Moonlit's Journey Ch. 4

Moonlit woke with a yawn, blinking in the sunlight that floated through the torn curtains of her parent’s room. Getting out of bed, she stretched and looked towards the sleeping form of Ember, nestled in the blankets still. Letting out a soft giggle at how she looked, Moonlit made her way to the kitchen to make a breakfast out of what they had for ingredients. When she finished, Ember stumbled into the door frame of the kitchen with her eyes still closed. “Ow…”

“Well, somepony slept soundly,” Moonlit laughed, looking at Ember’s bed mane. “I have a jar of strawberries and a daisy sandwich for you on the table.”

Ember looked at the table, then back to Moonlit. As she slowly walked to the table, she mumbled, “Thanks.”

“Not a morning pony, are you?”

“Not in the strictest sense, no,” Ember replied as she sat down. “Though, I suppose that’s what I get for staying up half the night.”

Moonlit finished making her own breakfast, which was a jar of apples and a tulip and cucumber sandwich, and sat down across from Ember, who was slowly eating her food. After taking a couple bites from her sandwich, Ember looked over at Moonlit and said, “I was thinking. You know a bit about me, but I know nothing about you. Umm… so, could you maybe tell me a little about yourself? Like the friends you had, or your family? Ooo, what about the birthday parties you had?”

Moonlit looked towards Ember with a confused look on her face. “Birthday parties? Why would you want to know about that?”

“Oh, just because those are happy moments and you should cherish those memories,” Ember replied with a large smile.

Moonlit smiled back and said, “You’re right. They were some happy times. Uhh… as for telling you about myself? It’s complicated. It was different before I went to sleep, you might not like it.” Moonlit’s ears turned down at remembering the war and what happened to the village.

“I do wanna know about what happened that day. But, I wanna know about you. Before that battle, what were you like?”

“Well… where to begin. I guess you could say I was a militia child. My father was the captain of Tanzanite’s Silver Timberwolves Regiment, Black Night. My mother was Sapphire Radiance and she was a jewel maker and seamstress,” Moonlit said, thinking back to her parents.

“Wowwie that sounds really cool. So was your dad really strong? What was his weapon like? Oh and what kinds of equipment did your mom make? She made your necklace right? That is just sooo cool,” Ember exclaimed. She then took a deep breath to replenish the oxygen she spent in that rush of words.

Moonlit was caught completely by surprise by the sudden onrush of questions. She opened her mouth to respond, but soon closed it again for lack of anything to say. After about a minute or so, she tried again, responding with, “Uhh… ok. I-I think he was strong. And I don’t remember where he kept his sword, but I do know that he had it when he went into that battle. Umm… mother? She made all sorts of jewelry and clothing. Mostly battle gear like enchanted cloaks that were for concealment as well as bags for storing weapons. Yes, she-she did make my necklace. It was for my sixth birthday. I-I remember being s-so h-happy.” Moonlit sat in her chair as tears started falling. Ember got up and walked over to her friend and pulled her into a soft embrace.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve known that it would be hard for you to talk about. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Moonlit wrapped her forehooves around Ember as her tears continued to flow. She said, “No, it’s a-alright. We’re friends, right? We should get to know each other more. Maybe we could become best friends.”

Ember tightened her hug as her face split into a broad smile. “Yes! Let’s become the best of friends,” She laughed. “What was your family like? You don’t have to talk about them if you don’t want to though.”

Moonlit laughed and shook her head. She released the hug and responded, “Ember, I’m fine. I’d love to tell you about my family. Especially my cousin, Glittering Rubi. And I haven’t told you about my parents enough either. Oh! And Granny Crystal, you would’ve loved her; she was really nice and kind.” Moonlit got excited as she talked about her uncle and aunts. Talking freely made Ember smile as she listened to Moonlit vividly describe her family, occasionally laughing at some silly joke one of her aunts played on her grandfather or the time Moonlit’s father was pranked by his new in-laws to see if he was good enough for Sapphire.

“Wow, your family is amazing. Who would’ve thought that he would prank them back like that? I’m really jealous of you Moonlit, that you had a happy family and had such good stories. And I’m sad that you had to go through what you did.” Ember smiled, but soon turned to tears. “I’m so sorry for you, Moonlit.”

