Luna's

Luna’s

Chapter 10

The warmth inside the bar shook the nipping chill off my coat as I stepped inside. In my short absence, the overturned table had been righted, the broken glass and spilled coffee cleared, and Applejack tucked away in the far corner booth with a loathsome frown on her face. Sitting on her table was a steaming mug—probably coffee—to sober the ill-mannered cretin up.

Looking closer to me, I saw Little Miss Doormat and her master sitting at a table in the center of the bar. In front of Doormat was a humble mug, which she grasped tightly in her shivering hooves. Her master, on the other hoof, had a tall wine glass held daintily by a thin ring of magic around the neck. She swirled the dark scarlet liquid before bringing the glass to her lips.

But as I scanned the patrons, I felt somepony else’s gaze fall over me. Me eyes shifted to the bar to find Luna staring at me with her bored eyes and tired smile. "How was your stroll?"

"Short," I retorted, walking past her. "Just like my temper."

"Oh!" she called out as I reached the end of the bar. "I think our newest guests wanted to meet you."

Luna’s eyes narrowed slightly, but not enough to betray their no-doubt sadistic intent. Almost as though she could read my mind, she let slip that irritating laugh of hers. "They’re two of my favorite regulars, you know. They’re so—" she looked off and up to the side for a moment before returning her shrewd gaze to me "—telling."

For a moment I almost questioned her, but I had enough sense to stop myself. After all, I had to be careful what I asked, otherwise I would lose my chance until the next night. So, instead of taking her vague bait, I turned to the stairs. "If they truly come by often, then I will see them some other night. Besides, I’ve had my fill with your ‘regulars’ for one night." I spat out the words like a sour wine.

I didn’t even turn my head to see what I guessed was an unassuming shrug before I pushed on to the stairs and up. Upon reaching the top, however, some odd sound behind me caught my ear. It was a high-pitched squeal from what might have been an unoiled hinge. When I rounded the banister, down the hall, a door was cracked open ever so slightly—the room directly before mine.

As I approached, something seemed to hold me back, almost as though somepony had bitten down on my tail and pulled as hard as she could. An awful, nagging feeling poked the back of my head, but I shook it away. Whatever little game Luna was playing with me—and this was one of her little games, no doubt about that—I refused to let it frighten me. I drew closer and closer, refusing to acknowledge the dread creeping up my spine, making my heart thump in my ears. The door was at my side now, and the pitch black just behind felt as though it was oozing out. Something inside was watching me.

This door had been closed and locked when I went downstairs. I recalled the other day, when I heard that voice from inside—terrified, weak, and desperate as it was, I found myself feeling the same now that I knew what Luna’s other patrons were like. If this particular guest needed to be locked up, surely she must be the worst of the bunch.

After I walked past the door, a floorboard creaked behind me, and I came to a halt. Or rather froze. My whole coat stood on end as I slowly craned my neck back. I noticed the crack in the door had widened. Inside, I caught the image of an bloodshot eyeball staring back at me.

After that was a blur. I knew my legs propelled me forward, I knew something grabbed my tail, and I knew I hit the floor face first, but beyond those details I can’t recall what I thought or said or did. The hallway’s sickly orange light that I detested so very much vanished into pure black as I was devoured by the darkness in one fell swoop. Then, the door slammed shut.

I expected pain—mostly the kind one would feel as one was consumed alive by some frightful beast—but I was only left with the dull sting from my poor chin striking the ground. A purple glow illuminated the room from behind me, painted a horrid picture. The wood floor had scratches all over—the walls, too. A painting of a simple waterfall hung crooked, nagging to be straightened. Bedsheets were strewn with feathers littering the floor, indeed telling of a struggle. To my right, a splintered chair lay swept in a pile against the wall, reminding me of the previous commotion that had come from this room.

"Now you’re safe," a voice muttered, and I couldn’t help but flinch.

I turned to face my captor, only to find that it was a simple mare, one just as disheveled as the room in which she lived. The colour of her messy coat was indiscernible in the purple light, but I could still pick out the two streaks of colour that ran through the center of her dark mane. The poor thing sported a horn, and from the tip of that horn emanated the purple light. However, no amount of pity could quell the thrill of fear I felt upon viewing the unnaturally wide smile on her face.

"E-excuse me, what?" I asked, crawling away from the deranged mare.

“You’re safe!” She rolled her forehooves together. “Safe, safe, safe, safe.” Her voice trailed off into incoherent mumbles, followed by peals of hysterical laughter.

“Safe from what?” I winced as the words left my lips. Any moment I expected her to erupt into some fit, but she only stared.

The mare’s eyes shifted back and forth. “From Luna,” she whispered. “You—You can’t trust her. You can’t trust—can’t trust Luna.” A tremor ran up her foreleg, and rippled through her whole body, not to her notice. “Nopony can trust Luna! Nopony!”

I raised an eyebrow. My nerves had begun to settle a bit; the poor thing seemed harmless enough, but not so much that I relaxed my guard. “Why, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Her eyes stopped roaming and locked onto me. Silence grew to deafening levels as her bloodshot gaze burned into my very soul. What felt like minutes passed until she finally shook her head. “I don’t know. She—I don’t know. It’s—I don’t know.” She pinched her eyes closed and pressed both hooves to her head. “Luna can’t be trusted.”

