Post by Luna on Sept 14, 2013 9:26:55 GMT -5
Sweet Apple Acres
The apple orchard is broad and rolling as it ever is, covering acres and acres of Ponyville's most splendidly grassy land, and in the low evening sun and rising moon, the soft curving shadows of the hills are somehow even more enchanting. And slipping around one of the biggest, oldest apple trees is a little yellow shape, Ponyville's own favorite yellow pegasus (pale yellow category), wrapped in her soft blue cloak--the air is already starting to get a bit cooler. "Okay," she says to herself, peeking at a checklist taped to the bottom of her wing, "I-I checked on the beavers, the squirrels, the mice, the moles, the cat, the dog, koala bear and hog...so I should be just in time..." She glances up, staring eagerly into the trees.
Luna steps out of the barn, walking slowly. The moon is bright tonight, and although everything is grey nothing is truly black... except the shadows that slither out of the barn after her, crisscrossing and lapping at her back hooves. Some swirl across the ground around her, like moons in orbit. In case she could ever be missed, her bluegreen eyes glow softly, and they turn that light immediately upon Fluttershy. Long blue wings spread, and she calls over, "I see that Harmony has sent the Element of Kindness to me. I might use that kindness tonight, Fluttershy. There is much work to be done, a thousand years of unfinished chores. The long nights call, as we suspect though have noticed."
Fluttershy turns with one hoof lifted, staring like a deer in the pale moonlight...but then she sets it back down when she realizes who's sneaking up on her (as if it were possible not to sneak up on Fluttershy). "P-Princess Luna," she breathes softly. Fluttershy has become much more relaxed when confronted by other ponies - in the past, any face she wasn't used to would have driven her into a wild Flutterfright - but this is still a rare visit indeed, and...w-well, a Flutter just wants to be friendly, you know? "Um...h-hello. I, um--what do you mean? If I may ask."
"I think thou know," she answers. She keeps walking, strolling slowly up face to face with Fluttershy. The shadows fall behind, one by one, and when she gets close Luna waves her wing at the forest. "One week, Element of Kindness. The year turns. Each night we grow stronger, and Celestia weaker. In one week, the tide will turn and our half of the year begins, and the seasons fall towards Winter. In our banishment, no pony sang to the shadows of love, or soothed the Winter shades who woke too early back to sleep."
"A-almost like...a Winter Wrap-Up?" says Fluttershy, before she can stop herself. She follows where Luna is pointing, deep into the woods. "Or...or something like that. I-I think I understand...I, um, I read a lot of old stories and things like that. Y-you know what I mean." She scuffs her hoof gently on the ground. "I was just here to watch the night animals come out." She points with her own wing straight up as a soft chorus of tiny lit bells begin to twinkle on and off above her. "There are the first ones."
A single pulse of soft green light ripples up her horn, and the fireflies zoom over to whirl around Luna's horn, and then up into the sky, except one. It floats back between Luna and Fluttershy, its green light fading to pale blue, and lets out a weak, protracted whistle. "Not all that is coming out are animals, Fluttershy, and so I might use thy help. Speak softly to this poor wretch, take up thy mantle as the Element of Kindness. She has woken months before the snows she loves, roused too early by the lengthening nights. The heat of the lingering summer pains her. Tuck her in and lull her to bed, as thou would a frightened bird."
Fluttershy's head tilts softly; she raises a hoof, but doesn't quite touch the spirit. "It's a...a-a winter spirit?" she ventures. "I read about them, but I've never actually seen one...n-not up close, anyway. Um." She leans in close, speaking more softly than usual, afraid of blowing the little wisp away. "Um...hello there. I'm Fluttershy."
Luna chuckles lightly. "She cannot speak. Few can. Her kind are what makes snowfall seem like a living thing, like a softness laying upon the world to nap. Think of her as a bird that must return to hibernation. She does not know words, but she knows love and gentleness." In response to that the little blue light whistles again. Luna leaves it in Fluttershy's hooves. She turns to the orchard, and sweeps her wings forward at an angle dramatically, calling, "Come forth! I know thou are awake. Thy princess has returned, and calls thee to her service." In the face of a princess's power, there is no delay. Shadows come oozing out between the roots of the apple trees, shadows with many legs and tiny wings.