Moonlit put a forelimb over Ember’s shoulder and smiled. “Don’t be. I had a great childhood and such wonderful parents. The memories I have of them are enough that I don’t have to be sad. At least you’re here to help me through it. And I’m not done yet, Em. You mind if I call you that?”

“Em? No! Please do. That makes us sound even closer. Hmm? Can I call you… Moon? Or how about ma’am?” Ember added slyly. She laughed as Moonlit’s face lit up.

“Ma’am? I-I’m not that old! You little…” Moonlit stopped as she looked at Ember with a smirk on her face.

“Uhh… why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh, nothing. A kid couldn’t understand what goes through an adult’s mind anyway.”

“Hey! I’m not a kid, ok? Why do you have to be a meanie?” Ember’s cheeks puffed out as she looked away.

Moonlit laughed at Ember’s antics and said, “That’s payback for making me sound old. And yes, you can call me ‘Moon’ if you want. I kinda like it.”

Ember’s eyes instantly brightened as she spun around to face her again. “Really? You mean it?”

“Of course I mean it. We’re friends, remember? Oh and I’m totally going to pick on you,” Moonlit said with a grin. “It’s just you look so cute when you get mad like that.” Moonlit laughed as Ember blushed.

“Meanie,” Ember mumbled, but she soon smiled and started to laugh as well. “Alright then, mom.”

“Hey, watch it there,” Moonlit said, playfully. “I’m bigger than you.”

“By only two hooves!”

“Anyway, back to where I was. Glittering Rubi was my cousin. She was a few years older than me and had a red coat. She also had a light purple mane with a blue streak going through her tail. She had a golden heart-shaped locket around her neck with a picture of our family in it. She would often enlist my help to pull a prank on her father or another of the family, sometimes we’d prank the village to see everypony’s reactions. We were as close as sisters; laughing, playing and having a good time together. She lived with her parents in Ceralite, a city close to the capital of Centauri.”

“Wait… ‘Ceralite’? I’ve heard of that city before. It was one of the cities that managed to have a few survivors. I think. I’m actually not all that sure. But we could go that way and find out. The ‘Town of Gems’ was close to there wasn’t it? Anyway, the Earth Ponies now live near that town,” Ember said, with a hoof on her chin. She looked over at Moonlit. “Maybe that could be our next stop.”

“What do you mean ‘our next stop’?” Moonlit asked, curious. “What about your friend?”

“Well, duh. We obviously have to go pick him up at the other village first. Then we’ll head out to the ‘Town of Gems’.”

Moonlit just stared at Ember for a few moments. “I guess that makes sense, but it is a pretty far way to travel. And my saddle bags have been uncared for since I’ve been asleep. I’ll need new bags for one and we’ll need food for three now and equipment for camp if we don’t want to sleep on the bare ground. It’ll cost several hundred bits for all that. Do you two even have any currency?”

Ember lowered her head and mumbled a few indistinct words at the table.

Moonlit leaned forward and swiveled her ears forward. “Uhh… I’m sorry but I missed that. Could you speak up?”

Ember’s cheeks lit up as she lifted her head. “Umm… no. Not really, no. We barely had enough for the food and supplies to make it to the last town. We’ve just been scavenging fruits from the forests nearby for food…”

Moonlit sat back on her chair, shocked. “You have nothing? How can you expect to get around on no bits-?

“I can make bits! I… just need to sell my weapons and other equipment I make. I’ll do it. It’s that no one believes in magical items anymore since the ‘Fall of the Unicorns’,” Ember interrupted, looking away from Moonlit.

Moonlit was silent as she watched her friend slump in her chair. “Hey, how about we finish our breakfast and start packing up? We can talk once we’re on the road back to the other village. Sound like a plan?”

“Yeah, definitely. Let’s eat.” Ember immediately forgot about the sadness and took a huge bite out of her sandwich also eating the whole thing in one bite. Moonlit laughed at her now bulging cheeks as she chewed her mouthful. She took a smaller bit of her own sandwich followed by a scoop of spiced apples.

---

After the shenanigans at breakfast, they were up in Moonlit’s room looking for anything that was still salvageable to take with them. In the end, only a few blankets and a spare set of saddlebags could be used. Moonlit went into her parent’s room and searched through the night stand locating the key to the safe. “Ah-ha! Found it.”

“What did you find, Moon? A key? What does that go to?”

