Luna's

Luna’s
Chapter 11

I stared down at the chair suddenly thrust into my path. Surprise, annoyance, and resignation warred with each other for control of my expression. I couldn’t help but have an odd sense of deja vu, but it was more than that. This had happened before—the previous night in fact. And much like then, I wasn’t thrilled by the invitation to sit down.

My eyes trailed up from the chair’s feet, aglow with a pale blue aura. Across from the table sat a snow-white unicorn whom I recognized as Doormat’s master from before. She leaned forward with her head resting against a hoof, apparently bored, if her barely open eyes were anything to go by. The sour smile resting on her lips reminded me of a cat about to pounce on a mouse as her aloof gaze slid over me from head to hoof. I could practically feel her rottenness scurrying across my skin. The mere thought gave me chills.

"Won’t you join us?" she asked, though it felt more akin to a demand.

Though "us" almost slipped past me unnoticed. Her pink-haired lapdog materialized in my peripheral vision like a phantom. Given her stunning lack of presence, it made sense that she was easy to overlook, what with her hiding behind that curtain-like mane. Then again, maybe I was underestimating her. Perhaps her knack for going unnoticed wasn’t as unintentional as I first thought.

Shifting my sights back to her master, I opened my mouth, on the cusp of declining her offer when she interrupted. "I wouldn’t want my hospitality ignored, and not by somepony as refined as yourself."

Types like her were common enough in my life, and I had certainly learned how to spot them. It was both a point of pride and disgust that I had her pegged right on the nose from first sight. Armed with that knowledge, I should have told her to sod off right then and there. I knew what I would be getting into, yet I said nothing. What choice did I have? Offend Her Highness—losing a possible lead in the process—or play her little game for some information, which in the end was no choice at all.

So I took the offered seat, crossing my forelegs as I plopped down across from my two “hosts”. I didn’t care for the delighted smirk Her Highness adopted as I settled in. Her eyes shifted to her pet without so much as a tilt of her head. Despite Doormat pretending she didn’t exist, she jumped the instant her master’s eyes fell upon her. She raised her trembling hoof barely to chin level. It quickly darted back to her side where she froze solid once more. I wondered what she was doing.

A moment later, the answer became clear. Luna appeared next to our table. I met her gaze for a moment and instantly regretted it. For such a dull, tired mare, she certainly thought quite highly of herself at times—and this was one of those times. The air around her reeked of her sadistic delight like pungent cheese to the point I almost felt sick. The untrained eye would never be able to see it, but reading Luna was old hat to me by this point. Her tired smirk was barely wider than usual, and her eyes minutely more focused. Perhaps I had been here too long.

“What can I get for you?” she asked. Her docile tones and slow speech were edged with just the slightest bit of excitement, making her sound the tiniest bit cheery. I didn’t like it. A happy Luna could only mean trouble.

As I opened my mouth to speak, I was cut off by Her Highness. “Three glasses of your finest sauvignon blanc, if you would, darling.”

I rolled my eyes. Twice, now, I had been cut off, and I had only just crawled out of bed. I rounded my eyes back onto Luna, giving her a cold stare.

She lowered her head with a small nod. “Two wines and a coffee—black.”

I nodded in return, and she left the table.

“It appears the help has a teensy bit of a hearing problem.” I looked back to the host of our little get together, finding a displeased glare on her face primed in Luna’s direction.

“Or the guest might have a bit of an attitude problem,” I muttered under my breath. Her ears turned in my direction first, followed by her muzzle and eyes.

“Pardon?” she asked with suspicious innocence.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t drink,” I spoke up, then lowered my hooves to my lap.

She eyed me up and down, looking for some sort of weakness or flaw in my stone-cold expression. As if I would ever have a reason to lie for that damnable mare, I thought as her eyes finally met mine once more.

An odd disappointment settled in her expression with her ears drooping slightly. “And here I had planned to propose a toast.”

“A toast?” I asked. Suddenly a mug dropped in front of me with just enough care to keep its contents from sloshing free. I jumped back in my seat to see Luna standing behind me with two wine glasses held in her magic.

“Here’s your wine, Ms. Rarity,” Luna said with a slimy smugness in her voice. As she carefully set the wine down, she locked eyes with Rarity’s. “And I thank you for your concern, but my hearing’s just fine.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Of course,” she spat out while squirming in her seat. The foreleg her head rested upon drew closer to her body and forced her up straight. “I was simply making sure you were in good health.”