Fluttershy is about to say something like, 'Um...b-but birds can talk,' but luckily, Luna does her thing first, so Flutters' mouth is too busy puckering into the most awestruck face you could imagine. "T-they're like animals, but...not?" She whips her head back and forth, trying to lay eyes on one of them - any of them - before they slip past her vision again. "Do they *all* need help?"
Luna gives a little nod. "They do, but few need help thou can give. I would take it as a favor if thou would sing to the shadows when evening comes. I am attempting to teach them to love ponies again, but Winter is cold and they learn love slowly. Now, shhh." Raising her wings high, she turns her glowing eyes back to the crawling shadows emerging from the apple trees. "We need not tell THEE of the approach of Winter. Months away, and yet thou taste it. We feel thy hunger for the leaves to fall, for the trees to be thine. Make compact now, with the Princess of the Night. Feed gently, frost but do not freeze. No other shadows shall drive thee from thy homes, but the trees must be cared for and survive until Spring comes and they can care for themselves." The shadows go mad in front of her, swarming around tree trunks, thrashing so hard that some lift up off the ground. Aside from some breeze-blown branches, the process is entirely silent, until one of them slithers up in front of Luna. It lifts from the ground, and she lowers her face and kisses the top of its head.
Wha- ah- n- Fluttershy dances backward on her hind legs, still holding the tiniest frost sprite in her hooves as if she's protecting it. Whatever's going on is a kind of magic that few ponies understand, and even those who've been close to great acts of harmony seldom see anything like the very world around them coming alive. Her eyes bulge into they're almost as big as the moon itself, and her ears strain to hear sounds that aren't there. This is Nature, and Fluttershy is close to nature, but this is a deeper level still. "Um," she squeaks. "O-okay. I...I will. I promise. ...I'll have to find some good shadow songs, I-I guess," she asides to the spark.
The first shadowy wyrm retreats into the trees, replaced by another, and another. Each receives a kiss on top of its barely identifiable head. Only a few come out, and when the last one is kissed they all slide back into the orchard, disappearing into the roots of the trees. Luna lets out a very deep, long sigh and looks back at Fluttershy. "No doubt thou have similar duties but a month ahead of thee. There is so much left to do. The shadows in the cellars and behind the walls in the farmhouse must feel the touch of love, that when the nights grow deep and cold they do not stalk the Apples for heat. The spirits of rot must be driven from the storehouses and distilleries into the orchard, to keep the roots warm and the harvest from spoiling. The windows of Jack, Bloom, and Macintosh must be marked, that the wraiths who haunt this place may watch their beloveds without disturbing." Her wings flap, then close up at her sides. "Living or shade, all things need love and comfort."
As the garden of shadows continues to grow around her, a slow, soft smile spreads across Fluttershy's muzzle. "I-I agree," she says. "Everything deserves a little loving care." And with that, she turns her gaze back to the creature still cradled between her hooves. "Hello, little one. Luna tells me you woke up a little too early and need to go back to sleep." She leaves a beat here, as if she were speaking to a young pony or an animal that could reply in words. "I-it's okay. Just relax, and let Mama Fluttershy help you. Do you, um, do you have a name?" And while she listens, because Fluttershy can't help but listen, she hums to it in soft, soothing tones. Hush now, quiet now...
Luna watches this with a broad smile. "Return her to sleep, Element of Kindess. What I do next, it is best the Apples do not see. They are brave, but the night's love is fearful for day ponies." Turning, she walks back towards the farmhouse. Her steps are quiet to begin with, and that faint noise fades to absolute silence. Luna's blue turns to grey, and that grey strips away, outside first. For a moment the thing left behind looks skeletal, but then it too is gone.
Fluttershy turns her head only briefly to look. What she sees makes her ears twitch and her eyes blink in surprise, but she doesn't keep staring for long; she has a patient to attend to. Besides, the night's love is fearful for day ponies, but Fluttershy is a pony of nature, and nature doesn't choose between night and day. "It's okay, little one," she coos. "It'll be time to wake up again soon..." And her song continues, wafting through the orchard as the only sound besides the slowly awakening chirps of the fruit bats overhead. How simply wonderful.