Moonlit turned to Ember who was in the doorway looking at the key in her hoof. “This is the key to our safe. I’m sure there are some bits still left in it. We could use those to buy the things we need in the town.”

Ember’s face brightened. “Really? That would be so kind of you. Where’s the safe?”

Moonlit’s ears dropped as she remembered where it was. “The basement…”

“What’s wrong?”

Moonlit walked out of the room, followed by Ember as they went downstairs to the entry hall. She opened the cellar door to a fifteen foot drop. “The stairs gave out as I climbed out a couple days ago. There’s no other way in.”

“Well, I could build a ladder. I just need a bit of time is all.”

Moonlit glanced over at the other pony to see a bright smile on her face. She mirrored the action and said, “That sounds reasonable. I’ll go pack the remainder of my things while I leave you to build.”

Ember watched as Moonlit walked back upstairs to pack anything that they missed. She turned back to the cellar door and thought about how she was going to find the parts she needed to actually build the ladder in the first place… she really didn’t think this through at all.

“Hmm…” Ember mused as she searched around for something to make a ladder out of. “Maybe there are some materials I can use in the village somewhere.”

---

Moonlit was in her room packing up anything that she would need on her journey with Ember and her companion. “Maybe I still have some accessories that haven’t been taken yet.”

Looking around she proceeded to place a few more armbands that she couldn’t remember having into her saddlebag. She made her way to her parent’s room and saw the photo on the floor. Moonlit picked up the photo of her family and placed it in an outer pocket before searching through the rest of the room. “I know it’s here somewhere.”

---

Ember was walking around the village collecting pieces of wood that weren’t too burnt or destroyed and dragging them back to Moonlit’s to get started on the staircase/ladder to get into the cellar. As she passed through the square, her ears stated to twitch. Ember’s face broke out into a wide grin as she said, “More magical artifacts are near. Now… where are they?” She dropped her load of timber and started to search for said ‘magic’.

After looking in several of the stalls and shops lining the square, she struck a load of magical gems that held some advanced magic in them. “Maybe I should ask Moonlit what’s in these.”


Ember picked up her timber and made her way back to the house to start building the ladder.

---

“YES!” Moonlit cried. “Found it.”

After searching through her parent’s bedroom, Moonlit found a dagger that her father had given her for her 18th birthday. After a few days of training with her father, her mother took it away because she had cut her hoof during practice and had to be stitched up. Moonlit rubbed the thin scar on her left forehoof as she sighed.

“I missed those times out back with dad…” Moonlit said, sorrowfully. “I wish he was still here. I had fun even if I got hurt a few times. Heh, he wasn’t very easy on me since his training kicked in a couple times.”

---

"Come on, Moonlit. Your form is terrible. You're leaving your left side completely exposed."

Moonlit glared at her father. "I'm trying dad." Moonlit raised her dagger in her magic and takes a stance, closing the opening on her left unconsciously. Her breathing steadied and she looked for an opening in her father’s stance.

Black Night, watching his daughter, started to smile and let his guard purposefully drop to lure her in. “How are you supposed to learn if you keep to yourself over there?” He said, still smiling.

Moonlit blushed and saw the slight drop in his guard. Taking her chance she lunged forward and swung the dagger. “Here is your answer, dad.”

Moonlit’s dagger came swinging from the right and Night immediately blocked the attack with a lazy swing of his sword. “Good. That’s the fire I was looking for. How about we stop and I’ll teach you some stances and attacks with defense?”

“Alright,” Moonlit replied.

Night took a stance with his legs slightly splayed and held his sword angled to the side. “Now, what you need to keep in mind is that you should let the blade control where it wants to go. Let the blade protect you and attack for you.” He swung his sword in an arc, neatly slicing though his imaginary opponent. “Make sure you keep a strong defense or you won’t be able to protect from a strong blow that could cripple or even kill you.” He then brought his sword up to defend from another attack. “A counter strike after a defense is a perfect opportunity to finish any battle.” Immediately, he went from defense to strike a piercing stab forward. “Do you understand? Try to cripple an opponent rather than kill them. And it’s easier on your conscience, too.”

“But, what if they don’t stop after you end the fight?”

Night sighed. “That’s when you don’t have a choice but to end the fight, permanently,” he replied darkly.

