The Mare on the Moon

What if I told you that Princess Luna was NOT on the moon for 1,000 years? It's true, her sentence was never truly completed. She was locked away on the cold and dark moon for a measly 27 years. Only her memories and the view of Equestria reminded her that what she did was wrong, and that revolution was never the answer to her jealousy. Every few days, she would change from a beautiful but heart-broken Princess Luna regretting her unnecessary actions to a jealous, evil and dark-minded Nightmare Moon. It was a cycle she soon became used to, but it would still grind against her mind. If it wasn't for an unprecedented miracle, she would be dead upon the very thing she had once controlled; the moon.

What was this miracle? How did Luna only serve 27 out of 1,000 years on the moon? What happened every time she changed from Luna to Nightmare Moon back to Luna? Will I ever stop asking these questions? Well, it all started with a box.

"27 years..." Sighed a teared up Luna. Her mane had become jumbled up over the years so it no longer flowed in one direction. Many times she had tripped over rocks, leaving her bruised and cut all over. "Sister, you have left me here for 27 years. Have you truly forgotten about me?" She began to loudly cry. There was nopony around to hear her wail. Then, she stopped. She knew it would be pointless to cry. There was nopony to comfort her, nopony to care, nopony to hear, not even an ant to keep her company. She was all alone. 240,000 miles of nothingness separated her from the nearest life form. She began to question her existence since her sister now controlled both the Sun and the moon.

Suddenly, she heard a crash. This was a sound that she had not heard in her life, so it ultimately startled her. She looked around for the source of the sound. To the southwest, many tiny pieces of rock flew up and into space, many to never fall back down. The ground below her shook slightly for a moment as the impact of... whatever hit the moon, was enough to cause a shake. She stood still, not daring to even blink, and waited for a few minutes. Then a loud screech echoed from the crash site. She decided to run over and see what had happened (she couldn't fly or else she would be dragged back down onto the moon). She ran for about a minute until she saw a spider-like creature jump out at her. Instinctively, she put one hoof out and struck the creature. The blow to it evidently knocked it out (she hoped). She put her hoof down and looked at the creature. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. This is a creature not native to Equestria, or the moon in fact. How did it get up here?

"Where did it go?" A voice said not too far away. This made her jump. Now there's two creatures on the moon? How can this be? She hid behind a large rock that had formed millions of years prior to this moment. Scared but curious, she slowly looked out from behind the large object. There next to the spider was a brown-coated stallion with light blue eyes and an hourglass for a cutie mark looking down at the creature. "Ah, there you are! Now how did you get like this?" He picked up the creature and analysed it. After a few moments, he slowly put it down and put a few rocks over it. "Dead." He said as he looked down at the grave he had quickly put together.

"No..." Luna said aloud. 'I didn't want to kill it,' she thought to herself. 'I only wanted it to get away!'

"Who's there?" Asked the stallion. He had heard Luna. Seconds later, he walked towards the large rock. He looked behind it and found a blackish-blue alicorn staring into space, deep in thought. "Hello?"

Luna jumped. "Ah!" It was enough to send her running from the site. "Wait!" Yelled the stallion. He pursued the alicorn, whose name he had not yet learned, to try and calm her down (and ask how she got on the moon, and perhaps some more questions which wouldn't help the story all too much).

'I mustn't let him follow me.' Luna thought. 'If he figures out I killed that thing, he will be-' Her thoughts were interrupted. She had tripped on yet another moon rock which quickly ended this chase. The stallion stopped next to her. "Are you alright, are you hurt?" He asked. He put his hoof out to help her up. She then put hers out towards him and the stallion got her back up on her hooves. "Are you alright?" She couldn't respond. After 27 years of loneliness, there was a pony standing right in front of her. Thoughts raced through her head. First, it was if he was really there. Then it was what he would think of her striking and killing that thing which she thought was his. After it was how he got here. She collapsed seconds later.

Hours later, she woke up in an environment which was not the moon. How was this possible? She was imprisoned on the moon with no possibility of escaping, yet here she was in a room with symbols and objects she had not seen before. She slowly got up and looked around her. In the middle of the room, there was a pillar stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Next to it was the brown pony that had she had encountered on the moon hours ago. He turned towards her.

"Ah, you're awake! I took the liberty of bringing you here to let you rest. I set up a makeshift bed for you so you would be more comfortable." She looked down to find there were pillows forming a bed and a blanket over her. She got the blanket off her and stood up. "Where am I?" She asked without apparent hesitation, but inside she felt like turning into a psycho. (Kind of like when Jack Torrance stays at the Overlook Hotel and becomes crazy from that movie. If you don't know what that movie is, you're really missing out on some stuff.)

