The New Problem

A week had passed since she first arrived in Equestria and Moonlight Gleam had finally started to properly adjust to walking around on all fours. She wasn't completely steady by any means, but she was getting there, it was better than she was before. She was out and about to do her usual exercises so that she could get used to walking, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed. Every time she looked back, she couldn't see anyone though. This put her on edge, she didn't like it. She looked like a crazy mare with her constant checking her back. She knew that someone was back there, but she couldn't put her hoof on where they were or who they were. Eventually the annoyance became anger and she stomped her hoof and yelled out into the air, "Whoever you are, come out!"

A gray griffon flew down from the sky and landed next to her, the mare tensed up, the last time she had encountered one, it was a one sided battle. But her little outburst caused everyone to look at her. On top of this, it caught the attention of a nearby earth pony. "Now Moonlight, ah know yer new and all, but yellin ain't appropriate behavior here in Ponyville," the earth pony said.

"Applejack, right?" the unicorn asked in response.

"Yup!" the earth pony said cheerfully.

"Back off, this isn't your business, this is between me and the bird brain," Moonlight hissed.

Applejack positioned herself between the two parties, she gave Moonlight a stern look, "Ah've been hearin that ya've been rude ta jes about everyone ya meet, that ain't no way to make any friends," she said sternly.

"I don't care about friends, why can't any of you see that. All they do is slow me down and weigh me down, they're nothing more than a burden to me!" the unicorn snapped.

"Yer just... yer jes rude, Moonlight. All we try ta do is help ya out and all ya've done is throw in in our faces!", the earth pony huffed.

The unicorn mare walked closer to the Earth Pony, "I never asked for your help! I'll take care of this issue by myself!" she yelled.

"Ah can hear ya jes fine! There ain't no need to yell," The farmpony replied.

"Tell that darn griffin to stop following me then! I have no need for her. I have no need for you. And I have no need for the Princess' friendship lessons from her student!" the investigator snapped.

The farmpony didn't get a chance to respond. Moonlight walked away from her to be alone. She traveled to the edge of town and then looked back for a moment. She considered going back for a second, but she wandered out to a hill underneath a tree. She sat down on the grass and looked up to the sky. It was a very calm day without a cloud in the air. The sun was shining brightly and she found it relaxing. She laid down on the grass and closed her eyes. She intended to sort her thoughts out, but instead she fell asleep.

She found herself in Canterlot, but as a human. She thought it was great, she wanted to be human again. She'd give almost everything to be human once more, but something was wrong. She found herself in a cage in the castle. She grabbed onto the bars and looked around. There was no one around her, nothing but a giant castle greeted her. Booming hoofsteps hitting the stone reached her ears. A giant alicorn entered her view and then two giant eyes locked eyes with her. Her heart started racing, she could feel it pounding in her chest. She was terrified.

"You have been the worst creature that I ever had to deal with, Moonlight Gleam! I hope you enjoy your punishment of being punished in the royal throne room at the size that you deserve! No one big enough to allow friendship in their heart would act anything like you!" the Alicorn boomed.

Moonlight tried to rush towards the bars, but chains around her arms stopped her from moving far, "Let me go!" she screamed.

Suddenly the scene around her melted away, there was inky blackness that was replaced with a library. The alicorn from before appeared in the place next to her. "This was my favorite place to go when I moved to Ponyville," she stated.

"A library isn't a bad place to go, but why are you here?", the investigator inquired.

"Simple, you were having a nightmare. The former Princess Luna gave me the power to dreamwalk. Our minds are connected at the moment," the Princess of Equestria started.

Moonlight tensed up, she was ready to fight the Alicorn Princess.

"Relax, I am not going to go into any places that you don't want me to go into, I am merely here to stop your nightmare from happening. You might not think it, Moonlight, but you are not alone here. My student, her friends, my friends, and even myself. We all want to be your friends, we want you to trust us," the Alicorn continued.

"Trust you? What have any of you done other than try to get close to me when I don't want you to. What have any of you done to help me?" the investigator disdainfully asked.

"The one you came with, he's a danger to Equestria. But we cannot find him if we do not work together, Moonlight. You feel that you are alone, you feel that you've always been alone. My student has reported that she can tell that your heart aches for something that you've been denied for a long time. We're here for you if you ever need us, that's what friends are for," Twilight said calmly.

The Alicorn tried to wrap a wing around the unicorn, but the investigator had a different idea. She opened her mouth and clamped down hard on the wing. A quick spell from the Alicorn pried her jaws back open and moved her away from the wing.

"What is bothering you, Moonlight? What's upsetting you so much that you bit me?" The princess asked, trying to keep her calm, but she was visibly annoyed at the unicorn's action.