Moonlit gulped. She got into the same stance as her father and tried to copy his movements. But, on the arc she followed through too far and sliced into her left foreleg. The cut immediately sent pain through her and she collapsed, crying. “AHH!!”

Night was at her side instantly. “SAPPHIRE!!!”

---

Moonlit stared at her scar, smiling at the distant memory. “I miss you guys…”

Moonlit placed the dagger around her waist and continued searching for anything else her parents may have left in the room. After twenty minutes she gave up and headed downstairs. When she got to the bottom, Ember came through the front door, a little pale. “We may have a problem.”

“What’s wrong, Em?” Moonlit asked as she set her bags down. Walking over to her friend, Moonlit noticed Ember was shaking. “Ember?”

Ember calmed down enough to respond. “There are scavengers out there. Two Pegasi and an Earth Pony and they didn’t look nice.”

Moonlit just stared blankly at her. “Scavengers? You mean like bandits?”

“YES! Bandits, that’s the word. But, there are three of them and I think one of them saw me in the marketplace. OH whatifIleadthemhere-?”

Moonlit put her hoof on Ember’s muzzle to stop the flow of words. “Whoa there, calm down, Em. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Suddenly, a deep male voice was heard on the street outside Moonlit’s house. “Hey, I heard some voices over here.”

“EEP!” Ember squeaked and spun to face the door as she whispered to her friend, “Moonlit, hide! Unicorns are rare remember?”

Moonlit’s eyes widened and dove into the closet in the hallway. She cast a one-way portal spell on the door, so she could see what went on in the hall. She also cast a soundproofing spell, just in case. With those in place, she sat down to watch, ready to run out to Ember’s rescue, her dagger held in her magic.

Ember looked to see if Moonlit was hidden before turning her gaze back to the door as more voices could be heard from outside.

“Did you find something Hammer?” A softer, but definitely male, voice asked.

“More like somepony,” the deeper voice replied. “Sounded like a mare in that house over there.”

“Well,” a feminine voice answered, “let’s go and introduce ourselves.”

Ember jumped when a heavy hoof pounded on the door. She remained silent as the pounding eventually knocked the door from its hinges.

Standing in the doorway was a large brown Earth Pony who smiled as he made his way inside. “Why, hello there miss. Hope you don’t mind if my friends come in.”

Immediately following the pony was a pair of Pegasi, a gray stallion and light blue mare. The mare was the second to speak. “Well well. What’s an Earth Pony doing this far into ‘No Ponies Land’?”

“Maybe she’s plundering the village by herself?” The gray stallion suggested, narrowing his eyes at Ember.

“Y-you have no r-right stealing from Tanzanite,” Ember stuttered, trying to act brave.

The trio of bandits laughed at her attempt of intimidation.

The brown stallion took a few steps toward the shaking mare. “I don’t believe you have a say in what we can or can’t do. Besides, it’s just a bunch of ruins, who would even care?”

While the conversation took place, Moonlit just sat inside the closet watching the scene play out, while silently fuming. I would care, you jerk.

Ember’s eyes flicked to the closet as if she heard Moonlit’s thoughts. She stood taller as she shouted at the trio. “And who wouldn’t care? This village is the resting place of the Unicorns who lived here. This town is a historical place with a connection to the past and should be preserved.” She glared at the ponies who thought they could just take what they wanted without thinking about the tragedy that took place here.

“Oh, the mare’s got a bite to her,” the cyan-colored mare quipped. She marched up to Ember and stood muzzle to muzzle with her. “Now, you listen here missy. This dump is a treasure gold mine and there isn’t anyone left alive who would care if a few things went missing here or there.”

Ember backed up a couple steps. “I-I… oh. Well, it still isn’t right to take what isn’t yours.”

“We only take the gold and silver, honey,” the gray Pegasus said as he walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Hammer, there’s some food here. Let’s relieve the young mare of some of her provisions.”

The Earth Pony, Hammer, walked up to Ember saying, “Looks like you have some food for us. How about letting us have what we want?”

“No. That’s my food and you won’t get any,” the mare responded. Ember stood her ground when the other ponies stared at her. Then, they started to laugh.

The Pegasus mare was nearly on the floor, rolling, when she gasped, “You-you think you can tell us what we can or can’t have?” She took to her wings and hovered above Ember with a dark glare. “I think we need to show you your place.”

