My Princess For Good or Bad
The moon was bright, it filled the whole sky with a silver radiance. Tossing and turning there was no sleep, the night sky whispered to me —Luna even after her banishment still called to me. I arose quietly as to not wake Scarlet, the sweet mare who lay beside me. Her pink body rose and fell in a quiet elegance, dreaming without protection, without care. Her blonde mane spread across the pillows in elegant waterfalls.
In the living room the moonlight spread out splashing everything. I stopped to examined one of the many small figurine’s dancing in the light. Luna and Celestia were rearing upward holding three spheres stacked atop each other —They were not labeled, its meaning was very clear, their slender powerful bodies lifting the three life spheres, Equestria, Sun, and Moon. Scarlet collected them, they were pretty.
Closing the front door the air hit me and I shivered, my body adjusting to the night time chill. I had many dreams like this as a foal, trotting out the door of my house into the forest towards the river. There the Timberwolves would mass, malevolent eyes appearing in shadows; their deep snarls building, filling the air. I would quail from them, frozen, eyes filled with tears. Before they would strike Luna would step out of the trees dark and soft, like navy silk. Her voice deep and commanding and all would retreat.
Once a month it seemed she’d be there in my nightmares. She ask where I was? Who I was? I didn’t wish to say. My foal like terror made me mute, fearful that such power would suddenly appear in my living life, I remained silent. Yet she continued to save me, again and again asking for nothing in return. She’d sit and sing quiet humming songs, her wing circling my shivering body.
Trotting past Iron hoof’s, the blacksmiths forge the wooden sign creaked in the wind. The Inn came next. Firelight lit the windows, where ponies still drank and sang or fought and gambled at leisure. I remember when I first heard it there, Beggarly Blues was telling every pony within ear shot.
“Did you hear, Luna!
Luna’s banished to the moon
Gone the dark princess
To the night time snooze!”
He’d chuckle into his hoof. Ponies laughed and cheered him on as he made up bawdy lyrics dancing about the room. It struck me like a magic bolt to my heart. They called her Nightmare Moon, a monster, vile, and evil — That she was set on the destruction of Equestria.
Scarlet held me as I told her all. I told her things I told no other pony, she wept in sympathy. I simply could not understand how such a kind mare, the one who held me though foal like terrors was a monster. I refused to believe it. Scarlet advised me, said it best I keep my connections quiet, lest we be under suspicion. For a kind of madness seemed to spread amongst the town. Poor Night Quest was pulled out of his house, ponies said he was in league with nightmares; they dragged him to the city limits ready to throw him out like trash. I remember the torch light of the mob, red and furious. The yelling, snarling and snorting, like wild beasts they were. The mayor and his deputy restored order. The crowd broke, and Night Quest left the next morning. He knocked on my door and told me he had to go. Said he would write.
Then I had a nightmare, then another. In these dreams I called out to her like a foal. No princess arrived, I yelled, I cried, I was devoured and woke screaming. It was as if the nightmares knew, free to roam, free to attack; they had a life of their own. As I grew into stallionhood the very thought of her presence keep them away. Now she was gone, my mind opened the gates to the horde.
Nervous tension took over me, I expected to be found out any minute. That they would accuse me of being in league with a monster. My heart shook with guilt, that I was betraying one who comforted me. New stories were made, nobody seemed to remember anything but her being a monster. I felt alone, and held those memories closer to my heart.
Reaching the end of town I ducked into the trees towards the river. The moonlight made my steps sure and silent. I wanted the monsters, the eyes, and the fear. Recalling her words one night she said, “my little one, fears are there to be faced. I will sit with you till you are ready, but I cannot make them depart for all time, you must do that.”
She was never defeating my monsters, for my monsters were uniquely mine. Only my blade, my weapons could have any effect upon them. Knowing this she arrived again and again, pushing them back, and telling me that I had to be strong. That I must slay them.
I heard the river before I could see it, babbling in a constant tone. I rustled the leaves passing though the heavy bushes. It opened into a clearing where I could see the full moon, and the mare like shapes within it. Every day reminding me of the reality of what happened. I stood there in silence, listening to the wind and the water. Bathing in the light, hoping in my heart that she would step out from the trees. “Oh why didn’t I tell her where I was, who I was; that I could have seen her at least once. I was a stupid foal!” I cursed myself.
No eyes, no Timberwolves showed. I stood silent at the river’s edge my heart hammering in my chest. I told myself I was facing fears, yet my mind returned to the dark princess only.
Why? Why had she done it? I wondered. Luna was my princess and now she was a whisper curse in Ponykind. A shameful association. Though my heart ached and everyday I went about my business. I would always be Luna’s stallion. I will always remember her as the mare who showed up again and again. Not the monster in the moon.
I turned away from the clearing, and back to my life. My nightmares I would face on my own. As Luna had always wished me to.
