Luna glided to the ground and landed in the precious shade of an ancient oak. The afternoon was still young, and her sister’s Sun insisted on scouring every inch of exposed land. She was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected tailwind, which carried her to her destination several hours before the intended time. The meadow was a calm and welcoming place, though the plants struggled to stay fresh in the summer heat. An old cavity cut across the plain; a dried riverbed that had long since surrendered to the meadow's expanse.
She had traveled far from the beaten track to reach this forgotten place. Though the river had been a center of commerce in ages past, no traces of ponies or their work remained in the present. No traces but one. A tidy and seemingly well-managed stone path started a few steps away from her. Luna took a careful look at her surroundings; the road led in the only direction where the forest was thriving, inviting her with lush grass and the untamed beauty of wilderness unclaimed. The faint tingling in her horn let her know that magic was at play and convinced her that she had found the place she was looking for.
Tearing her eyes away with some difficulty, Luna decided that the next part of her investigation would have to wait. The long journey took a not insignificant toll on her body, and she’d much rather be in better shape when faced with whatever mystery awaited her at the end of the enchanted path. The oldest of the rumors she had discovered dated back to the centuries before her banishment; taking a couple of hours to rest up wouldn’t make a difference. She lay down, took off her saddlebags to use as a makeshift pillow, and quickly drifted off to sleep.
The Sun woke her up as it was starting to set, reminding her of her duty. Luna yawned lazily, grateful that her mission granted her temporary respite from the high society of Canterlot. After stretching her legs and wings, she reached out for her Moon to set it on its course for the night. Although it was a demanding task, such intimate contact with the Moon always left her rejuvenated. Refreshed both physically and magically, she put her saddlebags back on and briskly strode into the forest.
It only took her a few dozen steps to realize what was happening. The path behind her twisted and stretched itself, doubling in length with every passing minute. She dimmed her magical aura and didn’t look back, not wanting to let its creator know that she noticed the trick. Ponies living in the closest towns spoke in hushed tones of an ageless monster lurking in the depths, and in that case, the advantage that an element of surprise would give her could not be overrated.
The further she went, the darker her surroundings became. The trees – standing proudly just a moment earlier – were leaning in towards her with their twisted branches, cutting off the possibility of taking off and greedily devouring almost all of the light of the Sun and Moon. The grass turned a sickly green and hardened, making it sharp and inedible. Even the bushes that welcomed her in were now looking like a mass of spikes and thorns, hungrily waiting to cut her skin were she to ever trip.
Only the path leading ahead remained trustworthy. Its smooth stones were arranged with meticulous care she wouldn’t expect to see in Canterlot, much less in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Small lanterns were built into its sides every fifty steps, lighting the road where the Sun couldn’t reach. Something ancient was waiting for her up ahead; Luna was sure of that.
She didn’t need to wait long for the creature to show itself. Luna paused to get a better look at him. He, for he must have been a stallion once, had a dark blue coat and a mane as white as death itself. He wore a silvery crown on his head, while most of his body was concealed under an ornate crimson robe that trailed behind him. Only his outstretched wings were visible – sharp and uneven appendages with far too many angles and edges. When he noticed that Luna had stopped, he gracefully inclined his head, inviting her to approach.
Luna raised a brow in surprise and obliged, keeping up her guard as best as she could. According to rumors, the master of the forest was said to be willing to converse and even release those who entered his domain, but then again, the ponies who never came back couldn’t challenge those claims. Still, no matter what the creature allegedly did, Luna swore to never resort to violence against something that was once one of her subjects, unless it was a matter of self-defense.
As the distance between them grew shorter, Luna gritted her teeth. The creature was gigantic, towering a full head above her alicorn form, and to say that he was hideous was to say nothing at all. His patchy coat was missing large chunks of fur, exposing his greenish skin, and his white mane was far too thin to look like anything other than a spider’s web draped over his head. His wings were leathery like those of a bat pony, but they lacked the bat-like grace of her faithful servants; instead, they were mangled and broken in many spots. Luna doubted the creature could still fly. Only his eyes looked alive. Tiny and curious and hungry, the red dots of their irises darted from her wings to her horn.
