shooing party goers out of the way. She stood up and straightened her dress, then pulled her deck of cards out of its pouch. If this was all a scheme to publicly humiliate her, she sure as heck was gonna put on an amazing show in the process. She even had a few ideas of how to incorporate being revealed as a fraud into the routine. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use them.

The queen stood as the prince returned. She shot him a reproachful look, then lifted a hand, which had the amazing ability to silence the party-goers.

"Rejoice, my subjects! For tonight our honored guest Duchess Angelina Francesca Banana Fanna Fo'Fesca III will entertain us with her little card tricks!"

Moonstruck steeled herself, and strode out of the VIP area to polite hoof beats, absently shuffling the cards in her puppet hands. Once she was at the center of the cleared space, she spun around slowly to take in the décor once more to make a few tweaks to the routine based on the various obstacles in the room. Once she was facing the queen, she bowed deeply, then straightened up.

Normally she'd give herself a bit of an introduction, but she sensed that this time staying silent would work out for the better, so she simply started into her routine. At first she did a little bit of trick shuffling, sending the cards between the puppet hands at a speed slow enough that everyone watching could follow along. As the ponies leaned in closer to see more clearly, she sped up, and sent the cards flying in more intricate patterns. Then she added a sub-routine to her stealth spell that unmasked the natural glow of her horn, but transferred it up to the puppets horn, and canceled the spell entirely on the cards as she sent them flying out around her.

The cards danced through the air seemingly at random for a few seconds, then she brought them into a neat ring around herself, flicking them back and forth to show the audience a flickering pattern of black and red. Then she sent half the cards arcing over her so quickly it likely looked like she was standing in a fluttering dome of cards, while the ring still spun around her. There was more hoof stomping, a little more enthusiastic this time.

Moonstruck grinned to herself, then swirled her puppet hands, taking each half of the cards, and pairing them together to form the birds. Lifting the puppet hands, she sent the flock fluttering around the room in a twisting mass, flying them low over ponies heads, then high up towards the ceiling, she spun and sent them as far back into the great hall as she could see clearly, directed them around the various velvet curtains, then towards the VIP area, where they swirled in a figure eight pattern for a moment before returning to her and forming up to burst apart like fireworks. She brought the cards all straight down like rain, but then brought them together about six inches off the floor at an abrupt right angle, directing their flow to a few paces in front of her where they began forming an elaborate house. When the house was built, she carefully let it sink to the floor, then relinquished her magical hold on the cards.

The house did not budge, and many a pony held their breath in anticipation. Moonstruck knelt, held a hand to the puppets snout and mimed blowing on the house of cards as she stealthily nudged it over with magic. The house blew over and the cards scattered gently across the floor. She held her pose for a moment, then straightened up, then bowed to the queen.

The hall erupted into excited stomping, and genuine applause from the transformed alicorns. Moonstruck magicked her cards back into her pouch, then bowed again with puppet arms and wings wide. She straightened up, then strolled back to the VIP area.

"Well done!" Lucena beamed, still applauding. "I can't say I was expecting much, but that was truly impressive."

"Thank you, your majesty!" Moonstruck curtsied.

"Can't say I've seen parlor tricks taken to such an extreme before." Kyrenai, whom was now seated sullenly next to the queen, muttered.

"How is your telekenisis lately, Kyrenai dear?" Eira asked, smiling sweetly and batting her eyes at the maroon mare.

Kyrenai glared at her but did not respond.

Lucena chuckled. "Come, come, let us have dessert. The night is young!"

Moonstruck happily took her seat once more, and waited in anticipation for the waiters to bring out dessert. It had been months since she'd had any chocolate, it was starting to wear on her. Especially with all of the magic induced headaches. Chocolate totally helped with that. Especially the spicy kind.

The dessert that was set in front of her was not chocolate. It was some sort of fruit she'd never seen before, drenched in a honey glaze. The fruit was nearly tasteless and the honey was surprisingly bland. She was sorely tempted to ask if there was any chocolate, but resisted. And really, it was possible they simply didn't have any, seeing as how they didn't know what bananas are...

She kept the puppets expression neutral as her eyes grew wide and her lips curled back in a grimace. There was no chocolate. Chocolate was mostly grown in Zebronia and Crillobia, both of which are far south of here. The climate here was not favorable for cacao trees. There. Is. No. Chocolate. In. Roanamia. And she might be stuck here for a while.