Moonlit was starting to have a bad feeling about what was going on. She held her dagger in a ready position, about to burst out and help her friend. Ember was starting to shake as she retreated towards the closet.

The three ponies were walking towards her until they were almost to the closet. Moonlit couldn’t sit back and ignore it anymore. With a magic shockwave, she blasted the closet door off its hinges and hit the three approaching ponies, knocking them down while standing in front of Ember protectively. “Back off my friend, bandits,” Moonlit growled.

“Moonlit?” Ember asked. “What was that?” She was shaking and staring wide eyed at her friend as she stood behind Moonlit.

“A simple shockwave. A filly could produce one,” Moonlit replied, not taking her eyes off the trio in front of her.

“Blast it, Hammer. I thought this was an abandoned village,” the Pegasi stallion cursed, as he started to hover. “Why is there a Unicorn here?”

Hammer slowly got to his hooves and stared daggers at Moonlit before answering his colleague. “Unicorn village, remember? I suppose one of them came back to check in on the place. Not that unusual is it?” He replied in a grim tone.

“I say we kick them out. They’re obviously just fillies,” the mare said, reaching for a wing blade.

Moonlit saw the motion and took a stance against it. Drawing from her knowledge of her father’s training, she was ready when the mare shot forward. Side stepping the blade while bringing her own in to cut a few feathers out. The Pegasus stood there, furious, when she whirled on the Unicorn without mercy. But, Moonlit put the defensive moves she learned on display by dodging almost all of the wild attacks from the mare. After a few moments, Moonlit was standing over a defeated, exhausted mare, with her dagger held near her head. Panting, the mare called out, “Are you going to help me or not?”

The two stallions looked at each other and then called back. “I’d say we’re outclassed. We’ll leave quietly so no one gets hurt.”

Moonlit looked to the bandits then levitated the Pegasi’s weapon over to her group and they walked off, the mare shooting off as soon as Moonlit let her up.

Ember stood there in shock for a moment then zipped into Moonlit’s face, sparkles in her eyes as she exclaimed, “That was amazing, Moon. You were like whoosh, POW, bang and she was all like gah and fell over. You rule!”

“Uhh, thanks, I guess. I took some lessons from my father years ago and I guess it worked out pretty well. Did you need help with the supplies you brought? We should gather our things and leave before they come back.”

“I should be able to build it real quick. You can go gather all your things and we’ll be outta here lickity split,” Ember replied with a big grin.

“Alright, I’ll get our things and meet you back here to grab the bits and leave.”

Moonlit walked away while Ember started building a ladder from the wood she collected. After ten minutes, the ladder was finished and Moonlit was once again in the basement. Next to her, Ember was looking around excitedly. “You were really asleep down here for ten whole years? Seems really uncomfy.”

Moonlit just laughed and pointed into the corner where a large circle of ash stood. “The spell was cast over there. And I wasn’t on the floor, I was suspended in a floating bubble of magic.”

“Oooo. Sounds neat,” Ember shouted as she zoomed over to the spot while Moonlit shook her head and turned to the safe.

Pulling out her key and opened the rusted safe, exposing its contents for the first time in a decade. Inside was a pile of ten thousand Centauri Kingdom bits. Ember’s eyes nearly exploded out of her head when she saw them.

Stammering, she said, “T-t-that’s a whole ton of bits. Outdated too.” *GASP* “Lemme see.”

After examining the bit for several minutes, she fell to her rump and exclaimed, “Moonlit! These are genuine Centauri bits! Do you realize how much these are worth today?”

Moonlit was taken aback by the sudden outburst. “Nooo?”

“Like 500 bits per bit. These are extremely rare. Especially since the Kingdom doesn’t exist anymore. They can’t buy anything anymore either, so we have to cash them in to spend them.”

“Oh, wow. That should help us right?”

“Yes indeedily,” Ember exclaimed while bouncing up and down the small room. “Let’s load up and head out.”

“Good idea,” Moonlit replied as she stored the bits in her saddle bags and followed Ember up the ladder.

---

Finally finished gathering their food and supplies, the heavy-laden ponies left the house and headed out of the town. Moonlit stopped by her parents’ graves to say farewell and followed Ember out of the village towards the one she came from.

“Woo Hoo! Road trip!”

“Calm down, Em.”

“Aww.”