The Cult of the Crescent Moon

Being a Princess of Equestria came with a whole host of challenges — co-leading a nation, moving a heavenly body, defending the dreamscape, putting up with arrogant nobles, battling vicious monsters and wannabe despots, the obsessed fans — it was the latter Luna speculated was behind her current predicament.

Luna’s wrist yanked against the plush lined restraints bolted to a pole running behind her head and ethereal starry mane. Arms pulled taut, she found no leverage with which to apply her massive alicorn strength to. Her shoulders and elbows twitched but could do nothing more. Her knuckles cracked as her fingers clawed empty air. Her folded wings were encased in tight latex and oppressive clamps further prevented unfurling them. Her chest pulled against the harness that latched her down and her boots squirmed on the floor ankles cuffed and legs strapped into the chair by many belts. Worst of all was the intricate ring spiraled around her horn that nullified every spell before she could cast it.

The windowless room she awoke in had one door and cameras in the top corners with small lights that blinked red. The dungeon was wallpapered with hundreds of photos of her. Newspaper clippings, magazine interiors, unlicensed edited posters of her making lewd gestures, that Celestiadamn tabloid cover of her asleep at the beach with her massive member tenting inside her swimsuit framed between her feet. This ‘freedom of the press’ her sister had granted ponies since her banishment had clearly been a mistake.

Luna did a double take, eyes trailed across the walls again. Now that she thought about it, a lot of the pictures were of her feet — in her formal shoes at royal events, her tall black boots she casually wore everywhere else, and even several pictures of her barefoot. Dozens looked like they’d been taken from above and far away by some perverted paparazzi pegasus.

This had all the hallmarks of, as her online gamer friends so eloquently put it, a creeper. One who’d lusted after her for a long time and had finally acted on their twisted desires. Except for a major problem that didn’t add up, Luna wasn’t just some ordinary pony that could be ambushed and kidnapped late one dark night. She was the Princess of the Night! She lived in the most secure building in Equestria, was surrounded by elite and loyal guards, and wielded power enough to move the very moon. A pony like her did not randomly wake up bound to chair unable to move or use her magic, and yet here she was. This was not a one pony job. This was a conspiracy; possibly the biggest one in the history of all Equestria to kidnap a Princess.

The door handle in front of her turned with a slow bellowing squeak. Luna’s frown expanded into a snarl. There was going to be Tartarus to pay for whoever was behind this. The door creaked open and from the pitch black hallway entered a half dozen figures cloaked head to toe.

“What is the meaning of this!?” Barked the Princess of the Night. “Release me now!”

One of the cloaked figures chuckled; their laughter was haughty and feminine. Another mare giggled, pulled out a polaroid camera, and took pictures. The first one who’d walked in held up a hand to silence their compatriots, stepped forward, and bowed.

“My dearest Princess,” Her voice was soft but sounded magically distorted, “Fret not. We mean you no ill intent.”

Luna tugged against her restraints and cocked an eyebrow at the woman.

The mare brought her fist up to her shadowed muzzle and faked a cough. “Ahem. Wh-what I mean is we’re not going to hurt you. We’re all just, umm, we’re real big fans and,” she dropped the obviously rehearsed speech and fumbled over her words. Even through the magical distortion she sounded… familiar.

“So like I was trying to say, we’re the Cult of the Crescent Moon and--”

“I thought we agreed on the Crescent Moon Cultists.” Another mare interrupted.

“No those initials were taken.” The fourth cultist replied.

“The Full Moon Fanatics?”

“LUNA-tics! Haha!”

“What about the Children of the Night?”

“That’s taken too.”

“I liked Cult Unto the Moon!”

“I told you, we’re not letting our initials be C.U.M.!”

“But that’s prefect considering we’re about to--”

“Girls!” Their leader shouted silencing the rabble of her cohorts. “Not in front of the Princess.” She growled through her teeth.

‘Escape shall be no trouble if this is how well they’ve organized themselves.’ Luna thought with a smirk.

“The Cult of the Crescent Moon,” The leader stressed the words daring another member to interrupt her. “Adores you Princess and we’ve been wanting to, umm… “How can I put this modestly?” The mare asked the other members of her cult.

“We wanna worship your sexy body!” One of them piped up with too much enthusiasm.

“Lyra!” Another mare scolded her.

“Thanks! Way to blow my cover!” The one identified as Lyra replied sarcastically.

The group of mares devolved into more arguing. Luna fought against her bindings again. With a deep breath and gritted teeth her muscles pulled as hard as they could, but neither belt nor metal yielded. Her head twisted away from the cacophony of cultists quarreling and toes scrapped the insides of her boots “ENOUGH!” The Royal Canterlot Voice thundered inside the cramp dungeon. “Cease these petty squabbles and reveal thyselves!” One of the cultists’ hoods was thrown back by the force of Luna’s voice. It was a mint green unicorn with a white streak in her hair and she shook the ringing from her ears. One of their own exposed, three more disrobed. Luna memorized their faces. A blue mare with a blue and white mane, a yellow mare with a soft cyan mane, and a white mare with a pink mane.

The leader exhaled a deep sigh and drew back her hood as well.

“Twilight Sparkle!?” Luna gasped.

“Umm, yup.” The purple alicorn blushed hard and rubbed the back of her head.

“This is treason! You are a Princess, you’ve besmirched the crown with your kidnapping of me. Explain yourself.”

Before Twilight could speak the last remaining hooded mare shoved her aside and stepped in front of Luna. “Aren’t you forgetting somepony Princess?” The mare grabbed her cloak and threw in off in an overly dramatic fashion to reveal a blue mare with a silver mane wearing purple a cape decorated with yellow and blue stars. She teleport a wizard’s hat with the same a pattern atop her head.

“It is I, The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Who?”

Trixie’s jaw dropped. “T-Trixie. The Great and Powerful.”

Luna stared at her.

“The greatest sorceress in all the land.”

No reaction.

“Renowned touring stage magician, defender of Hoofington, liberator of the changelings?” Trixie offered each title with increasing desperation.

Luna blinked.

“WE’VE MET BEFORE!” The mare screamed and was hulled backwards by the other cultists as Twilight dusted herself off.

“Sorry about Trixie.”

“You do not yet know sorrow Twilight Sparkle. Release me now and pray I grant you a merciful sentence. For if my sister discovers what you’ve done, there will be no leniency for your crimes. Neither for you or any of you so called ‘Crescent Moon Cultists’.”

“No that’s not what we’re call--” Twilight stopped herself. Her horn glowed a brilliant magenta and with a twirl of her finger a large black ball-gag wrapped itself around Luna’s muzzle. The Princess of the Night railed behind it but little sound made it past.

“It’s time we showed you why you’re here Princess. All of us founded this group because we love and adore you. Annnnnd since we share, ahem, certain other interest.” Twilight slid up next to Luna and traced her hands from Luna’s sides up to her cuffed arms. “You work so hard and are so stressed all the time; we want to thank you in our own special way.” Luna’s head followed Twilight’s gaze to the wall. She was focused on the tabloid picture of Luna’s feet framed bulge. Twilight bit her lip and her horned shined. The zipper on Luna’s pants was pulled down.