Moonstruck twitched, and seriously considered teleporting back up to the others to beat a hasty retreat. She scowled and shook herself as much as she dared. She'd known going in that she'd be without chocolate for a while, this didn't really change things. Except the part where she'd assumed she'd be heading home after gathering some information. The going home part was where the delay was happening. She needed to stay focused. Letting out a small breath, she went back to munching on her bland dessert, and pondered smuggling some up to Joseph and Glenda. Really, they weren't missing much, and she'd already stashed a couple of tartlets from earlier in a saddle bag that she'd attached to the inner frame of the puppet for just such shenanigans.

"Angelina, I'd like you to accompany me on a tour of the city tomorrow." Lucena said abruptly, pulling Moonstruck out of her thoughts. She could just barely see both Kyrenai and Eira flinch out of the edges of her tunneled, secondhand vision.

"I'd be honored!" Moonstruck beamed.

"Splendid. I'll send for you mid-morning. I would love to hear how things have progressed out in the rest of the world, and I'm sure you'd like to see what technological advances we've made here."

"That would be excellent!"

"Good, good." The queen snagged a goblet of potato spirits off a passing tray, swirled it, sniffed it, then took a sip.

"Ah, I do hope I am not too forward for inquiring," Moonstruck said cautiously, "but would it be too much to ask for my draeglach to be allowed to hunt out in the hills on occasion? He can survive on a vegetarian diet, but he's a carnivore at heart."

The queen blinked a few times. "A carnivore? He doesn't eat gems? Well, he's not a dragon, so why would he?" She laughed. "I don't see why not. I assume killing and eating innocent creatures keeps his skills up too, eh?"

"Indeed it does." Moonstruck smirked.

"If only that predatory nature was passed on to my son." Lucena sighed, throwing Maximus a surprisingly tender look. "He's half dragon, but inherited none of his fathers charisma. He has the temperament of a librarian, I am afraid. It's taken me years to cultivate a fearsome image for him."

Moonstruck resisted the urge to quip about having grown up around some mighty fearsome librarians, and tutted sadly instead.

"A shame."

"Speaking of... Maximus, when was the last time you went to visit your father?" Lucena leaned over to address the prince, who was on the opposite end of their cluster of tables.

He flinched rather dramatically. "What's that, Mother?"

"How long has it been since you've gone to visit Magmanus?" Lucena said loudly and slowly, as if speaking to someone hard of hearing.

The prince grimaced. "A... while."

"Perhaps you should pay him a visit tomorrow while I show the duchess around the city. He so enjoys your visits."

Maximus's grimace sank into a scowl. "He's been deeply asleep for years, Mother."

"He can still sense your presence."

"I can come with you, if you like." Eira piped up, beaming up at the prince.

"No no, you're coming with us." Lucena chuckled. "We can have a mares day out."

"A-ah, I suppose I haven't seen the city in a while. Though I do need to get back up to Maredor soon." Eira said, a bit crestfallen.

"A mares day?" Moonstruck saw her opportunity and jumped on it. "I don't suppose either of you play cards?"

"As a matter of fact, I do!" Lucena grinned. "Eira can too, but she's rubbish at poker."

"I am." The white mare laughed nervously.

"Fantastic! It's been so long since I've played!" Moonstruck laughed and clapped her puppet hands together.

"Perhaps we should go sit in the top room at the... what was the name of that tea house..." Lucena looked to her left but no pony was sitting there. She scowled.

There was an awkward pause, then the queen turned back to the rest of the group.

"We'll work it out tomorrow."

A/N: ANOTHER long chapter! OH MY.

Back when I was trying to cook up titles for chapters (which I ultimately gave up on), this one was called This Ain't A Scene, It's an Arms Race. Not sure how many bricks would fly at my head for Mask of the Red Death (Poe) allusions paired with a Fall Out Boy title. X)

How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

by Finite Sledgehammer

Chapters

1. Prologue

2. Chapter 1

3. Chapter 2

4. Chapter 3

5. Chapter 4

6. Chapter 5

7. Chapter 6

8. Chapter 7

9. Chapter 8

10. Chapter 9

11. Chapter 10

12. Chapter 11

13. Chapter 12

14. Chapter 13

15. Chapter 14

16. Chapter 15

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