Born Under Silver Moon Light

by David Silver

23 - A Minute of Your Time

"You are a denizen of dreams."

Crescent considered the unicorn curiously. "I am. I was? I still am." She nodded, with clarity, resolving that existential question without panic.

The unicorn clapped gently. "Then I'm glad to meet you. I'm Minuette. This is Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts." She gestured at the two mares that flanked her, both giving Crescent soft smiles, as they sat together, the four of them together on a bench in the gardens of Canterlot Castle. "They're just here because I'm here really. I came for you!" She pointed at Crescent firmly. "You're not hard to find. It's easy when the Princess of the Moon walks out of her bedchambers with a filly draped over her shoulder."

Crescent considered this. "I am?"

Minuette waved that away. "Maybe not literally, but close enough."

Twinkleshine hopped to her hooves. "Well, you found her. Good luck." She glanced away. "Don't get into trouble."

Lemon Hearts snickered at that. "No promises with Minny there." The two laughed together as they made their exit.

Minuette clicked her tongue at them as they departed, waiting until they were out of sight to continue speaking. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while now."

"Yes?" Crescent tilted her head in wonder.

"I." Minuette pointed at herself. "Am something of a time wizard. Dreams—" She pointed at Crescent. "Are a place where time doesn't have to make sense, or even go forward if it don't want to. I'd love to see how my magic and a dream creature get along!"

Crescent perked up at that. "Do you need me to do anything?"

"Nope." Minuette made a sharp gesture, waving Crescent into silence. "I just need to touch you. Is that okay?" When no complaint came, Minuette gently tapped Crescent between the eyes, and the world broke.

Everything ground to a halt. Crescent froze, unable to move or speak, her body falling to the floor as she had been standing before, but locked in place. It was like being stuck inside her own head, trapped behind her own eyes, her body the one that moved this time, picking itself up from the ground and realizing it had never fallen in the first place.

Crescent shook her head, feeling her component parts not quite keeping up, or being a bit faster than the others. The sensation of not being alone, something else sharing the space in her skull, something watching, knowing, taking in what she saw, sent shivers down her spine, making her fluff up in instinctual response to a predator.

But then it all ended. She was back in the garden, facing Minuette, as if nothing odd had just happened.

Minuette looked quite excited about the whole thing. "Amazing! I had a moment where I couldn't move my own body. That never happened before." She smiled at Crescent, just a bit too wide. "That's so fascinating!"

Crescent considered this and carefully considered her answer. "Um, thanks?"

"No no no. I'm the one that thanks you for this." She half-danced around Crescent. "You've advanced my ideas nicely. This is a great day! A great day!" She waved over her shoulder. "Thanks, Crescent Moon! You're going to go far!"

And then she was gone, leaving behind a very confused filly who felt as if something had just happened, but had no idea what it was, exactly.

The oddest part, perhaps, that she hasn't seen Minuette leave. She simply had been there, and then she wasn't. Was she not joking about time wizardry? Crescent dared a little smile. "If she wants to come back, she'll already be here when she does." She flopped down on the bench where they had sat, hooves together as she thought it all over.

Time wizardry. The very idea made her fur bristle, making her question if it was possible. Normally, only dreams had such loose time that one could hope to manipulate them. Having the waking world fashioned like that? Crescent had never felt it before, and struggled to decide if that had been amazingly good, or bad.

Amazingly bad? That's what it was! But also good! She wanted to have it again, even as she wondered how it worked. How far could time magic take a pony? There were legends of time travel in some of the books Celestia had let her read. But most had been notable for how they eventually vanished, never to be seen again.

Was such a fate waiting for Minuette? Crescent decided she hoped not. They seemed like a nice pony. Even if they were scary at the same time, which was an odd feeling. Would Luna understand? Crescent wasn't sure she wanted to bring up this encounter with her mother. Not yet. She had a gut feeling that telling Luna about it would lead to more trouble than it was worth.

Her stomach growled. That was another feeling she understood. She banished her troubling thoughts just like that. Yes, filling her belly was something she understood, and she put her all into resolving that. With a merry giggle, she dashed into the castle to begin her hunt.

She hopped around the kitchen, trying to find what she could nibble. The head chef spotted her and gasped in horror. "The royal filly is here! There's nothing on the menu worthy of her majesty." He looked about wildly as his assistants all gaped at the sudden emergency. "We have to do something, quick!"

Crescent burst into little giggles. "Everything you make is made for royal ponies. What do you mean?"

The chef gently ran a hoof over Crescent's little back. "I am playing a joke. We didn't expect you to be here. Why did you not ask a servant to bring food to you, little princess?"

