Banishment
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Harvest Moon

Banishment

"Banished!? What dost thou mean banished!? We had been certain that thou had just been joking around as thou normally does, dear sister! Dost thou mean to tell us thou art being serious?!" A panicked Luna's cries echoed throughout Canterlot Castle, no doubt rousing everypony within a ten mile radius outside the castle walls. A smug looking Celestia gave Luna a sidelong glance as she continued on eating her breakfast pancakes.

"Well, of course I was being serious, sister. You enacted a serious offence against myself and my kingdom, I simply cannot let such a thing go unpunished," She paused for a second to take a large bite out of a pancake stuck to a fork she levitated in front of her. With her mouth half full, she continued speaking. "And you shimply musht shtop shpeaking in that ridiculoush voish."

"We only spoke the truth, and it twas not a major offence! How can thou banish us over pancakes?!" Luna spoke again, indignant, if a little oblivious. Unfortunately, Luna still couldn't quite grasp when someone was being sarcastic, though in this case there was at least a layer of truth to what Celestia was saying. She really was going to send her away. In a quick note, Luna added "And our voice is far from 'ridiculous'! This is the traditional royal Canterlot voice-"

"Well, whatever. Where you're headed you won't be needing the 'traditional royal canterlot voice'," Celestia mimed along with her words dramatically before slumping back into her chair. "Seriously, Luna, spending all day cooped up in a castle with you is exhausting. I'm sending you out to learn a little more about the real world. You could use a lesson or two."

Though Celestia had dropped the dramatics and now looked towards Luna with a gentle smile, Luna still felt like Celestia wasn't telling whole truths. The moment passed and the two finished their breakfast in silence as Luna fell deep into thought.

"Hmph.. banished over pancakes. We suppose we have been "banished" for less," Luna spoke to herself, recalling another time that Celestia had dramatically 'banished' Luna, though then it had basically been a time-out, like one you might give an unruly child. "Ugh, we are not a child."

Luna sat next to the luggage that she had spent all of the previous night frantically packing, after Celestia had so kindly informed her she would be on the morning train out to Ponyville. So now she sat at the train station patiently awaiting hers, and wondering why exactly Tia was having her take a train when there were much faster options available to them.

She didn't dwell on it for terribly long as the train arrived not long after she thought it. Boarding a train by herself wasn't exactly something she was well versed in doing, but Celestia had insisted it was her first step to becoming a 'normal pony'. Luna thought she must've been near bordering on delusional as Luna was far, far from being a 'normal pony' for more reasons than her conversational skills. Come to think of it.. why hadn't Celestia come to see Luna off?

The train ride was notable in how uneventful it was, though it was something of a nice change of pace from the usual. Luna so rarely got to enjoy the beautiful Equestrian landscape. Pegasi weather teams had been everywhere as they prepared for a seamless transition from summer to autumn, which no doubt meant that the most devoted ponies had already started their preparations for nightmare night. Luna had heard from one of Celestia's correspondences with Twilight Sparkle that Ponyville would be having its largest nightmare night celebration this year. She had been hoping to attend but didn't believe she would have a chance to. It suddenly felt somewhat fortunate that she was headed out to Ponyville now.

Luna stalled her thoughts as the train arrived at the Ponyville train station, taking a second to collect her bags before heading off the train. She took in a deep breath as she stepped outside. For whatever reason, Ponyville air felt completely different to Canterlot air despite the two locations close proximity. It was a difficult difference to explain, but one deep breath in let Luna know that she was no longer in Canterlot, if her surroundings hadn't already.

"Well wallop my withers.. Princess Luna," A somewhat familiar voice called out to Luna's left, prompting her to turn her head towards the source. "Why, when I read that letter from Princess Celestia I never woulda' expected in a million moons that whatever important Canterlot pony was comin' here would be you!"

