A bead of sweat ran down Luna’s temple as she did her best not to fidget from nerves. Her magic held the small bag of gold bits up before her, even while the Saddle Arabian sailor looked down at her with a single arched brow; the selfsame exiled princess did try to keep appearances with a smile, although with how nervous she was feeling it probably came off more as a grimace. Partly her nerves came from her lack of social interaction the last several years, her duties at court and the few ponies willing to stay up to talk leaving her few options with whom to practice conversation. The other part was the sheer fact that she had never tried to barter for anything in recent memory, the influence of her royal status causing more than a few ponies to grovel and beg for forgiveness rather than question her choices. To say nothing of the not-so-inconsequential detail that she wasn’t in her true form either.

Instead of her alicorn body which would have stood eye to eye with the Arabian sailor with ease, Luna had transformed into a unicorn mare with a powerful transmutation spell, changing her actual body rather than relying on illusions to shift others’ perceptions. It had been a question poised when she thought about how she was going to avoid being discovered by her sister’s inevitable search parties, the fact that powerful illusion magic was easily detected by any mage worth their salt, quickly shifting her focus to more direct methods of disguise. It also helped that once the spell was completed, there would be no trace of who she previously was except for a magical trigger hidden deep within her new body. A trigger that only she could activate and would be undetectable unless another mage got extremely invasive with a scanning spell, one she would be able to detect the moment it was being cast.

The unfortunate side effect of no longer being an alicorn meant she had to look up to the sailor from her new perspective, a position that was nostalgic and uncomfortable in equal measures, given she hadn’t been this small since before her ascension.

The sailor, evidently more interested in getting a bonus than interrogating the strange unicorn before him, sighed heavily before reaching out to grab the small bag of Bits with a hoof, “The captain isn’t going to like this, but payment is payment.” He jerked his head towards the gangplank, where a few of his fellow sailors were loading crates of supplies onto the ship, “We don’t have any spare bunks for passengers, so find a space anywhere not filled with cargo for yourself. I’ll let the captain know and we’ll see about finding a blanket or something.”

Luna sighed in relief as she bowed her head, “Thank you so much, I promise not to be a burden.”

A roll of his eyes was her only reply as the lanky stallion shooed her away with a hoof, Luna’s hasty retreat from the interaction mirrored by her rapidly beating heart.

‘By Faust I never expected that to be so scary!’ Her thoughts raced in tandem with her chest as she fought to get her breathing under control, ‘I had forgotten how hard being social was back before we became Princesses.’

As she approached the gangplank, something unusual about the crew captured her attention, a welcome distraction from her previous nervous mental scrambling. Every member of the crew, bar none, were dressed in some style of clothing. While it wasn’t unusual to see clothes being worn by the nobility and other ponies of influence, seeing commoners wearing clothes over most of their bodies was slightly jarring, especially given the quality and variety of style being shown by even this limited number of beings. Every stitch was well crafted, the cloth a heavier and plain color, suited to a working stallion’s station but still functional in the ways that counted. While unusual, it was not uncommon for different cultures to have shifts from what she considered normal, although it did give her a sense of self-awareness that was slightly uncomfortable, given her own state of nudity other than the saddlebags over her withers.

Luna’s tail tucked slightly against her hindquarters as she realized what her current level of dress might look like, her cheeks flushing slightly as she lowered her head and marched up the gangplank without meeting the eyes of any of the sailors. She resolved to find a cloak or something similar as soon as possible, if for no other reason than to shield her dignity.

The ship’s main deck was abustle with other sailors as cargo was hauled aboard, large metal grates sitting to either side as the boxes and containers were lowered into the hold through three gaping holes in the planking. Luna stayed well out of their way, watching with wide eyes as a team of Arabian unicorns lowered the various products through the openings with their magic. While levitation was commonplace to the point of being largely ignored in everyday society, the manner of which the Arabians were using said magic was unique and intrigued the disguised princess as she watched from afar.

Rather than the basic glow around a pony’s horn and the paired glow around the object being lifted, the Arabians used something far more complex, yet mesmerizing to behold. The ethereal glow around one’s horn was replaced by the detailed inscription of magic into complex patterns, circles and hexagons filled in with spirals and runes that hovered before the caster before being pushed onto the object being manipulated. Afterwards, there was no indication that the caster was controlling the magic further, as evident by their attention shifting to the next piece of material. Yet, even without the caster’s attention, the magic still held sway over the previous item, floating up and into the hold as small motes of light trailed behind like stardust. It was so simple, yet so far removed from what she was used to that Luna couldn’t help but stare in awe, her analytic side desperate for answers but being held back by her social anxiety.