"I want to be here. In the kitchen." Crescent pointed around with her hoof. "Sure, Mom is important. Auntie is too, and I've heard I am. But that doesn't mean I can't wander around and look at things." She spotted a cooling pie on a counter and started towards it, licking her lips as she went. "That looks tasty."

The chef interposed himself between Crescent and the pie. "Ah ah ah! I can see what you are after. That is my special pie, meant for tonight's meal. It cannot be sampled now." He chuckled as he gazed at the delicious thing. "But if you're looking for something sweet, how about—" His horn glowed, several cookies floating from a jar towards him. "One of these?"

Crescent grabbed them with a burst of magic from her own horn. "Yes please!" She found a stool to hop onto so she could sit at the counter. "You make amazing cookies."

The chef felt his chest swell with pride. "Then enjoy them. Begone then, and wait for a proper dinner. Your mother will be upset with us if we spoil your appetite."

Crescent gulped down another cookie before replying. "I can't be in here?" She felt disappointed that she couldn't stay, but not surprised. Celestia had also refused her repeated requests to let her cook something, though Crescent was willing to bet Celestia wouldn't turn away a chance to do so. She'd seen Auntie enjoying some baked good before. Surely she'd visit the place where they came from.

Giggling at the thought, Crescent finished the last of the few cookies, her hunger lessened, though not entirely satisfied.

The chef chuckled as he glanced around at his assistants. "As much as I adore your presence, little one, you should be off. A filly should not linger in a kitchen." He smiled fondly. "Your mother and aunt never would have come here, unless invited."

Crescent spread her hooves, all innocent. "I'm just visiting!"

The chef scoffed at that. "Not any more."

Crescent was quite upset by this. "But I can help!" She sought about for anything to assist with. "What are you making now?" She sniffed the air, detecting scents of meat, fresh vegetables, and pies cooking in the ovens they had lined up there.

The chef followed after her. "Little one, I admire your eagerness, but do you even know how to cook? And it's not something to learn in a single day. We're all experienced chefs here, who have worked in these kitchens for many years. You can come back in five years and we'll see if you're ready." He offered a smile that said he was joking, and he didn't mean it in any harsh way. "For now, wait for us to serve the food, and feel free to send nice words when you taste it."

Crescent nodded at that, dashing away as she skipped out of the kitchen, wondering what else she could get up to. Maybe she could find Sunset Shimmer and they could find something to do together. That sounded like a great idea. They could take a trip through the gardens and have a lovely time. She just had to find Sunset.

It only clicked as she wandered that Sunset was an entire world away, on the other side of a mirror. Visiting her was incredibly unlikely.

"Why do you look sad?" Minuette was back, simply back as if she'd never left in the first place.

Crescent pinched one cheek with her hoof. "Just because I was thinking about somepony I don't think I'll get to see today."

Minuette grinned at that. "Is she interesting? Do you like her?"

"She's great!" Crescent spread her hooves into the air. "Super nice, and she knows things I don't. Um, like you, come to think of it. She's like a bigger sister. At least while I was visiting her. That was really nice. Do you have a sister?"

Minuette shook her head. "'Fraid not. I'm the only pony my parents made." She leaned in, nose almost in contact with Crescent. "Also, I knew it."

Crescent tilted her head as she blinked. "You know what?"

"I knew I was right." Minuette offered a hoof to Crescent. "Since I met you, I've been working on my time magic, just because I wanted to be sure. You aren't even surprised. You're a dream. Time magic just slips right off your cute little back. A pony's there, then not there? Pretty normal for a dream."

Crescent flexed her hoof, inspecting it. "I guess?" She set the hoof down and tilted her head again. "What's the difference between a time wizard and a dream pony?"

Minuette chuckled at that, softly bouncing on her hooves. "Now that is a great question. A dream wizard can only do time magic inside a dream, and a time wizard can do it wherever they want, but can't go visiting dreams." She weighed the two options in her hooves. "The way I see it, they're both special. Time magic is really hard, especially since I've started making progress. But, in my little opinion, it's fun, and worth it. There's a reason I got invited to Celestia's secret academy for only the best students."

Crescent glowed with pride. "You really like learning about time?"

"It's interesting!" Minuette spun around, unable to contain herself as she bounced and did little hops of delight. "I bet it is for you too. Time magic is when the waking world and dreams get pretty close together. Not quite touching, but closest they're gonna get." She glanced aside. "Though I heard there's other kinds of magic that lets a pony go between dreams and the real world, just a bit. There's even rumors about a place that has them."

Crescent cocked her head, not sure what Minuette meant. "Mommy Luna has magic to visit dreams, but that's a secret." She pointed to herself. "I am a dream, so going to dreams is natural to me." She waved around. "Being in the waking world is the odder part, but I like it here."