“Welcome to my domain,” said the stallion. His voice was regal in its roughness as it echoed throughout the forest. “It has been a long time since I’ve had any guests.”
“A guest, am I?” Luna’s response was swift and determined. “A guest of whom? Nopony could claim to own a forest any more than they could claim the water in the river as their own.”
“And here, I own both,” he said. There was no pride in his words, merely the acknowledgment of a fact. “I also have a modest house at the end of this road. I’d be honored to talk with a distinguished guest like yourself over a glass of wine. Even if the guest insisted on being impolite.”
She followed the strange creature. Once again, they didn’t need to wait long; the stallion’s so-called modest house happened to be just past the first turn in the road.
It was an opulent mansion raised in a small clearing. The trees surrounding it reached higher, leaving some vertical space for the building, but in turn, they blocked the sky high above with redoubled effort. To combat it, the mansion was lit by a thousand little lamps shining like beacons in the darkness. It didn’t look out of place in its glory; it was designed to give off the impression of a king’s seat built to watch over his domain.
The place was unnaturally still. No forest critters rummaged through the foliage, and not even the wind dared to disrupt the mansion’s peace. Luna furrowed her brow. She’d seen similar sights in the past. This was not merely the home of an extravagant noble – it was a tomb, lying in wait.
The host held a door open for her with a bony hoof ending in a claw and said, “Welcome to my humble abode.”
“Humble?” asked Luna.
“Forgive this deception, Lady of the Moon, but no forest mansion could compare to the beautiful castle you and your sister have built in a forest far more impressive than mine.” He bowed down amidst the sound of his cracking bones.
“Rise up, host,” Luna said in an authoritative tone. If he thought that she still lived in the Castle of the Two Sisters, she saw no reason to correct him. “No subject of ours, current or former, needs to address me in this fashion. You may call me Luna.”
“As you wish, Luna.” He smiled, and Luna fought to maintain her composure when she caught a glimpse of rows upon rows of ravenous shark-like teeth shivering and thronging in his mouth all the way to the throat.
“Yes, that is what I wish,” she repeated. “You know my name, but I do not know yours. Who are you, stranger?”
“I would rather avoid speaking about myself before the doors are closed.” His tiny eyes narrowed slightly. “The forest listens in and devours secrets. I promised you some wine; we can discuss things more openly next door.” He left the room without waiting for Luna’s reply.
Again she followed him, entering a grand dining room. Its walls were richly decorated with frescoes and tapestries depicting nature and – much to Luna’s dismay – hunting scenes of dragons and gryphons stalking their prey. In the center of the room, a long table was prepared for a hundred guests or more. It would be a stretch to call it properly set up, bereft of silverware as it was, with only glasses and bottles waiting on the tablecloth.
The host uncorked one of the bottles and poured her a glass of red wine. Then he took another bottle and did the same for himself. “It’s poor form to treat guests with a different drink,” he explained with his head lowered, “but I can no longer drink wine myself. I assure you that you’ll find yours satisfactory.”
Luna carefully sipped from her glass. It had a rich, deep flavor that she only barely remembered from her youth. It tasted of storms and turbulent times, carrying a hint of nostalgia. “Veiled Peak,” she said. “Nopony has been brewing that for centuries.”
“I treat all my guests well, but I keep a couple of bottles for the truly extraordinary ones.” He greedily drank the crimson liquid from his glass, which made a sizzling sound as he swallowed it.
“Who are you?”
“A trader is what I am.” He adjusted the crown on his head. “A Prince is what I was. And my name? I do not have one; I lost the right to use it many moons ago.”
“Nonetheless, I’m glad to make your acquaintance.” She reached out to the host.
He looked at her outstretched hoof and growled in his gravelly voice. “You know nothing about me.”
“That may be so, but I can deduce much.” The corners of her mouth were raised in a veiled smile. “And you didn’t try to attack nor poison me when you had the chance, which already puts you ahead of several other ponies I know.”
“Ponies?” He laughed mirthlessly, though the sound that left his lips was more like a wail. “I’ve not been called a ‘pony’ in many centuries.”
“And would you like to be?” Luna cocked her head, still keeping her front hoof extended.
