New Moon (My Little Pony)

23 The Story of Thestrals (4/6)

The four young thestrals guided us through the mountains of Equadi as the small number of my guards lagged behind. The foals had long discovered them given their way with echolocation; however, they were tolerant to let them follow until we reached an entrance to a cave that lay within a narrow crevice.

The path lied elevated within a wall. No pony would ever consider exploring such a small detail without the most acute curiosity. From here on, only thestrals and those imprinted by one could be welcome there. My caravan did not appear too trusting of the foals and neither were the young ones themselves. I decided to resign to the foals' decision to come along with only Luna by my side. My guards voiced their disagreement, but I gave them no choice but to place faith that I knew what I was doing. I ordered them to stay behind where they couldn't see us enter the entrance and Luna and I shuffled our way into the cavern.

I was welcomed by utter darkness when Luna and I fell into the cavern. It was a shortfall, but still ungraceful all the same. Luckily I was able to cushion my student's fall. The young thestrals flocked above us and chuckled at our embarrassing act. I'm not usually one to be the butt of a creature's joke, but there are rewards in humility in some regards.

Minutes had passed before the young thestrals led us to a burrow within a small chamber of the cavern. The illumination spell Luna and I cast on our horn weakly pierced through the darkness, but the narrow hole was visible enough to us.

I will admit that I did enjoy these narrow feats I had to endure through. This one particularly made me consider taking a diet in the future. Though, I...um...find the commitment to be devilishly difficult. But that is beside the point.

The burrow led into a deep fall that the young thestrals had failed to mention. Luna should count herself lucky that I went first, else her descent would have been unpleasant. Kind of wished it did happen after the laugh she had from my struggle inside. It was merely a thought. I would never actually cause harm to her.

Moving on, our descent led us to another black void with nothing but the darkness welcome. However, the quiet was immediately halted by bountiful flutters of wings that surrounded us. Luna and I stood close to each other, covering each other's blind spot of the anonymous creatures that moved hastily around us.

The four young thestrals finally caught up to us as Remus voiced to his flock, "Do not be afraid. The ponies are with me."

"Remus," I heard a voice from the darkness. All of the flutterings stopped, but I could still feel that there were a hundred pairs of eyes upon me. You might think it reckless of me to go at this alone with only a unicorn, but the two of us knew how to intense our illumination spell to the point it would be blinding. However, we would only resolve that course if diplomacy had failed.

"Brother," Remus responded to the voice. I heard a thud before me as a male thestral stepped into the light.

"Why dost thou bring ponies here," his brother asked. "And why the Princess of all ponies?"

"Thou know who I am," I asked the thestral. He faltered back at my voice but came back when he took another glance at his brother. "We only wish to speak with thou. We seek only peace."

"Thou must excuse me for my disbelief," the thestral said. "We hath met creatures that hath rejected us and welcomed us under false pretenses for a collection of meat."

"We ponies are herbivores," Luna voiced. "I doubt thou will meet a single pony that bears such an appetite."

"We are aware," the thestral said. "We hath witnessed the activities of Equestrians. From the shadows, we have learned your language, your culture, and your taste."

"I must say," Luna said. "your reconnaissance is most impressive if thou can achieve that much of a feat."

"Remus," the thestral spoke to his brother. "Why bring them here?"

"The dark pony is Luna," Remus answered. "The pony from my dream."

"The one that enters dreams," the thestral widened. "That cannot be. No creature is able to attain such power."

"But it is true," Remus said. "Luna hath seen the monster. Luna hath driven it away. Why dost thou believe I am still here?"

"Still," Luna voiced her confusion. "What dost thou mean by that?"

"If what thou say is true," the thestral spoke. "Then perhaps we hath something to speak of after all. Please, follow me."

"Patience Luna," I whispered to my impatient student. "The thestrals will tell us at their own pace."