Luna chuckled—her horrid, ear-grating laugh. “Just keep in mind that if one isn’t careful, she might end up in the woods for the night.” Despite her laugh and cheery expression, her tone was somber. "Remember, I don’t work for anypony, and this is purely my hospitality." Like spectres haunting the table, Luna’s words clung to our skin. It sent a terrifying chill racing up my spine. She laughed once more, and the icy chill vanished. “Enjoy your toast,” she added before taking her leave once more.

Once Luna was gone, Rarity cleared her throat. The pale glow of her magic lifted one of the wine glasses, while Doormat reached out for the other.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I snatched my mug. With the enthusiasm of a funeral procession, I raised my glass.

“To inconsiderate simpletons who so rudely decline somepony’s offer.” Rarity’s muzzle scrunched as she narrowed her eyes at me. She tipped the mouth of her glass in my direction. “Cheers.”

“Ch-cheers,” Doormat added before snatching her foreleg back to her body. The glass disappeared behind her mane, with the base poking through for a brief moment when she tipped it back.

I narrowed my eyes back at Rarity. “Cheers.” After a small sip of the charred dirt Luna called coffee, I set my mug down with a thud.

The table shook, earning a raised eyebrow from Rarity as she daintily sipped her glass. When she pulled it from her lips, a smirk spread across her face. "And here I had mistaken you for somepony with class. Fluttershy and I were delighted to learn there might be more cultured conversations besides that filthy apple pony. But I suppose it was all for naught."

"Perhaps one would catch more flies with honey than vinegar," I replied dryly as I turned my attention to the suddenly interesting vacant table adjacent to ours.

"It’s rude to be so vague, darling." She batted her hoof playfully in my direction. "And I could say the same for you."

"I’m sorry, Ms. Rarity, but I had a long night." I pulled my eyes from the aging woodgrain of the table to the conversation before me. "I didn’t quite have the patience for pleasantries, and tonight isn’t looking much better."

"I suppose I could give you another chance." Her eyes drifted to the mare next to her, still as a statue. "Company is such a rare commodity here."

"S-sorry," Doormat blurted out, instantly shrinking in her seat. "I’ll try harder."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Don’t force yourself, darling. You remember last time?"

"Y-you pushed me on stage," she whimpered out, barely audible between her lips, hair, and distance across the table. "I just—"

"You see what I deal with?" Rarity turn her attention to me. "You take a girl in, try to make her presentable, and she’s a blubbering oaf." With a subtle motion of her head, she pointed next to her before propping her head up on her hoof once more. "All because she wanted to be somepony."

My shoulders tensed. The bored monotone with which she spoke such disgusting things was enough to irk me, but to phrase it as though she was doling out favors? It was sickening. "Perhaps you’re expecting too much?" But that wasn’t the extent of my ire. Slowly my sights shifted to the ever-shrinking Doormat. "And perhaps she’s demanding too much?"

"I’m not demanding," Doormat interjected with the authority of a cowering mouse before a hungry housecat. "I just wanted—"

"You shouldn’t try to be somepony you’re not." I narrowed my eyes at her. Her neck somehow vanished below her shoulders at my retort. Cowering, shaking, but still sitting. Whatever this pitiful creature aimed to get from this Rarity, it certainly was willing to toss aside any pride or ego it might have had. It was barely even a pony to me at this point. A disgusting leech latching onto the most powerful entity it could in hopes of sharing. Absolutely disgusting.

"And you’ve never tried to fit in above your social class?" Rarity’s attention shifted to her glass, still swirling as it was held in her magic.

Once she was sure she had my attention, her glass stopped. Slowly, she brought the lip to her mouth, tipping it back ever so slowly. Her throat swelled as the wine slid down, gulp after gulp. Perhaps she thought the wait would make me anxious, but from the corner of her eye I caught her gaze locked on me. Another of her sadistic games.

"I’ve played the game, and found it lacking." I grabbed my coffee and took a sip myself. Unlike her, I didn't feign interest in my cup over the company. I kept my eyes glued on her.

Rarity pulled the glass from her lips. A cat-like smile across her face. "You’ve quite the attitude. I like it."