“It’s not so easy,” the host muttered, “but I can at least humor your request. That’s what a proper host ought to do.” In a blink of an eye, one of his thin hooves reached out to meet Luna’s and they shook hooves. Luna felt a sharp twinge of pain where his curved claws grazed her skin.
The creature shivered and cringed from the touch. When their hooves separated, he was only as tall as she was, the unsightly shapes of his body smoothed out a little. “A trick!” he hissed in surprise.
“Not a trick; a bit of polite kindness.” Luna calmly looked into his eyes. “This is your magic at work. I didn’t do anything.”
“Kindness?” His laughter rang hollow in the farthest reaches of the mansion. As he laughed, the lights dimmed, and paint started flaking off the walls. “You shook hooves with a murderer. You’re naive, but also clever. You must know how this ends.”
“Would you at least be willing to show me around the mansion?” asked Luna, still maintaining eye contact. “Nothing says things have to end right this instant.”
“I would.” He turned around and flapped his twisted wings. “As I said, I don’t often get guests.”
He headed for the wide stairs in the back of the room, with Luna following him close behind. Before they left the room, she sniffed the bottle from which he earlier poured himself a glass. It was not, as she first thought, blood – it was poison.
Some of the steps were cracked by the stallion’s recent outburst, forcing them to climb slowly. They were about halfway up when one of the steps burst into splinters right under the host’s hoof. Luna caught him before he could fall down, but the clasp of his robe came undone during the commotion. They watched as the expensive cloth slid off his back, turning into ashes before it could hit the ground.
The creature’s body, previously hidden by the robe, was emaciated and jagged. In some spots, skin clung to his bones, revealing the outline of an unnaturally thin skeleton; in others, it hung loosely. One of his sides rose and fell as the stallion’s misshapen lungs heaved, struggling to supply his body with oxygen. His cutie mark depicted a diamond and a pair of coins. He laughed again, baring his many teeth. “You’re putting yourself in unnecessary danger by postponing the inevitable. The land is hungry.”
“Perhaps,” answered Luna. “But that is what I decided. You said you were a prince?”
“I was born a son of the king.” His face twisted in a pained grimace as he looked at his wings. “The unicorn king. Even in a royal pureblood family, these things happen sometimes.”
“A unicorn king? So you come from the Unicornia of old.”
“He was a fair pony, my father. I bear him no ill will. Though the law left me without any rights, he treated me better than his courtiers.” The stallion sighed. “But no pegasus could inherit the unicorn throne. My twin sister got everything; I was left with nothing. She was destined for great things. I ran away.”
“And you found yourself here?” asked Luna.
“No, not initially. I made a living for myself as a merchant. When Equestria was building its first towns, I was there selling whatever was needed. But…” His eyes took on a distant faraway look, an old yearning only barely dulled by time.
“It was not enough,” finished Luna, closing her own eyes.
“You know?” His tone suggested that it was not a question.
“You felt that you deserved more, the heritage that was stolen away from you through no fault of your own. After all, how could it be wrong to make things right?” She opened her eyes, looking at the stallion with compassion. “Thinking yourself a monster now, you may not believe me, but I understand how you felt.”
“I am a monster!” He turned around in an instant, his clawed hoof swung at Luna.
She gracefully dodged it to the side and jumped back as soon as he charged at her. She prepared herself for his next move, but the fight was interrupted by a raucous cough.
The stallion was leaning against the wall and holding his chest with a hoof. “I’m sorry. These hungers, they… I can’t always control myself, being the pathetic shell of a monster that I am.”
Luna waited until he regained his breath, carefully observing him from a safe distance. “I do not mind. You’re not the same pony as the creature that attacked me a moment ago. Your eyes briefly changed when you did that.”
“You were wrong earlier.” He stammered between fits of coughing, struggling to keep a neutral expression. “We are running out of time. My shop is in the room to your left, behind the wooden door. See if you’d like to buy anything.” He bit his lip and looked away. “Anything at all.”
Luna nodded and entered the designated room. It was darker and older than the rest of the mansion. Slowly rotting boards were sticking out of the walls where rusted nails refused to keep them in place. Unlike the brightly lit corridor she had just left, the only light source in the room was a flickering wick of an almost burned-out candle left on the counter. If the mansion was a tomb, this was the burial chamber.