"I don't want any of you to come any closer than you already have, you don't know what any of you are getting yourselves into! He's ruined so many lives, he will not stop just because he entered this world, he'll keep doing it! He feeds off magic and this world is just so chock full of the stuff that he'll gorge himself off the world itself if he has to," Moonlight protested.

"You said he's ruined many lives, Moonlight. But tell me, what did he do to you specifically. Most people do not pursue something so fervently. Why does him being out there make you so afraid to get close to others?" Twilight replied calmly.

The unicorn walked away from the alicorn, the two of them became more and more distant as the investigator's pale yellow mane fell over her eyes as she looked down. "That aberration, the vampire as we usually call it. He destroyed a close friend of mine. My friend's name was Sunrise Standing and he helped me with my homework and self-defense training. He left one day and that aberration returned to tell me that my friend wouldn't ever come back," Moonlight said, tears forming in her eyes.

"So your pursuit is about revenge?" the Princess inquired.

"Justice. It is not my duty to destroy an aberration, it's to capture them so that the Judges can deal with them. Special Investigators are tasked with investigating aberration activity and if possible, capturing them. Their weakness is light magic, so we're usually equipped with a device that allows us to create a cage of it in order to trap them. We call transport teams to pick them up and take them to the facility as we call it. None of the Investigators have clearance to go there, so we don't know what happens there, but according to rumors, the aberrations are purified," the investigator replied, tears still falling towards the ground.

"Luster can help you, Moonlight," Twilight tried to reassure the other mare.

"Luster will get herself hurt or worse if she gets involved in my affairs! The only reason I'm telling you is that he wasn't able to absorb your magic at all, it was something that I had never seen before. Almost as if you have a natural immunity to his powers or something!" The unicorn snapped as she turned to face the taller mare.

"You don't know if you don't try," The princess retorted.

"I choose to not try and I consciously made the decision not to let anyone get close. If you or any other winged and horned ponies wish to track that vampony down, you're free to do so. But do not get anyone else involved!" Moonlight demanded, stomping her hoof on the ground.

The look Twilight gave Moonlight froze the smaller pony in place. "Since you're obviously letting this get in the way of forming friendships and allowing yourself to trust anyone else. I don't want you involved in this anymore. I will send a message to the Crystal Empire to my sister-in-law and my niece and we will discuss a plan to deal with this. Until such time, you are off the case, Investigator," the Princess of Equestria replied angrily.

Everything melted around Moonlight, she started to become disoriented and confused and she found herself alone in an inky black void.

Her eyes opened up to see the familiar sight of the hill that she had chosen to stay on, the sun had moved closer to the horizon, but it wasn't sunset yet. She sat down on the hill, not knowing what to do. For the last four years, this case was her life, it was the thing that kept her awake at night, it's what kept her going during the day and now just like that, she had nothing.

Even though it was a dream, everything felt so real. Magic here was astounding and she could scarcely believe that someone could appear in her dream and order her around, but here she was.

A rustling of the grass sounded behind her and she turned around to see who it was. It was the griffin from before. "What do you want?" she asked angrily.

"I just wanted to apologize for making you uncomfortable. You deserved a lot better me sneaking around to try to see if what Luster said was true. My name is Ginger and by the look you gave me earlier and what you told Applejack, you didn't have a good experience with Griffins when you came here. I'm sorry that you were treated like that," the griffin replied with a smile.

The smile made Moonlight uncomfortable, but she didn't say anything, instead she turned back to see the land before her. She wanted to gather her thoughts as the wind gently blew through the grass.

"I'll just go then," Ginger said sadly.

The sound of wings flapping reached the unicorn's ears and she sighed. "Look, if you promise not get too friendly or chatty, you can stay. I admit that it's a bit lonely out here, but I'm not ready to go back to town," she said.

The griffon landed next to her and nodded, sitting down next to the unicorn. The two of them watched nature go about its course as minutes passed by. The two of them appreciated the beauty of the world, how nature went on despite the problems of individuals like them.

"Ginger, I shouldn't have been a total jerk like I was earlier. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

Those were the only two sentences those two said to each other for the rest of the day. When the sun started to set, they looked at each other and nodded. Quietly returning to town where they parted ways. Even if they didn't talk much, Moonlight had to admit as she returned to Floral Blossom's place that this companionship thing that she had experienced today was a good feeling within her heart. She stopped for a moment and placed her hoof on her chest, letting out a sigh as she had a single wistful thought. She hoped that maybe someday her best friend would see justice and the aberration that caused all of this would be able to be normal. She shook her head and continued towards her destination wondering what the future would bring.