Moonlight Terror

“JACK!” Luna yelled as she awoke bolt upright from her bed in the Royal Infirmary. She was sweating and her sheets where drenched. “Where… Where am I?” Luna said slowly as a migraine attack soon took effect.

“You are in the Royal Infirmary, now please get onto this wheelchair so I can escort you to another bed, you’ve made these bed sheets so soggy” Nurse Redheart gave her a stern look, making it clear that she doesn’t have a choice in this. Princess or not.

“Ow!”Luna tried to walk to the wheelchair, but she collapsed due to a pain that shot up from her right hind leg. She wondered how she got it for a second, but then she remembered everything that had happened leading up to now. A tear began to build as she started to remember Jack laying on the moor surface. She bravely swept it away with a hoof. She had to look proper. She is a Princess after all.

“Please take it easy, the doctor has given you a heavy sedative, you need to get some rest” Luna did not respond, but breathed deeply and dosed off whilst being wheeled to another room.

***

Luna woke up with the same nurse in the room as the last time she woke up. “How long was I… out for?” Luna still felt tired, but she did not have a migraine anymore and she was able to wiggle her hind leg without any serious discomfort.

“It’s been 3 weeks since you collapsed,” Nurse Redheart responded bluntly, clearly not in the mood for joking around or going the extra mile. “And before you ask, you came in with a few bumps and bruises, the only serious damage was to your hind leg, but it’s healed much quicker than we expected”. The Nurse clearly did not want to be bugged, so Luna did not bother asking any more questions.

‘Three weeks? Surely not?’ Luna thought to herself, amazed that she has been out for so long and not suffered any brain damage. The room itself was quite simple; one window to the left of the bed, white walls, a chair to the right of the bed, and one main light and a personal light on a table next to the chair.

Nurse Redheart returned with a tray with some food on it and she handed it to Luna, “Thank you Nurse Redheart” she said politely and enthusiastically, trying to cheer the nurse up.

“I went to medical school, and why? To give food to snooty royalty” the Nurse mumbled under her breath, doing everything she could not to show any empathy what-so-ever. Luna watched her leave the room and a grin appeared on her face when she closed the door.

Luna sat up to take a bite from a piece of toast and as she looked up a look of shock and fear swept across her face.

“Hey.” Jack said nervously, raising one hoof. “Can I have some of that toast?” Jack asked, happy as he was before the incident. His body was bloodied and torn: two huge gashes ran down his face until it hit a missing chunk of skin that should be covering his throat, pieces of flesh dangling under the right of his chin, the rest of his body was riddled with holes all over his body. The wounds seemed new, but there was no blood coming out of the gaping wounds that spread all over his body.

“Get out of my room now!” Ordered Luna, her mood quickly turned sour by his unexpected visit. She was more frightened about what was going on, but she tried to hide it behind anger.

“Now that wasn’t the greeting I was expecting. You’re hurting my feelings Luna” Jack walked closer to Luna, sitting down on the bed whilst Luna backed off, back flat against the back of the bed. He then picked up a slice of bread using Magic from his broken horn and took a bite “Tastes good”.

“Hurting your feelings? It’s a little unsettling to see you rise from the dead to visit me” Her voice sounding uneasy as she fidgeted about, trying to get comfortable.

“I’m sorry I frightened you Luna, but I had to see you” Jack’s voice had suddenly become a little more serious as he took another bite out of the toast.

“Aren’t you meant to be in the moors right now? I saw you laying there dead!” Luna recalled leaving him there, with no intention of arriving back to collect his body.

“Oh and thanks for that, now I’m just a part of that weremare’s chew toy collection. Even in death life mocks me. Oh did I say how thankful I am?” His voice gave off the impression he was annoyed, even though had Luna been the one to have been killed, he would have left her on the moors.

“Wait, did you just say a… a weremare?” Luna suddenly snapped to attention, not knowing whether to trust Jack or not.

“Yes, a lycanthrope, we were attacked by a weremare” Jack’s tone now extremely serious. “You see I have to warn you.” He announced, whilst taking another bite from his piece of toast.

“Warn me?” Luna gave a look as though she was insane. “I am not listening to this!” Luna covered her ears with her hooves.

