“Goodbye, Mama!” Lunar waved as his mother tightened her satchel, “Goodluck!”
“Don’t be so hasty in our goodbyes, my pet,” Crimson replied, lifting Lunar’s chin with her hoof, “You won’t get into any trouble while I’m gone, will you?”
“No, Mama. I promise,” he replied with an eager grin.
Crimson smiled faintly, mumbling a small praise before turning and walking out the door. Lunar was always excited for forage day, as it meant food he had no idea how they’d get otherwise, but today it meant something new! It meant ponies! And as he scurried up to his window to watch his mother leave, Lunar also began to pack. If there were ponies out there, they’d be really mean to me, right? That’s what Mama said. Are there really other ponies out there with just wings? With nothing at all?! She said all the pegasi and earth ponies were dead… but Spider—
“Ow!” Lunar exclaimed as he tripped over his cloak, falling face first onto the floor. “Ughh…” he groaned, deciding he should take it with him.
Spider yawned, slumped against a tree with furrowed brows, grumbling to herself. “Where is he? I’ve been here all morning…” She impatiently tapped her hoof on the ground, “Stupid agreement to go to the stupid village—” she sighed— “but he looked so happy. I can’t take that away.”
“Spider!” she suddenly heard, spinning around to see Lunar running up to her.
He slid to a halt in front of her, excitedly bouncing up and down. “I got everything I needed! I have food, and defense, and lip balm, a-and—”
“Lip balm. Me and my mama make it for—”
“Not that! Why do you have weapons?”
Lunar raised a brow, “Aren’t they still all mad at each other? Y’know? … Cause of the war?”
Spider furrowed her brows. “War? What war?” she scoffed, “Who told you there’s been a war? As far as I know, there’s been peace under Queen Twilight.”
“Oo, there’s a new queen?”
“New queen? She’s been queen as long as you or I’ve been born! W-Who do you think is queen?”
Lunar sat down idly, replying, “Mama said a pony named Celestia used to be queen, and that she mysteriously died.”
“... I… think you’d better just forget all that and learn real history,” Spider mumbled, taking a slow breath to sigh with. “Leave your weapons here, and let’s just get a move on.”
Lunar nodded and quickly scooped up his bag, scurrying after Spider. “H-How long will we be walking? Can we talk while we do?”
Spider glanced over at the strange stallion beside her. He was naïve, skimpy in stature, and as curious as a cat. Something about his smile and great eagerness made her begin to smirk, smile even. “Yeah,” she replied, casually putting a hoof around Lunar, “That’s what friends do, right?”
Lunar’s face suddenly lit up in excitement, his bright smile somehow growing even brighter. “Really?! We’re friends?”
“Yeah, dummy. You’re gonna need someone to look out for you. Don’t worry about the sugar, by the way. I can just get some in town, I still have some bits left.”
Spider chuckled, “Don’t worry about that right now. Instead you better worry about when we’re gonna go bug hunting!”