She strained her eyes, not wanting to disrupt the stillness with artificial light. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out the contours of the shelves lining up the walls. She silently walked closer to one of them. It was empty. So was the next shelf she checked, and all the other ones.
The door creaked, and a familiar not-quite-pony slithered inside. He asked her, “Have you made up your mind?”
“What kind of joke is this?” Luna answered with a question of her own. “There’s nothing left here but cobwebs and empty shelves.”
The stallion paused. “I’m afraid I’ve almost sold out,” he eventually said, and although Luna couldn’t see his face, the words sounded strained, as if uttering every syllable spoken pained him.
“Almost?” she asked. “What do you have left, cursed soul?”
“The last… the last item in my collection.” His claws scraped against the floor as he struggled to drag something out from under the counter. With a heave, he put a broken-off stern of a rowboat on the counter. It creaked and budged, but didn’t crumble under the weight. A matching bow and a small pile of wooden rubble joined it a moment later. “One rowing boat,” he added.
Luna raised a brow in disbelief. “This is what you’re trying to sell?”
“Yes. I’m only selling it as a set,” he said. “If you don’t want it, we can lea–”
“I’ll take it,” she interrupted.
“What use does somepony like you have for…” He narrowed his eyes. “No, it’s not my place to ask.”
“How much does it cost?”
“One golden bit is all I need.” He gently caressed the wrecked hull. “And I’ll promise to deliver it whenever you’re ready to leave.”
Luna levitated a gold coin out of her saddlebags and put it on the counter. As soon as the coin touched the surface, the candle’s flame came to life, shining bright as a torch. She saw the host’s unreadable expression change to a mixture of fear and relief. He nudged the coin as if to make sure it’s real, and firmly bit on it. For the second time this night, he shrunk. He was barely taller than a normal pony now, and in the light of the candle, Luna saw feathers on his wings. Even his mane and his coat grew fuller.
With the coin in his teeth, he galloped out of the room. He stopped by a nearby window, opened it wide, and tossed the bit as far as he could. The gold glinted as it fell. Then, it struck the ground with a terrible hiss. It sizzled. It melted down. And it was gone.
Luna stood next to the distraught stallion in silence, waiting for him to speak first.
“You… you probably want to know what happened. I’m –” His voice cracked “– not sure if I can bring myself to tell you.”
“You don’t have to fear,” she said softly. “It’s over now.”
His hungry eyes were still locked on the spot where the golden coin disappeared into the ground. “I’ll tell you something else,” he said in a distant voice, without turning to face her. “About the boat you’ve bought. It’s only fair that you’d know.
“I wasn’t always alone,” he continued. “Not long after I ran away from the court, I met Trade Wind – a beautiful pegasus mare who was a traveling salespony. She was fascinated with the tales of Unicornia and offered me a place to stay in exchange for the stories of my homeland. One thing led to another, and long before I’d run out of stories, neither of us could imagine parting ways. We were truly happy. The life of a merchant wasn’t easy, but together we made do.
“Some years later, I made a foolish choice and became a prince of this forlorn corner of Equestria. She stayed with me even when everypony else had long since left, but she hated this place and hated what I’d become. I think, now, that she could always see through the lies that I bought. But one day, when I hadn’t made a sale in months, she took the boat to swim upriver. A terrible storm broke out, and the river raged, hungry for a tithe. I flew as fast as I could. She was standing in her tiny boat with a determined expression like I’d never seen before. I don’t know what she said, or what the wind told her, but when the tide came for her boat, she didn’t fly away; she smiled.”
Luna lowered her head. “I am deeply sorry for your loss. Nopony should be –”
“I couldn’t do anything!” he cried, breaking into a fit of hysterical laughter. “Aaand she's gone overboard!”
Luna wrapped one of her wings around the shivering pegasus like she’d seen her sister do countless times. “That’s in the past now. I do not know what kind of a burden you were forced to carry, but you’re free now.”
“Free? I myself am stuck in the past. Above all else, above even the hunger, that is my curse.” He raised a shaky hoof – no longer ending in a claw – to point at the empty shop behind them. Ravenous fire was blazing inside, devouring the walls and quickly spilling out into the corridor. “Perhaps that is a fitting end to my story. Run, Luna.”