I swallowed a worrisome lump in my throat and slid back further towards the door. Suddenly the reason why this mare was locked away was starting to come into focus. A trashed room, a wreck of a pony, completely bonkers? Clearly Luna had our best interest in mind, though I couldn’t say I approved of her methods. Even a crazy pony needs help.

I cleared my throat. “Well, If you can’t remember, I suppose I should be going—” Suddenly I felt my back against the door, the mare pinning me there with her hooves.

“Going? Going where? Out?” Her eyes searched my own as her head fell slowly to the side. Then all of a sudden her head snapped straight up. Her ears perked when something like joy pushed through the madness. “Please! Now that you’re here, you can take me with you! Away from here! Away from Luna! I need to get out!”

“I—” I furrowed my eyebrows as I pressed back into the door. Quite the spot I was put in, but what choice did I have? Held in a room with a crazy pony at my throat—what would anypony do? “I suppose I could.” I cracked a small smile, then added under my breath, “Not that there’s anywhere to go.”

She leapt back to the center of the room using my shoulders as a springboard. Frantically, she clapped her hooves and an exuberant grin spread across her face. “Yes! Splendid! You see she’s bad, right? Luna’s not who she seems. She’s up to something, I just can’t remember what right now.” She groaned, smacking her head a few times with her hoof, as if the pain would jog her memory. Then she shook her head violently and locked her gaze back onto me. “We can worry about that later, though. For now we just—”

The door flung opened, sending me tumbling onto the crazed mare. I rubbed my head and looked at whoever had burst in. Standing there, silhouetted from the glaring orange light of the hallway, was a tall figure. Its head craned to the side, and its mane shifted in an unfelt wind. I swallowed hard again, feeling like a filly caught with her hoof in the cookie jar—despite being roped into this mess.

“I see my words of wisdom went unheeded,” Luna said as she stepped into the disaster that was the crazy mare’s room. Her horn lit with a soft blue glow. She stared down her muzzle at the two of us, her eyes still half-closed, almost glazed over from exhaustion, but behind that held some subtle venom—either at myself or the crazy one, I couldn’t tell. She took a deep breath and stepped to the side. “Twilight, as I’ve asked you time and time again, please don’t bother the other guests.”

“I-I’m s-s-sorry,” the mare muttered. A short sniffle drew my attention downward. Shivers radiated into me as I slowly realised this crazy mare—Twilight, apparently—was utterly terrified. I climbed off her, and she collapsed into a cowering heap. Now that she was in the light, I could see she had a coat as purple as the light of her spell.

My gaze shifted back to Luna. I was glaring, no doubt about that. Her gaze met mine, confirming that her resentment was for us both. But before I found myself confronting her, she motioned to the door with her head. Considering the company, I took my leave, though I kept staring daggers at Luna as I past.

I stepped outside the room, and heard the door close behind me. I winced at the loud crash that came from the other side accompanied by what might have been a squeal of pain. A moment later, Luna slipped out with the look of a mother who had just disciplined her child. It was a stern expression, but one that didn’t suggest any sort of relishment from completing the task.

She exhaled, and the lazy Luna I had come to know and hate appeared again. “As I said before—” she broke the silence “—I would avoid her. She’s a bit much to handle.” She looked at me from the corner of her eyes.

“I can’t say she was any harder to handle than your other guests,” I retorted dryly.

“That’s because you don’t know her like I do,” Luna replied as a smile came across her face. “But I suppose you do take a liking to troublesome ponies, don’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I turned my nose up and away from her.

“Perhaps you don’t.” She moved to the stairway without a word more.

Her hoofsteps made my heart leap in my chest. Suddenly I snapped my gaze back to see her walking away slowly. “Luna,” I called out, bringing her to a stop. “Is she like that because of the fog?”

Luna said nothing, didn’t even glance back in my direction.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Well?”

“A wonderful question,” she said after a moment’s pause. “I wonder if that might be true.”

“Don’t play the idiot.” Her refusal to look at me made my blood boil. “You aren’t fooling anypony with that act. Answer my question.”

“Maybe I just don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“That was my first question of the night,” I reminded her as I took a small step forward. “The rules of your silly game mean you have to answer me.”

Her horrid laugh broke the silence. “Actually, the rules of our little game simply require me to answer a question per night, not the first one you choose to ask. I can choose which one that might be.” At last she turned back to grace me with that stomach-churning, sadistic smirk she had perfected. “Well, goodnight.”

My jaw clenched tight. “She doesn’t deserve to be locked up like that!”

“And it appears I’ve finally struck a chord,” I heard from her before she finally disappeared down the stairs.

After Luna was gone from my sight, I brought a hoof crashing down so hard that it hurt. I didn’t like how she acted as though she knew me, and I didn’t like how she was so right about it. She was some random mare living in the woods with a bunch of loons. She didn’t know the first thing about me or the things I had experienced in my life. I stormed into my room, slamming the door shut behind me. Between the infuriating Applejack, the freaky Discord, the snivelling Doormat and her master’s sickening play, the crazy Twilight, and Luna’s ever-obnoxious nature, I was fed up with this place. If running got me anywhere, I would have fled right there, and never looked back.

But I was trapped at Luna’s. I was trapped until I either found my escape or snapped like the rest of them. All I knew was I had to hurry. I just wish I knew what I was hurrying towards.