An orange coated earth pony mare with straw blond hair stood in front of Luna now. Luna easily recognized her as a bearer of an element of harmony, as well as one of Twilight's friends that had helped her out the last time she had visited Ponyville for nightmare night.

"It appears that our older sister has mislead the both of us," Luna spoke to Applejack, pausing to sigh. "When she informed us that an element of harmony would be here to meet us, we had assumed it would be Princess Twilight Sparkle making our welcome. We suppose, then, that thou are the proper recipient of this letter. Our older sister informed us that it contains important information pertaining to our banishment, only to be seen by the eyes of thee."

Luna levitated a letter out of one of her bags towards Applejack, who snatched it out the the air and opened it with her mouth. Luna would've been more than happy to open it for her, but to each their own, she supposed. Applejack skimmed over the letter before looking back up to Luna with a grin.

"Well, how about that," She placed a hoof over Luna's shoulder after tucking the letter away into her saddlebag. "Looks like yer gonna be spendin' some time with the apple family at Sweet Apple Acres! Actually, uh, it sounds like.. a lotta time."

Applejack quickly grabbed the letter back out of her saddlebag and glanced over it again, muttering a word that Luna just barely heard under her breath. "..Indefinitely, hm, uh.."

"Well, anyway, I don't suppose I could go against Celestia's command even if I wanted to, huh?" Applejack smiled just a bit too wide as she stepped away from Luna and slipped the letter away again. "So, uh, I guess we're gonna have to set you up back at the house fer yer stay. We don't have nothin' nearly as fancy as you've got up in Canterlot, I'm bettin', but we've got a guest room that we could set up fer ya real fancy if ya want. I hope ya like apples!"

Luna sighed softly, having lost her energy to quip back or respond at all. She simply gave Applejack a gentle, albeit dishonest, smile and trotted along behind her as they left the train station.

"So, uh, this is the guest room," Applejack pushed open the simple wooden door, rubbing the back of her head. Luna glanced over the small room; the wooden floors were worn-down and over-trodden, the wallpaper seemed to barely cling to the walls. An uncomfortable looking mattress sat on a simple wooden bed-frame, next to it an old crate in place of a nightstand, and off in the corner a wardrobe sat somewhat dejectedly. It was certainly no Canterlot Castle bedroom, but Luna supposed it would do for now.

"It's not in the best shape right now, I'm real sorry princess. We don't get a lotta high-society guests here, usually just family, so uh, we haven't done much renovatin' in here for awhile. I can get Apple Bloom to fix the place up for ya, she's real good at that kinda stuff-"

"The offer is much appreciated, Applejack, but at this moment we would prefer to be alone to unpack our things. We shall talk with thou again later, but for now we.. we just need a moment." Luna had long since stepped into the room to take in her new surroundings. Her shoulders slumped slightly in defeat as she set the luggage she had been levitating on the over-trodden floor. Applejack stared at her with wide eyes and a concerned expression for a moment, before allowing a gentle but bittersweet smile to settle on her face.

"Sure thing, princess. My room's just down the hall if ya need anything, it's the one on the right," Applejack backed out of the doorway slightly, grabbing onto the handle and turning towards the hallway. Before she closed the door fully, she glanced back for a second and spoke again. "And, uh, I'm sure you've got yer reasons and all princess, but ya don't have to speak all fancy-like round here if ya don't want ta. It's yer choice, a'course, but I just thought you should know in case ya thought ya had to impress us er somthin' with all the fancy "thou"s and stuff."

And with that final note, Applejack shut the door and left. Luna, resigned to her fate, glanced out the dusty window pane for a second before slumping down onto the mattress. She would unpack tomorrow, she assured herself, but for now she needed to think about everything that had happened. She supposed it wasn't the worst thing to happen to her, far from it, but Celestia's decisions were so bewildering to her she just had to wonder why. There would be no real answer, of course. Luna could never pretend to understand any of her older sister's choices. But still, she couldn't help but wonder.