Instead of doing as he told her, she pulled him closer and pushed them both through the window. She caught the pegasus in midair and spread her wings, letting them slowly descend to the ground. The flames consumed the mansion in mere moments. If it was a tomb before, Luna thought, now it’s a funeral pyre. Neither of them said anything as the building turned to ashes.
When the last embers died out, the stallion tried to stand up. His cerulean coat and silver mane were clear signs of his royal ancestry, but he couldn’t find any strength in his hooves. “Thank you, Luna,” he said. “Truthfully, I did not want to end up as fuel for this hunger.”
“Now that the curse has been broken, we should leave soon,” she replied. “Even now, I do not like how it looks.”
“Then your sight must be as clear as your mind is sharp.” He sighed. “None of what you see is real. I sold it all away.”
“You sold it?” Luna raised a brow.
“That was my contract. I became a prince – received my title, longevity, the land and power over it – but I swore to sell it, piece by piece, to repay that debt I incurred. Everything here is a fake, born out of that peculiar void which remains when all is taken away.”
Luna slowly shook her head. “I don’t know anypony who could enforce a pact of that kind.”
“Oh, but you do know him.” The pegasus sighed. “Indeed, I had foolishly thought I tricked the devil when the devil was turned to stone.”
“Discord?” Her eyes lit up at the unpleasant surprise. “You’ve bargained with him.”
“I bargained and I lost.” A shiver went through his fragile form. “It’s so dark, Luna.”
“Do not fear the dark.” She stretched one of her wings over his huddled body. “It will not hurt you.”
“What do you think happened to ponies who refused to buy anything?” His face grew paler. “How did this nightmare sustain itself if not with the lives of those who had nothing else to contribute?”
Luna’s horn glowed. She enclosed herself and the former host in a protective shield in an attempt to silence the dark whispers of the forest. If she couldn’t do anything else for that pony, she’d do at least this much.
“I plucked every blade of grass,” he murmured to himself. “Squeezed the last drop of water from the clouds. Sold even the bricks that made up my home. Not enough. Never enough.”
A gust of air blew away the ashes of the manor, revealing a patch of a desert. In its center, fragments of a broken rowboat untouched by the flames were sticking out of the sand.
Relief washed over the cursed pony as hunger left his eyes. “I can see the sky, Luna. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the Moon.”
“Yes,” she said. She followed his gaze and saw only the branches of the trees above them. Yet, she had absolute confidence in the pegasus’s words. “The night sky is beautiful, is it not?”
“Truly, it is. I’ve missed the sight more than I thought possible,” he said, a tear silently running down his cheek. “I am so terribly sorry.”
“It’s alright,” said Luna.
“I feel cold, Luna,” he admitted. “Could you stay here a moment longer?”
“Of course I can, Prince Platinum.”
“That’s my name,” he said with a smile. “I’ve missed it.”
“Treasure it well. A name is a precious thing.”
“My eyes are growing heavy.” His voice was calm as he said that. “I hope I can apologize to all those poor ponies who suffered for my pride.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “But if I were you, I’d be looking for Trade Wind first.”
He laid his head on his forehooves and closed his eyes. “I will, Luna, I’m sure I will.”
“Goodnight,” said the Princess of the Night, bringing the end to the nightmare.
The Sun woke her up as it was starting to set, reminding her of her duty. Luna apologized to the Sun, knowing that Celestia would forgive her for being a minute late. There was something she needed to check.
The enchanted forest path was gone, and with it, an entire part of the forest. The trees and the grass parted awkwardly to reveal a perfectly rectangular patch of completely empty desert. Luna flew to its center without wasting any time. There, she found a lone, undamaged rowing boat lying peacefully on the hot sand. Time treated it gently, drying and preserving the wood. She picked it up with her magic, rotated it upright, and plunged its stern into the desert.
In time, the forest would reclaim the stolen land, and with it, the nameless monument she erected.
But that would be fine, too. Luna always found a certain beauty in the passage of time. Her horn glowed as she raised the Moon a little higher than usual, so that it could be seen even in the darkest depths of Equestria.