The apple orchard is broad and rolling as it ever is, covering acres and acres of Ponyville's most splendidly grassy land, and in the low evening sun and rising moon, the soft curving shadows of the hills are somehow even more enchanting. And slipping around one of the biggest, oldest apple trees is a little yellow shape, Ponyville's own favorite yellow pegasus (pale yellow category), wrapped in her soft blue cloak--the air is already starting to get a bit cooler. "Okay," she says to herself, peeking at a checklist taped to the bottom of her wing, "I-I checked on the beavers, the squirrels, the mice, the moles, the cat, the dog, koala bear and hog...so I should be just in time..." She glances up, staring eagerly into the trees.
Luna steps out of the barn, walking slowly. The moon is bright tonight, and although everything is grey nothing is truly black... except the shadows that slither out of the barn after her, crisscrossing and lapping at her back hooves. Some swirl across the ground around her, like moons in orbit. In case she could ever be missed, her bluegreen eyes glow softly, and they turn that light immediately upon Fluttershy. Long blue wings spread, and she calls over, "I see that Harmony has sent the Element of Kindness to me. I might use that kindness tonight, Fluttershy. There is much work to be done, a thousand years of unfinished chores. The long nights call, as we suspect though have noticed."
Fluttershy turns with one hoof lifted, staring like a deer in the pale moonlight...but then she sets it back down when she realizes who's sneaking up on her (as if it were possible not to sneak up on Fluttershy). "P-Princess Luna," she breathes softly. Fluttershy has become much more relaxed when confronted by other ponies - in the past, any face she wasn't used to would have driven her into a wild Flutterfright - but this is still a rare visit indeed, and...w-well, a Flutter just wants to be friendly, you know? "Um...h-hello. I, um--what do you mean? If I may ask."
"I think thou know," she answers. She keeps walking, strolling slowly up face to face with Fluttershy. The shadows fall behind, one by one, and when she gets close Luna waves her wing at the forest. "One week, Element of Kindness. The year turns. Each night we grow stronger, and Celestia weaker. In one week, the tide will turn and our half of the year begins, and the seasons fall towards Winter. In our banishment, no pony sang to the shadows of love, or soothed the Winter shades who woke too early back to sleep."
"A-almost like...a Winter Wrap-Up?" says Fluttershy, before she can stop herself. She follows where Luna is pointing, deep into the woods. "Or...or something like that. I-I think I understand...I, um, I read a lot of old stories and things like that. Y-you know what I mean." She scuffs her hoof gently on the ground. "I was just here to watch the night animals come out." She points with her own wing straight up as a soft chorus of tiny lit bells begin to twinkle on and off above her. "There are the first ones."
A single pulse of soft green light ripples up her horn, and the fireflies zoom over to whirl around Luna's horn, and then up into the sky, except one. It floats back between Luna and Fluttershy, its green light fading to pale blue, and lets out a weak, protracted whistle. "Not all that is coming out are animals, Fluttershy, and so I might use thy help. Speak softly to this poor wretch, take up thy mantle as the Element of Kindness. She has woken months before the snows she loves, roused too early by the lengthening nights. The heat of the lingering summer pains her. Tuck her in and lull her to bed, as thou would a frightened bird."
Fluttershy's head tilts softly; she raises a hoof, but doesn't quite touch the spirit. "It's a...a-a winter spirit?" she ventures. "I read about them, but I've never actually seen one...n-not up close, anyway. Um." She leans in close, speaking more softly than usual, afraid of blowing the little wisp away. "Um...hello there. I'm Fluttershy."
Luna chuckles lightly. "She cannot speak. Few can. Her kind are what makes snowfall seem like a living thing, like a softness laying upon the world to nap. Think of her as a bird that must return to hibernation. She does not know words, but she knows love and gentleness." In response to that the little blue light whistles again. Luna leaves it in Fluttershy's hooves. She turns to the orchard, and sweeps her wings forward at an angle dramatically, calling, "Come forth! I know thou are awake. Thy princess has returned, and calls thee to her service." In the face of a princess's power, there is no delay. Shadows come oozing out between the roots of the apple trees, shadows with many legs and tiny wings.