Minuette finished her small dance and tapped Crescent on the nose with a hoof. "Anything else you wanna share? I'll keep your secrets." She let out a tiny giggle. "I'm no better at keeping secrets than anypony else, but if they're about time magic, I'll really try.

Crescent considered the time wizard mare. "You're funny." Both giggled at that and shared a warm hug as Crescent decided Minuette was a good pony. "Maybe one day, we can visit the human world together."

Minuette leaned back with a yelp of shock. "What? Really?"

"Mmm." Crescent nodded. "It's super neat there! Everyone is nice, and their world is bigger than this one."

Minuette tapped at her chin. "Sounds fun, but what's a human?"

"They're squishy and funny." Crescent laughed gently. "They have hands instead of hooves, but they walk on two legs." She rolled onto her back and kicked her legs in the air. "That's how humans do it."

Minuette imagined a minotaur. "Crazy, okay. And they have a whole world to themselves? Greedy." She burst into fresh giggles at her own joke. "I'll visit if you want. If it's even possible. Is it?"

Crescent perked up. "Of course it is! Twilight has a door to the human world. She visits sometimes, I bet. The human world is really nice. There's so many places to explore, and all the people there are super kind."

Minuette arched an eyebrow. "Oh, you know Twilight too? She's a super friend of mine." She put a hoof on her chest, glowing horn drawing out a wallet with pictures, some of them being selfies with herself and Twilight. "See?!"

Crescent hopped about as she pressed her hooves together, eyeing the pictures with amazement. "Oh, wow! You're friends! That's so neat!" She smiled up at Minuette. "How did you meet?"

"We went to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns." She tapped her head. "We both wanted to learn about magic. I think Celly wanted to know more about my time magic, so I got in. Twilight became her student, directly. Jealous..." She tossed her mane. "Of course we were friends right away! The second I laid eyes on her, I knew we were meant to be together!" She pressed a hoof to her chest. "She is my very best friend!"

Crescent considered that a moment. "What about the two ponies I saw you with before? Lemon and Twinkleshine. Are they your friends too?"

Minuette bounced about. "Of course! They're my BFFs!" She stuck her hoof in the air. "Forever!"

Crescent giggled gently. "But they can't be if Twilight's your best friend. Which one is your best friend? Who is better?"

Minuette held her hooves together with a sigh. "I can't pick." She lifted a hoof to wave about. "I was very happy when Twilight and I became friends, but so were Lemon and Twinkleshine. Mmm, then there's Lyra, she's a real hoot. Oh. and Pinkie! And, oof." She flopped bonelessly. "I have a lot of friends, and they're all great. Do I really haveta pick just one?"

Crescent bounced gently on her hooves. "Well, what does it mean to be best friends? Who do you see the most?"

Minuette stuck her tongue out at that thought. "Oh, now you're asking for trouble." She leaned against a pillar, sighing with a touch of melodrama. "See the most? Twinkle and Lemon win that easy. We see each other almost every day, sometimes a bunch of times in a day." She pointed a hoof at Crescent. "We're newest friends, and now best time magic buddies! You better hang out with me a lot!"

Crescent paused a moment. "But Twilight's your best friend from school. Who do you hang out with the most?"

Minuette rose back up, considering that point. "Hmm, we see each other all the time, but I think I like spending time with her more than she likes spending time with me." Her ears flicked. "Maybe that's normal. We have a lot in common, even though she's Celestia's student and I'm just a mare with time magic."

She rocked, Crescent smashing into her and grabbing her in a tight embrace. "Oh? Um, hi?" She giggled softly. "What's with the sudden hug?"

"You deserve one." Crescent nuzzled into Minuette's side. "I'll be your friend." She hopped up and down gently. "That sounds fun! We can do lots of things together!"

Minuette blinked at that. "Wait. I just said it didn't work out with Twilight."

"So? We're new friends." Crescent clapped gently. "I'm not a princess with a thousand things I have to do. I like playing, and so do you. So we'll play together! Right?"

Minuette giggled nervously at that. "A bit eager there. Let me think on that offer." She held her hoof up. "You sure you want me to be your friend? It sounds like it'd be fun, but, why?"

"You just said why." Crescent half-danced away, twirling around to face Minuette. "It'll be fun. Also, I want to learn about time magic, it seems extra fun. So there's two reasons to spend time together."

Minuette pointed a hoof at herself. "Well, that makes sense." She cocked her head as a thought struck her. "I'm usually the one making friends. This is new, having a pony make a friend out of me." She grinned at the whole idea. "I like it."

Author's Note:

Minuette deserves more time in more fics. Fite me.

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Comments

[redmar]

Nice to see Minuette.

[Max Stroberger]

A time wizard has just been added to the mix, also I have a tiny crush on Minuette not gonna lie I just new her and Crescent are gonna be an unstable duo of cuteness and smiles.