"Then if we’re done with the proverbial measuring contest, can I ask you something?"

"About a way out?" She picked her head up, lowered her muzzle and looked at me from the top of her eyes. The most obvious of feigning innocence I had ever seen. "Sorry," she said with a laugh as a smirk broke out. She leaned back in her seat with her glass close to her mouth. "I’ve no interest in leaving these woods. The colorful cast is far too entertaining. Did you try that apple one? She’s been all over these woods."

"I’ve already had the pleasure." I clenched my jaw. This whole infuriating encounter had been a waste of my time. I glared at Luna from the corner of my eye as she watched on with her smug boredness. With her insistence I speak to these two, I should have known would be of no help. Wretched mare, I remarked silently.

"That one girl said she knew a way out," Doormat mumbled louder than normal.

"Which girl?" Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"Purple coat, really frazzled," Doormat brushed her mane from in front of her face, revealing her turquoise eyes darting away.

Rarity stared at her for a moment before taking the final sip of her wine. After she finished her glass, she set it down and looked back to her partner. "Purple Coat? I’ve never heard of anypony by that name."

“No, her coat was purple,” Doormat tried to correct, but the words barely made it past her fumbling lips.

Purple coat and frazzled seemed to ring a bell, or perhaps more of an alarm. The pony I was abducted by the previous night—Twilight, Luna called her—matched that description to the letter. She didn’t seem to know of a way out the last we met, but her memory issue stuck out to me. Though, admittedly, it was a vague description. So vague that it could be any number of ponies—even mistaken in the dim, orange light of the bar, especially with Doormat’s tendency to not make eye contact. But, damned if it wasn’t something. I leaned onto the table. “Have you seen her lately?”

Doormat simply shook her head. “She wasn’t…” Her gaze darted about for a moment before landing firmly on the table. “She wasn’t very nice.”

“You and your stories,” Rarity scoffed. “Ignore my companion. She just wants attention.”

Considering this pathetic pony’s aversion to so much as even looking at others, I doubted that seeking attention had anything to do with it. “I don’t think so.” I shifted my gaze back to Rarity, before pushing back off the table. “I would like to know more about this girl she saw.”

“It’s nopony.” Rarity rolled her eyes and waved a dismissive hoof. “Like the rest of the trash here.”

“Nopony,” Doormat parroted, like a good trained puppet. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I must have been imagining things.”

Rarity returned a condescending smirk aimed at me. “See?”

The same old story. I sucked air in through my teeth and shoved my seat out. “And this is why I can’t stand your ilk,” I spat out at her, as if the words were an apple past its prime. "You or your lapdog." I glared at Doormat next.

Rarity narrowed her eyes back. Her smirk faded into a disturbingly dead expression—perfectly matching her inner self. Her eyes snapped to Doormat’s glass, still in the girl’s hoof. With a quick light of her horn, the glass flew out of the girl’s hoof, sending the contents flying towards me.

I couldn’t move fast enough, or duck out of the way. Instead, I was left with my only option. To close my eyes as the sickly sweet beverage hit my face. I shook, partially in anger, but mostly from the cold wine now soaked into my fur. When I opened my eyes, I stared daggers at the ill-mannered cretin.

She closed her eyes for a bit longer than an average blink before looking back to me with the same dead expression as she rest her head against her hoof. “She can be awfully clumsy.”

Doormat’s lips quivered, almost as if she was about to cry. She lowered her head, and muttered the words that nearly made me sick. “I’m sorry.”

I clenched my jaw, and turned my back on the two of them. Without anything further, I marched towards the bar, leaving my drink and dignity behind.

“And yet you still trample all over my hospitality,” Rarity called after me, but I chose to ignore her.

“You’re so prone to messes,” Luna said as I approached her. She leaned against the bar with that smug, tired smile I had come to loathe and, at that particular moment, wanted to smack her for.

“Washroom?” I asked, dryly.

She gave a slow motion of her head towards the entry leading to the stairs. “Down the hall to the left.”

“Thank you,” I muttered as I started to leave.

“Though I’d be careful, friend.” I paused, my ear swivelling to Luna. “Be mindful just whose company you find yourself in. After all, you can’t spell hospitality without hospital.” Her brittle laugh tormented my ears as I continued forward and slipped through the doorway.

As if I needed her cryptic advice now.