“I was murdered by a weremare” Luna let her hooves drop to her side. She couldn’t resist hearing what he had to say, just out of curiosity. “And now I walk Equestria in limbo until the curse is broken.”

“Shut up” Luna did not want to hear whatever he had to say anymore.

“The link to the weremare must be broken, the last werewolf must die. That’s you Luna, you must die,” Luna looked at Jack in disbelief. Jack looked at her with a look of disgust, leaning in “Take your life, kill yourself Luna. Before you kill others.”

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP,SHUT UP, SHUT UP AND SHUT UP!” Luna hit the bed in frustration, more at herself than at what Jack was saying.

“Please? Do you have any idea what it’s like? I see dead people all the time. Do you have any idea what it’s like talking to a corpse? It’s boring!” Jack wanted to start begging, but he would not let himself stoop to that level of pettiness, not in front of the Princess.
Luna began to cry, “Please don’t cry” asked Jack, even in death he could not bear to see anypony cry, especially the Princess.

Luna just cried, into her hooves, she looked up and Jack was no longer there. Perhaps this had all been a dream? Maybe the guilt was playing tricks on her mind? Whatever it was, it had managed to break whatever was left of Luna’s resolve.

***

It had been a month since Luna was released from the Infirmary, and weekly routine trips to the psychologist were finally over, Luna wanted to celebrate by having a nice long lay in. But she woke up early; haunted by a strange nightmare of herself ripping something to shreds the details were fuzzy she could not remember what had happened; only that it was horrible, fortunately it was only a dream. She sat up, realizing that there were white and black strains of hair laid out across her bed sheets, thinking nothing of it.

Luckily Luna woke up just in time for to lower the moon. She had forgotten many of her Royal duties as Celestia has been taking care of them. She knew it had been a tough time on Luna and it was the least she could do. She was tired, very tired. It was almost as though she had not gotten any sleep.

A guard knocked on the door, “Princess Celestia would like you to join her at breakfast in the dining hall, your Majesty” the guard told her through the door, they were never allowed to enter the Princess’ room, unless they were given permission or there was an emergency.

“I’m not really that hungry” This was strange for Luna. Ever since the incident she has had a huge appetite, even bigger than before she was banished to the moon.

“She didn’t sound like she was asking”.

“Fine, I’ll be at breakfast soon.” Luna stated with frustration.

***

Luna had been sitting at the table, playing with her Magic-O’s since she had arrived, she was too tired to concentrate on anything. Conversation between Luna and her sister was nothing more than idle chit chat.

“You’ve got red on you” Celestia pointed at a red spot just under Luna’s chin.

“Oh, so I have” Luna wiped it away with a napkin. It was strange it was there, the Princess had never really liked the colour red.

“Do you think you can get back to your Royal duties now? I noticed you raised the moon by yourself” Celestia tried anything to start an engaging conversation; she was worried that something was bugging her.

“Yeah, I guess” Luna looked like she was going to collapse into her cereal, “I’m sorry, I’m just tired and I want to go to bed” before Celestia could respond, she had gotten up and walked off to her bed room, “See you later Tia” Luna yawned, stumbling over her own hoofsteps.

Luna eventually got back into her room she jumped onto her bed and went to sleep the second her head hit the pillow.

***

Luna woke from her slumber to the same dream, but this time she had her energy back even though she awoke panicked and sweating just like when she first awoke in the infirmary. She remembered everything Jack had told her, the hair on her bed, this strange dream, and how unusual she felt earlier on that morning.

Luna decided to walk around the castle. She came to Celestia’s room and nocked nervously, “Hey Tia, it’s me,” Luna was the only one that ever called Celestia that, so she knew who it was.

“Come in Luna, is there anything I can help you with?” Her voice was filled with concern. It’s not often that Luna would come to her sister at this hour, she would usually be locked away in her room.

“Is there a Zebra that lives near these areas?” Luna inquired timidly, as though she was nervous to ask the question.

“I think so,” Celestia had become deep in her own thoughts as she tried to remember if there was a local Zebra, “Ah yes, there just so happens to be one, she goes by the name of Zecora and she lives in a hut within the Everfree Forrest. You’re not planning on visiting her are you?” Celestia made a point to give her the impression she did not want to go.

