//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Two Truths and a Skye 
// by MyLittlePonyTales 
//------------------------------//

In the morning, Skye stretched and yawned, shaking the fine layer of dew that had accumulated in his coat and looking about. He'd only napped a little, being a light sleeper naturally, though the princess was still fast asleep by this time. Skye licked his lips, and cast about. He thought to himself, if she's as thirsty when she wakes up as I am, she's probably going to appreciate some water. Hopefully I can be back before she wakes up.

Taking a moment to ensure the princess was safe from immediate danger, he gave a flick of his tail and bounced off towards his favorite watering hole. Not too far in the distance, but definitely a good enough distance to get a good stretch of his legs in. This was his favorite time of morning, too, when everything smelled so fresh and awake. As much as he loved the night, he loved the day as well, even if he normally slept through most of it. But for now, he had to get his fill in and then get back to the Princess before she woke. 

But it wasn't long before Luna was awake. The sun shone down, warming her skin. She sat up, glancing around and remembering the previous night.

"Skye?" she called, noting that he was surprisingly absent from view. "Skye?" she called again, louder this time. She yawned and stood up, stretching in the morning air. "Skkyyyee!" she called out, a little louder still. There came no answer, just the chirping of birds and the rustle of leaves in the wind.

Drat. she thought. She looked 'round again, this time trying to get her bearings. Even though she may not have realized at the time, she had been lost even before she met Skye. He had led her deeper into the forest without her completely realizing it, and now she was especially lost. Everything had looked different at night, what little that could be seen, that is.

She sat down again, trying to figure out which way to go, when she remembered—the sun! It always rose in front of the castle, and set behind it...so all she had to do was figure out the direction of the sun and head east. She stood up once again, and then thought that perhaps Skye would be back...it wouldn't be very polite of her to leave...but Celestia was probably so worried.

Luna laid down on her front hooves again, closing her eyes and trying to figuring out what to do. 

Meanwhile, Skye was nosing about, looking for a bucket or container, or even a bowl, anything he could bring water back with him. It would be easier to show the princess where the river was, but he felt it would be nicer still if she awoke with a fresh bowl nearby. The berries and the sap were so very delicious, but tended to leave one parched.

In his distraction, he began to lose the track of time, and had been gone for nearly an hour before he realized he'd been busy for too long and that Luna was surely awake by now. The forest was thick enough that any sounds carried oddly, though he got a tingle through him that someone was calling for him. About that time, he realized he'd wandered too far, and turned on his hooves to dash back the way he had come. The leaves parted easily from his lowered antlers, and he stepped nimbly over root and gopher hole, the way invisible to any but those most versed with this area of the woods. It hadn't taken him too long to find the stream, but he didn't know how well the princess could track him through these thicker parts of the woods.

The guess on the guard was a hundred percent correct. Soon enough an entourage of golden armor clad stallion's were making their way into the forest in thin swarms by obvious order to find the night princess. They would check behind trees and in caves. In fact, they were checking everywhere for their royal lady, with the older one following in check as she entered the woods; even with her guards trying to change her mind, they just couldn't dissuade her. Celestia's mind was set and as she entered the wood, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly with the task at hoof. Despite the emotions she was feeling, her mind was rolling with like a thunderstorm.

She hadn't seen her sister all night, and the worry and the twinge of her own self loathing reared its head, as well as her own fear. So much fear. The fear of losing her sister. The fear of losing...everything. With her brow wrinkled in worry, Celestia and her entourage ventured ever deeper into the winding forestation. 

The memories of this place, wandering the trees quietly and exploring the night so long ago. Meeting strange creatures. Several in question she had befriended unconditionally. How many friends had she seen pass on in a thousand years that she had been so...needing of company? Shaking those thoughts from her head, she kept her eyes open for her sister.

They had searched all night long. Until she had had to raise the sun, Celestia and the guards had been searching the castle. As large and as spacious as Canterlot Castle was, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack if you were trying to find anypony in there. Especially if you didn't know where to look.

Eventually they fanned out. Several guards were scouting out in Canterlot at the moment, but Celestia felt it best to go where there were less civilian ponies and this...just felt a right place to be in, in the long run. With her sun beating down and her worry increasing, she called out hopefully into the depths of the woods.

"Luna!? Luna are you here? Luna???"

Luna lifted her head again, surprised. She had dozed off again, though for how long she wasn't sure. She looked around again for Skye, but he was still not around. She heard something that sounded almost like an echo, calling to her. Luna... She shook her head, thinking that it had been a dream...but then she heard it again. “Luna!”

She stood up, yawning once more and looking around again. “H-hello?” she called tentatively.

There was no answer.

She took a step forward, and then thought better of it. She turned her face toward the sky, finding the sun and getting her bearings.

Luna headed off in the direction of the castle, hoping that Skye would not worry for her if he were to come back. She would visit him another day, and explain things, if she did not see him again before she left the wood.

As he broke through the woods and dashed down the path, he was suddenly surprised by an oncoming group of travelers, and nearly ran headlong into them before he quickly whisked back into the forest nearby and froze, waiting for them to pass. This was going to delay his return to the berry bush, and at their pace, he didn't dare make a move until they sufficiently made headway.

Oh, why didn't he just wait until she'd woken up first? He was nor normally prone to making these sorts of mistakes, but he wasn't accustomed to spending as much time in the company of one such as her. Even Celestia rarely stayed very long when she came to the wood, and it was often months between visits. There was no telling the next time she'd be back, but with Princess Luna missing, she was surely to come looking for her and likely with a full complement of guards, and that wasn't going to be pretty either.

