The Endless Night Sky

Astrous had been hard running for twenty minutes, and still that pegasus gave chase. The initial rush of adrenaline had worn off, and he was running on steam. His pursuer seemed to be tiring at the same rate, but he wasn't going to leave things to chance, better to know if you're screwed from the beginning.

"How long are you going to chase me?" Astrous yelled. A simple question, but it took his mind off of the burning ache in his legs.

"How long are you going to run from me?" The reply came from a smooth female voice. The answer might have amused Astrous had it been male, but the fact that it was a female chasing him caused a great deal of displeasure.

He couldn't challenge female to a duel. Magical or physical.

'Why the buck did it HAVE to be female? Can't whatever divine beings exist give me a break, just once?' Astrous thought bitterly.

Astrous just kept running, sheer willpower keeping him going. He was sure that if he tripped, getting up wouldn't be an option. His legs burned like molten lead, and his lungs were on fire, but he kept going. Until a tree decided to give him a face-five.

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Luna saw that creature stumble, and knew that her magic had work. It was a cheap trick, but it had worked. With her last bit of energy, she propelled herself at the unbalanced creature, slamming into it's back and knocking it to the ground.

"Get up, slowly," Luna commanded. The figure didn't move. She tried once again, this time in her traditional canterlot voice. "We Command Thou To Rise." still nothing.

'Uh oh, I hope it's just unconscious,' Luna thought, 'Well, the chance has shown itself early, might as well see what I have caught.'

The Princess was about to remove the hood from the figures' head, but stopped when she felt a familiar and terrifyingly strong magic aura approaching. A quick scan of the night confirmed her fears. Celestia was coming, and she was MAD. All she could do was wait and hope to Mother that Celestia let her remain on this planet.

Several minutes later, her older sister landed, followed by four guards. Two Lunar, and Two Celestial. She nodded to her sisters guards, Blaze and Lightning, than smiled warmly at her own protectors, Nightshade and Ashcloak, who gave her peeved gaze before returning her smile with relieved ones of their own.

The smile died quickly as Celestia turned her flaming gaze on her sister.

'Moon save me,' Luna thought.

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Celestia was worried sick. Was. Now she was tempted to send her sister to the moon again. Not only had she snuck out, but she had knocked someone unconscious on purpose!

'At least she's okay, albeit, a little ruffled, but safe nonetheless,' Celestia thought.

"Alright, you have once chance to explain. Change anything, and I will have Twilight lecture you on the anatomy of ponies. All species, both genders. Speak carefully." Celestia did her best ominous voice to add to the effect.

She saw her little sister take a deep breath.

"For some time," - Luna began cautiously - "Something has been killing creatures during the night. I would sense the disturbance and send guards to investigate, and they always reported a corpse and no trace of magic. I decided to tryand find out what was happening myself, so I snuck out, chased the creature on the ground there, and was about to unmasked it until you arrived, and here we are."

Celestia simply stared at her younger sibling, unable to fathom why her sister would do something so hair-brained.

"Well-" Celestia sighed, "-shall we get this over with than? If it's a regular pony, you're going to apologize, and then you can say hello to the rover," Celestia said, hiding the wry grin she had on her lips.

"Guards, surround it. Nightshade, remove the hood carefully." Luna ordered. The guards nodded and moved into position around the prone figure. The Lunar guard pulled the hood back, and what it revealed shocked both princesses, but for very different reasons.

"Mother of Me," Celestia whispered, "It's one of them."

Luna couldn't take her eyes off of the face in front of her. It was beautiful, completely perfect, save the scar running from just above the right eye-brow to halfway down the right cheek. A strong jaw, slanted brown, and slightly curled black mane, gave the appearance of a warrior. What caught her attention most, however, was the skin, a swirling mixture of black and blue, dusted with white dots that shimmered and glowed, giving the appearance of the night sky.

Luna snapped out of her trance upon hearing her sisters voice.

"Guards, bring him to the castle, I must question him," Celestia announced.

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Astrous woke up aching and sore.

'Well, pain is better than nothing. Means I'm not dead at the moment,' Astrous thought dryly.

He shifted his head on the pillow, looking for a cool spot to rest his head. Then it registered, that he wasn't on a concrete slab. He sat up and looked around.

'One heck of a prison they got goin' here,' He thought.

The room he was in was spacious, but cozy, with simple furnishings. A desk and chair, a wardrobe, and the bed he was laying on. As he looked around, the door came into his sight.

"Might as well try it," He said to himself.

Astrous crossed the room and tried the handle of the door. It was, of course, locked.

'Alright you wanna play it that way, fine,' He thought. He crossed back over to the other side of the room, faced the door and charged it. When he was not two feet from the entrance, it opened to show to very alarmed sentries, and perhaps the most magnificent creature he'd ever seen. Her fur was dark blue, and her mane had the same appearance as his skin, seemingly made from the night sky. Her eyes were large aquamarine orbs that sent shivers down his spine. Being so entranced by her, he didn't even try to stop. Bowling past the guards and directly into her, he had no regrets.

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Luna had, on occasions, fantasized being pushed down by a handsome stallion, but THIS was not what she had in mind. She was laying on the ground, with something heavy on top of her. She opened her eyes, surprised by the golden pair staring back. She was muzzle-to-muzzle with this stranger, and neither seemed able or willing to move.

A loud 'ahem' brought both of them back to reality. As she turned to look, she saw her sister with an inquisitive eye-brow raised, her guards looked ready to kill the stallion who had yet to move, and two Celestial guards holding Nightshade and Ashcloack back, bemused expressions plastered on their features.

"We-I can explain our-my current situation," Luna stammered.

Her sisters expression didn't change.

"Indeed you will sister." Celestia said.