“That sounds familiar, I remember hearing a few Ponies in Ponyville talking about her, something about being evil and twisted” Luna knew that Celestia would not let her leave to venture into the Everfree Forrest. Even if she did Celestia would have made her be accompanied by a guard to keep her safe. But this was something she had to do on her own.

“Thanks sis, I’ll see you tomorrow. And sorry for being such a jerk earlier” Luna gave Celestia a hug, to show that despite how strict she was, she still loved her and she only meant by good intentions.

“You were tired, it’s understandable, now get some rest Lulu, you need to catch up on your rest after this morning.” Celestia said as she let go of her sister, watching her leave the room.

***

An hour had passed since Luna had last talked to Celestia; she had raised the New moon to show everypony in Equestria that night had begun. The dream was continually playing through her head as though it was on loop. “There’s only one way to stop these dreams” she said to herself whilst looking out of the window. She opened her windows so that she could fit through them, stood on the ledge and jumped off, spreading her wings and took off in the direction of the Everfree Forrest.

All she could think about during the flight was what Jack said about being a weremare, it could not be possible? Surely not. It was just an old mare’s tale, nothing more… right? She kept reassuring herself she knew better, that everything was just one sick dream that will soon end.

She eventually came to the Forrest. It looked much darker and scarier than it did 1000 years ago, but it seemed oh so familiar. She set down on a path that looked to be leading somewhere of the main road through the Forrest. “This had to be the pathway leading to Zecora’s hut” Luna thought, the path identical to that in her dreams, she could even picture what the hut looked like, even though she had only seen these images in her dreams.

She eventually came upon a hut that looked to be isolated from anywhere else, the hut looked exactly like she imagined it. But how is this possible? She had never seen the hut in all of her life. Whatever it was it looked like there had been a struggle, liquids spilled all over the windows and a cauldron looked to have been thrown out of the window. Either that or someone was trying to re decorate when they shouldn’t be.

Luna nocked on the door, but the door opened as she did so, the door handle had been broken and the bottom hinge had been knocked off. She slowly but surely walked into the hut whilst staying on alert in case whatever had attacked this place may still be on lurking somewhere inside. A sudden smell of rotting flesh hit her. Her stomach churned. She had never smelled anything so vile in all her life.

The interior of the hut had broken masks scattered about; spilled potions everywhere, combining to make a strange, bright green substance. She treaded carefully to make sure she did not come into contact with the substance.

Luna looked around the room and spotted an upturned bed with a single hoof poking out from underneath the mattress. Luna looked in horror as the lone hoof was surrounded by blood. She crept up to the bed and slowly lifted it. As she did her gag reactions kicked in when she saw that there was nothing else under the bed. Just a hoof. A lone hoof that looked like it had been bitten off violently.

Luna saw a trail of blood that led from behind the bed and stopped at a hidden trap door that was concealed by the bed. As she opened the door all she could see was darkness, she crept into the cellar, stopping as she hit the bottom.

Luna used her magic to light up the room so she could see what lurked in the darkness. What greeted her sent chills down her spine. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Every fiber of her being wanted to break down and cry.

Zecora laid there. Mangled. Parts of limbs missing. Her face beyond recognition. The only reason she knew it was Zecora was that there were spots of black and white in the mix of the blood. Zecora’s stomach had been ripped out of her and her insides were dangling in front of her. Whatever had happened, it was worse than the fate Jack had met on the moors.

Luna ran out of the cellar and jumped though the broken window; her wings paralyzed from the horror that she had just witnessed. As she ran, she began to slow down until she reached the old castle where she was freed from Nightmare Moon.

***

Luna stopped and stared at the night sky from underneath the ruins. It was so quiet and tranquil. She began to believe what Jack was saying what had happened at the Hut was exactly as she remembered from those dreams.

A new monster had formed inside her. But she could not let anypony know about this, not even Celestia. She knew she had to kill herself but she just couldn’t do it. “I’m so sorry Jack” Luna whispered as she began to cry, she then laid down, and began to cry herself to sleep; thinking of what else this monster would do, who else it would kill.