Fluttershy is about to say something like, 'Um...b-but birds can talk,' but luckily, Luna does her thing first, so Flutters' mouth is too busy puckering into the most awestruck face you could imagine. "T-they're like animals, but...not?" She whips her head back and forth, trying to lay eyes on one of them - any of them - before they slip past her vision again. "Do they *all* need help?"
Luna gives a little nod. "They do, but few need help thou can give. I would take it as a favor if thou would sing to the shadows when evening comes. I am attempting to teach them to love ponies again, but Winter is cold and they learn love slowly. Now, shhh." Raising her wings high, she turns her glowing eyes back to the crawling shadows emerging from the apple trees. "We need not tell THEE of the approach of Winter. Months away, and yet thou taste it. We feel thy hunger for the leaves to fall, for the trees to be thine. Make compact now, with the Princess of the Night. Feed gently, frost but do not freeze. No other shadows shall drive thee from thy homes, but the trees must be cared for and survive until Spring comes and they can care for themselves." The shadows go mad in front of her, swarming around tree trunks, thrashing so hard that some lift up off the ground. Aside from some breeze-blown branches, the process is entirely silent, until one of them slithers up in front of Luna. It lifts from the ground, and she lowers her face and kisses the top of its head.
Wha- ah- n- Fluttershy dances backward on her hind legs, still holding the tiniest frost sprite in her hooves as if she's protecting it. Whatever's going on is a kind of magic that few ponies understand, and even those who've been close to great acts of harmony seldom see anything like the very world around them coming alive. Her eyes bulge into they're almost as big as the moon itself, and her ears strain to hear sounds that aren't there. This is Nature, and Fluttershy is close to nature, but this is a deeper level still. "Um," she squeaks. "O-okay. I...I will. I promise. ...I'll have to find some good shadow songs, I-I guess," she asides to the spark.
The first shadowy wyrm retreats into the trees, replaced by another, and another. Each receives a kiss on top of its barely identifiable head. Only a few come out, and when the last one is kissed they all slide back into the orchard, disappearing into the roots of the trees. Luna lets out a very deep, long sigh and looks back at Fluttershy. "No doubt thou have similar duties but a month ahead of thee. There is so much left to do. The shadows in the cellars and behind the walls in the farmhouse must feel the touch of love, that when the nights grow deep and cold they do not stalk the Apples for heat. The spirits of rot must be driven from the storehouses and distilleries into the orchard, to keep the roots warm and the harvest from spoiling. The windows of Jack, Bloom, and Macintosh must be marked, that the wraiths who haunt this place may watch their beloveds without disturbing." Her wings flap, then close up at her sides. "Living or shade, all things need love and comfort."
As the garden of shadows continues to grow around her, a slow, soft smile spreads across Fluttershy's muzzle. "I-I agree," she says. "Everything deserves a little loving care." And with that, she turns her gaze back to the creature still cradled between her hooves. "Hello, little one. Luna tells me you woke up a little too early and need to go back to sleep." She leaves a beat here, as if she were speaking to a young pony or an animal that could reply in words. "I-it's okay. Just relax, and let Mama Fluttershy help you. Do you, um, do you have a name?" And while she listens, because Fluttershy can't help but listen, she hums to it in soft, soothing tones. Hush now, quiet now...
Luna watches this with a broad smile. "Return her to sleep, Element of Kindess. What I do next, it is best the Apples do not see. They are brave, but the night's love is fearful for day ponies." Turning, she walks back towards the farmhouse. Her steps are quiet to begin with, and that faint noise fades to absolute silence. Luna's blue turns to grey, and that grey strips away, outside first. For a moment the thing left behind looks skeletal, but then it too is gone.
Fluttershy turns her head only briefly to look. What she sees makes her ears twitch and her eyes blink in surprise, but she doesn't keep staring for long; she has a patient to attend to. Besides, the night's love is fearful for day ponies, but Fluttershy is a pony of nature, and nature doesn't choose between night and day. "It's okay, little one," she coos. "It'll be time to wake up again soon..." And her song continues, wafting through the orchard as the only sound besides the slowly awakening chirps of the fruit bats overhead. How simply wonderful.