The Peryton watched the ponies approaching, and nearly breathed a sigh of exasperation. They were plodding along so slowly. He could risk...no, that'd likely give him away. A daydream at this point might help, but it was difficult with more than two, and there were at least five in this group. Maybe he could just pretend to be a regular deer...the woods were thick.

Suddenly, his keen ears pricked as he caught the sound of Celestia's voice calling from the distance. From the noise of their cart and their talking amongst each other, the ponies in his way couldn't hear it, but he certainly did.

"Oh, very good, Skye. Now both of them are here, and you know Celestia's not going to be happy with you for losing her sister. After such a great start, you had to botch everything up and leave Luna there all by herself to get a drink of water instead of waiting." finally giving up, he startled the ponies in the group with a loud deer bellow and dashed off into the woods, hoping they'd just mistake him for another of his cousins. There were many paths through the wood, but much of it was thick and overgrown and easy to get lost in. His sense of direction helped, but he preferred to avoid dashing blindly through it like this. Soon he left the paths behind and slipped in and out of brush and bounded over low-hanging boughs on his way back.

Skye crossed another path and came to a skidding halt as he nearly ploughed into one of Celestia's guards. With a sparkle of his antlers, he sent the guard a daydream that a particularly noisome breeze had just rushed down the path to stir the leaves, danced around him quickly and then bounded off in a different direction from the bewildered pony. Then Skye quickly resumed his dash through the woods.

There was commotion going around with the guards at the sudden deer howl that ran through the woods. Celestia stepped down from her cart, much to the fretting of the guards as the princess furthered herself into the woods. The symptoms of the confused and dazed guard she came across with her entourage sparked her memory slightly as the guard let out a faint nicker at things he could see, but nopony else could. Raising her eyebrows she turned to the two others following her.

"Take him back to the carriage." She said authoritatively.

Despite the resistance her guards put up, they eventually conceded and took the stallion back as the princess ventured deeper into the woods

As Skye ran, he realized what had caused him to make such a mistake in all these years. Fawn love, or puppy love as others called it, having spent an entire night with the Princess of the Moon. He was nearly giddy with it. Not quite real love, not romantically anyway. But still a strong emotional response he hadn't expected sent him all aflutter, even as he tried to control his emotions. She was such a little thing, and terribly cute. He immediately felt protective. And of course, he'd made the mistake of thinking of her as a fawn and that she'd stay put until he returned.

But Princess Luna was no deer, and it was clear to him that she would definitely do as she would. And now her big sister was here with the guards. Oh, hooves! If Celestia got hers on him, he was going to be in a world of shame. If only he could get back to...oh Celestia, where was she? As Skye returned to the berry bush, Luna was gone. He lowered his head and tried to sense where she went, but those glass slippers of her masked her footsteps.

"Luna?" he called, "Princess Luna, where'd you go?"

Celestia's brow furrowed in faint concentration her eyes wandered over the woods, every branch, every bird that tweeted, every squirrel that scampered and the memories grew and grew with every sound and smell. She visited this place less and less nowadays. Why? It was so beautiful here. So calm. Much calmer than Canterlot at times.

But she shouldn't be focusing on that. She should be focusing on her sister. A tight, twisting pain in her chest still pinched and made her wince at the thought of her sister out here. And alone. But that...howl.

Celestia arched a brow slowly as she made her way into the depths before something caught her attention. Was someone else calling her sister's name? Blinking, she followed the voice curiously.

Skye moved this way and that, trying to pick up Luna's trail, hopefully before anything happened to her. The woods were full of the unknown, and even being a resident as long as he had, even he didn't want to have to tangle with them. Bears, possibly mountain lions, and any number of other unknown dangers that the woods possessed to those who were not versed in the signs. But his search was proving futile, at least in the immediate vicinity, and he began to expand it more. As he did, he heard Celestia's voice calling for her sister, his large ears swiveling to catch her tones as she inquired.

"Hello? Is someone there?" She called out. "Please, I need to find my sister!"

Skye shrank back at her call, knowing that he was going to be in for it if she found out he was the one who'd lost her. Oh, why didn't I just wait until she woke up? I'm used to being independent because I have been for so long. But standing around was going to get him nowhere, and possibly Luna in far more trouble. Sure, she was a princess, but she was still young and by the look of things, new to the worlds dangers outside alone.

As the search continued, the Celestia's heart sank. Why hadn't she dropped the subject earlier? Why hadn't she just begged her sister's forgiveness like she should've done the first night instead of doing small favors and small, 'helpful' things to try and help the night princess feel more at home after a millenia of loneliness. Of solitude. She may have been on her own, but there were ponies here, ponies to talk to...on the moon...nothing. As beautiful as it was, it was cold and vacant, like an endless cold desert...

The pain twisted into her chest like a blade, halting the princess briefly in her steps and causing the guards to inquire of her state, but she disregarded them. Politely. But still disregarded them as she was urged further on by the knowledge that somewhere in this maze of trees and wilderness, her sister was here. Alone. And unguarded.

Or at least she thought that.

From the look of those guards, Celestia hadn't come alone, Skye observed. She'd never come to the wood with them before unless she was on a mission. He was torn between the choice of coming outright and telling her what he'd done, or finding Luna before the worst happened and risking her wrath later. He decided that maybe more sets of eyes were better than none, and that hopefully she'd understand for the immediate future long enough.