Full Moon Ritual: Duties

The ritual was at midnight. Witching Hour was certain several of those ponies were normally in bed by then. They have a long night in front of them. Especially Harvest Moon, who’s helping Professor Golden Sage. Witching Hour wanted to make sure Harvest Moon ate, something the unicorn is privy to forgetting. But it felt rude to bring food to one pony and one pony alone. So she arranged an assortment of snacks.

Witching Hour prepped all sorts of snacks for the gathering. She made some basic party snacks like coconut cake balls, salmon and cucumber bites, taco dip with plenty of cricket flour tortilla chips, and pigs in a blanket. But then she got a little personal. She brought along chili lime roasted crickets, cheesy meal worms, wormy taco dip, grub-topped cracker bites, and her personal favorite- fried tarantula. She knew the other ponies were very unlikely to try any of her buggy snacks, but the ones that were brave enough would love and devour them.

After loading up her cart with a collapsable table made from dense wood and packing up the snacks, the bat pony was unable to easily pull the wagon. Sure, it would budge and slowly slide across the ground. But the amount of effort and time wasted on bringing it all the way to that river-side camp was not worth it to her. Thankfully she knew that the reliable Brave Storm was there to give help. Asking for the earth pony’s help was more of a formality, Witching Hour knew she would.

Brave Storm had been hooked up to the cart, it was a simple process compared to the things that she’d normally have to pull. And as the mare was steadily and easily pulling the cart through the dirt path, Witching Hour noticed the way she would occasionally look at her. Brave Storm’s mouth would open and close without saying anything and moments later, she would do it again.

“Dear,” Witching Hour prompted, starting to get annoyed at the repetitive action, “if you have something to say, then say it.”

“Can I ask you a question?” she finally managed to get out.

“You already did, but feel free to ask another.”

“Right. Well, why are you and Harvest Moon helping out with the Wild Magic ritual? Especially curious about Harvest Moon, she’s a unicorn.” Brave Storm asked.

“Hm, I do suppose that would seem strange to an outsider. In short, there are magical phenomena happening all the time. Many ponies just don’t know magic when they see it. It always has existed around us and unicorns are only special for being a source themselves to weave the magic as they see fit.” Witching Hour goes on to explain. “Besides, you remember the story of the founding of Equestria?”

“I remember that the unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies were divided and their fighting attracted windy-dudes?”

“That’s good enough. Do you know why the unicorns were segregated?”

“Because they thought they were better than the other ponies?” Brave Storm asks.

“That’s what the pegasus thought. That’s why they lived in the skies where no others could reach them.” Witching Hour shakes her head. Probably heard that take from pegasus. “No, the ancient earth ponies feared unicorns for their magic. A unicorn could, with great skill and practice, do many a great and terrible thing. And back then, not much was known about unicorn magic. So there weren’t any regulations on unicorn magic.”

“I think I see where you’re going with this. Now traditional magic is pretty well understood, so now we know how to regulate and teach unicorns to handle their magic. Right?”

Witching Hour nods with a smile on her face. She didn’t mind explaining things to other ponies, but much preferred that they just understood what she was getting at.

“Natural Magic has existed here for quite some time. Something has just made it start acting out in ways Equestrians aren’t comfortable with.” Witching Hour continues. 

“Well, yea, imagine if the weather started acting out.”

“You mean the way weather acts everywhere outside of Equestria?”

“Weather’s untamed everywhere else?” Brave Storm asks in shock. 

“...Yes, dear. Equestria is a strange place. You’re just used to living here.”

“Weird.”

“Yes, very.” Witching Hour cuts in curtly. “But my point is that we need to understand Natural Magic. Without understanding, there is no regulation. Without regulation, there is chaos. This is just simply my duty to help where I can.”