Luna's

Luna’s

Chapter 3

I awoke to a soul-shattering crash. My eyes popped open and immediately scanned around the vaguely familiar room around me. With a groan, I sat up and placed my hoof to my forehead. What time is it? I asked silently as I glanced around to find a clock.

Another horribly loud crash made me nearly jump out of my skin. I gave up on the clock, now more irritated than curious about the time. “Alright, what the hell is going on?” I climbed out of bed. As soon as my hooves touched, I felt a bone-biting chill from the floor. “Apparently this place doesn’t know what heating is,” I muttered as I made my way across the room.

Just as I opened the door, I heard the familiar click of a lock. I poked my head outside to see Luna standing in front of the room next to mine. She had a bored, but superior look to her. It was a look I saw often in my line of work. However, when she noticed me poking my head out from my room, her expression softened to the one I was familiar with. The look in her eyes went from bored with the tedium of life to the lazy cheerful cynic I had come to know. “Sleep well?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Unfortunately no,” I replied skeptically. “What was that noise?”

“What noise?” she asked, feigning innocence.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “There was a noise in the room next door,” I said, dryly.

She gave a small nod as a smile formed on her face. “The other guest was a little—” she glanced back to the door she had closed a moment earlier “—rambunctious.” She finished with that creepy giggle of hers before turning her eyes back to me.

I groaned quietly to myself. Even after some sleep, that laugh hadn’t become more bearable. “It sounded a tad more dramatic than that, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“I don’t mind.” She shrugged. “Everypony is entitled to their opinion.” She turned her back to me and began to head down the hallway.

“That’s not what I meant,” I retorted, barely concealing my contempt.

Luna paused a few steps down the hallway. “She’s been a guest here for a long time,” she replied, turning her head back towards me. “I would suggest avoiding contact with her if possible. She can be a bit much to handle.” She was too far away for me to hear it, but I imagined her laughing again.

I cringed at my own imagination for playing such a cruel trick. “I suppose I’m more surprised there are more guests here than just myself.” I said, pushing the disgust from my mind.

Luna shrugged. “Even we have our regulars.” As she spoke, she shook her head.

“Regulars? I can't imagine ponies actually coming to this restaurant of their own volition.”

“Well, we do have some of the best food and atmosphere around, after all.”

I sighed. “We’re in a forest. I wouldn’t consider that a big accomplishment,” I muttered under my breath. “But you mentioned regulars. You don’t sound too thrilled about that. Should I be worried?”

Luna raised her eyebrows and gave a playful smile. I felt my jaw clench hard in frustration. “One non-menu question a night,” I muttered.

She nodded.

“Speaking of night, what time is it, anyway?” I asked glancing back into my dark room. My eyes scanned the walls and desk to find that a clock was nowhere to be found. “Odd,” I said under my breath.

When I looked back, I noticed she was still smiling. I pressed my hoof into my forehead hard. “I’m a little too tired for this, Luna. If you could please just tell me something easily for once, that would be wonderful.”

“My hooves are tied,” she teased. “But, if you’re interested in the time, you have plenty of information to make an educated guess.”

I pulled my hoof away from my face. I glanced back into my room. It was dark outside still, or perhaps again was the right word. She already answered a question of mine, which means it’s a new night. I looked back to her to see she was now facing me. “I must have been asleep for a long time.”

“I’m certain I warned you—caffeine ruins your sleeping schedule, right?” She had a small, condescending smile.

I glared at her. “Caffeine has never messed with my sleep schedule this much.”

She threw her hoof in the air helplessly. “You may have also been tired from your journey. How long were you walking, again?”

“I…” I stopped. The answer should be natural. It only happened last night, but even then I didn’t know. The more I tried think about it, the more it felt like it was just out of my reach, barely grazing the tip of my hoof before slipping away once more. I pinched my eyes shut. “I-I don’t know,” I muttered. “Just how long had I been walking?” I asked aloud, but didn’t expect an answer.

I looked up to see Luna lazily staring at me with that same smirk. “You must have been exhausted then,” she remarked with a blatantly fake concern. “And then all that coffee to keep you awake. Your body just needed to make up for lost time.”

I looked at the wooden floor. “Maybe…” Something ate at me. It wasn’t right. I felt like I should remember, but I couldn’t. I shook my head in an attempt to clear the doubt from my mind. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Maybe I am.” She laughed again.

Something inside me told me not to trust her. Deep down, my entire being felt like it was screaming. It shouted that this didn’t make sense, that things didn’t add up, but they did. Did they? I pressed my hoof to my forehead again as I closed my eyes. They did. I was just too tired to think straight. In an instant, that doubt quelled.

I didn’t trust her, but what she said made sense. At the very least, I had to think about it. I had to think about everything here. I had to think how I ended up in this forest. Thinking would make it all clear in time.

When I opened my eyes, Luna was standing in front of me. “Are you alright?” Her concern was still blatantly fake, but I wasn’t sure if she had it in her to be sincere.

Reluctantly, I nodded my head. “I think I’ll be fine.”

“Good.” She smiled. “The restaurant is open downstairs. When you’re ready, feel free to come get something to eat.” With that, she turned and left.

Once she was gone, I closed the door to my room behind me. While I wasn’t exactly hungry, there wasn’t much for me to do here. I could at least get something to drink, and if I had any luck, maybe one of her ‘regulars’ might be able to help me out of this forest.

I glanced at the door to the room next door as I passed. I could hear somepony on the other side, muttering something inaudible. I paused in front of the aged door, placing my hoof on the wood. Against Luna’s warning, I asked, “Are you alright?”

The unintelligible murmuring stopped. There was a long pause as I waited for the pony’s reply, but after a few moments, it didn’t seem as though it would come. Shrugging my shoulders, I started to walk away. But, just as I passed the door, I heard a voice whisper from the other side. “Don’t trust Luna.”