"Ah, right. Welcome aboard the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Out side those doors over there is the moon. If you want to go back out there, that's fine with me." She looked over towards two doors. For a moment, it seemed as if she didn't want to leave, but she decided to go outside for a moment. Luna stepped out the doors and to her surprise, the room was smaller on the outside! She addressed this to the pony inside.

"Funny, I used to know someone who had said that before..." He had monotonously said. A pause separated his talking. He resumed, this time cheery. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am The Doctor. This place is pretty much my home. You are...?"

"I... I am Princess Luna."

"Luna? What a nice name. Good to meet you! Tell me, how did you get all the way on the moon?" Luna looked over at him. "My sister banished me up here after I had attempted to..." She paused for a moment, as she began to choke up just from the thought of it. "I had attempted to overthrow her. I had tried to hurt her because of my jealousy." She could say no more. Tears ran down from her eyes to her mouth and dripped onto the floor. Her bottom lip trembled as she tried to hide her face. The Doctor only stood there looking just passed her. 'She has it easy' He thought to himself. The Doctor then walked towards her and slowly put her hoof to the ground revealing a crying Luna. Her eyes had become narrow, like Nightmare Moon's eyes. He smiled and the narrowness went away, she too smiled back.

"Doctor," began Luna. "I have many questions. How are you here? How is this room that is smaller on the outside possible? How did you not know who I am?" She asked plenty of questions which I am unable to include because it would slow the story down. Some of them may not even have an answer.

"Well Luna, I am here because my TARDIS crash landed after a huge spider thing messed up the controls. I found it dead near you were." Luna's ears went back. She was afraid to admit it, but she knew she must. "I am sorry, Doctor. I am the one who killed it. I did not mean to."

She had expected the Doctor to become sour and leave, but he didn't. Instead his soft smile remained on his face. "It's all right." He said. "It was not even mine, it had sneaked onto the TARDIS without me knowing." Luna calmed down from hearing this. "As for this 'room' being possible, the most simple way I can explain is it's a trick of perspective." (As explained in a 4th Doctor episode "The Robots of Death".)

"And about your last question, I have just never heard of you before. Do you have a sister by any chance?" Luna nodded. "Then I do know who your sister is, Princess Celestia if I'm not mistaken. Funny, she has never mentioned you before."

'I was right. Sister did forget about me. No, EVERYPONY forgot about me. It has only been 27 years!' Luna looked to the ground with her mouth ajar without thinking anything else. Her mind had gone blank and was only staring into space. The Doctor waited for her to ask another question, but she didn't. He then spoke after a moment of silence.

"Say, why did I let you aboard?" Luna looked up. She had no idea whatsoever, she thought the Doctor knew. "I mean, I could have easily left you back there and let you recover yourself, but I didn't. I brought you aboard. Why did I do that?" The Doctor slowly began to pace around the pillar in the center of the room which Luna later found out was called the Console.

The Doctor pondered many reasons why he brought her aboard. He thought for a long time, not noticing Luna had left the TARDIS to resume her banishment. He then came down to it. "You're-" He noticed she left. 'Of course, they all do that.'

He ran outside to find Luna staring up into space on the edge of a crater. "You're lonely." He said.

'Of course I've been lonely. 27 years has passed and I haven't seen any form of life pass by. Use some common knowledge!' She didn't say this, she only continued to stare into the clouds. "27 years you said. You've given up. You are lonely. Don't think I don't know, I've experienced far worse."

Luna's anger finally arose. "No!" She screamed. Quickly, she turned around and nearly hit the Doctor. He jumped back in time to not get hit. "You know nothing of loneliness! I can not remember a time when I have been with a friend besides my sister, she was my ONLY friend! She has now forgotten about me! You say you have had it worse!? How dare you!" Luna's rage had caused the Doctor to brush up against a rock as she menacingly got closer. Her screams of anger continued to grow. "My life has consisted of empty halls and darkness! You say you've seen worse? Look at me! It's been 27 whole years since I have seen a living life form, and the closest one after you is thousands of miles away! You know nothing of loneliness! Nothing! NOTHING!" The Doctor was frightened. No, greater than frightened, petrified. Not even that, a greater word, one I can't find in the thesaurus.com results!

Her rage suddenly ended. They stood just 2 yards away from each other, eye to eye. One was angry, one was aghast. neither one was a good mood. Nothing happened for quite a while. Neither of them would run away, turn around, say something, not even blink. Time passed slowly, too slow for even the Doctor.

'What do I do?' He thought. 'I've just angered yet another part of royalty and she won't leave! I don't care why I brought her onto the TARDIS now, I just have to get away from this crazy pony!' After that, Luna turned around and walked back to the crater. She sighed and said "This is my fault, I am sorry." She had to apologize now, for she could feel Nightmare Moon coming back. "Go, back to your box. Leave me be, for you do not want to see what I change into soon."

But the Doctor did not leave. He told himself to leave, but he didn't.