As the crew finished loading the ship, Luna walked over to one of the unicorns, her head lowered slightly as the stallion turned to her with a questioning glare.

“Yeah, what do you want?” His tone was gruff, straight to the point, putting Luna even further on the back hoof from its directness.

“Um, if it’s n-not too much trouble,” Luna cursed her stutter as it left her lips, holding her head higher as she tried to present herself with dignity, “could you lower me into the hold as well? I was told that there aren’t any bunks available so I would need to make do below.”

A roll of the stallion’s eyes precluded a sigh as his horn lit up, another complex spell being formed before her eyes as he spoke, “Sure, give me a moment.”

Luna watched in wonder as the spell took shape, the detailed magic being directed into narrow and wide pathways within the octagonal perimeter, the power contained in a tightly controlled manner as the spell moved against her chest. A small ‘Eep!’ escaped her mouth as she was suddenly hoisted into the air, the stallion not bothering to look back as he turned and carried on with his duties, leaving Luna by herself as she was carried over the opening and down into the hold.

The darkness of the ship’s interior was nothing for her eyes, the details of the various crates and other containers appearing as greyed-out silhouettes in the gloom. It was surprisingly warm within the ship, her earlier desire for a cloak quickly fading as she was deposited on the decking. The spell’s hold faded instantly, leaving her wondering how such a casting method worked and her desire for answers with nothing to decipher. A sigh escaped her lips as she looked around, resolving to question the crew later once they were away from Equestria.

Crates of all shapes and sizes littered the ship’s hold, leaving scant few areas where she might have room to rest. A cursory inspection of the boxes dissuaded any notion of using them as bedding or seating, given most were covered in splinters or had nails poking out at odd angles. A sigh escaped her lips as Luna wandered between the stacks, managing to find a space of somewhat manageable use near to the ship’s stern against the port side. The curve of the ship’s hull gave her a little more room to work with than in the flat portions elsewhere, her flank impacting the planking beneath her with a bit more force than she would care to admit. The stress of the last few days had taken a toll on her, both mentally and physically, as she had not had to use her own hooves for transport for many years.

Another sigh blew a cloud of dust into the air, the tickling in her muzzle escaping in a series of sneezes that rocked her body backwards from the force. A grumble of less-than-ladylike swears were muttered under her breath as she cleared away the remaining dust with a quick burst of magic, her narrowed eyes softening as she allowed her saddlebags to slide to the floor.

“How the mighty have fallen,” she mused to herself, “defeated by mere dust after slaying foes of unimaginable strength time and time again.”

An idea formed in her mind as she glanced at the wooden planking to her side, her horn igniting as a sheen of ice covered the grains in a thin but highly reflective surface. A poor mage’s mirror, as Starswirl once put it. Luna’s gaze moved over her new features, the melancholy unicorn in the reflection a far cry from the regal alicorn she truly was. Her star-studded mane no longer flowed in a windless breeze, the soft periwinkle locks cascading down the right side of her face almost to her elbows while a single shorter clump curled elegantly under her left ear. Her teal eyes were now a lighter sky blue, nearly icelike in their intensity, and her midnight coat had softened to a rich royal navy. Her Cutie Mark was also different, a full moon partly covered by a trio of clouds in place of the crescent and black splotching that had been there before.

“Hmph,” a snort followed her self-inspection as a hoof gently rose to rest against her cheek, “I look almost like what I imagined I would have been as a unicorn mare, before Celestia and I ascended.”

A smile curled her lips a fraction as her mind flew back to those younger days, “Oh if Fate were so kind as to let me go back to when things were simple. No country to rule, no stuffy nobles to please, just the two of us and the little farm we called home.”

Luna’s gaze travelled back to her double, a spark of inspiration coming to her as a single word floated up from the depths of her subconscious, “Selene.”

The word seemed to have power, as her posture straightened alongside her growing confidence, “I remember now. That was my name, before all of this, before Starswirl and before all the moronic responsibilities that came with our titles.” Her smile grew wider as she gazed upon the mare in the makeshift mirror with greater and greater happiness, “I am Selene, daughter of Cloud Skipper and Azure Blaze. A farming mare who left home to learn the arts of magic when her local library proved insufficient.”

The longer she thought about it, the better the idea sounded. She could finally live the life she was destined to have, before the Elements gave her wings and mucked everything up. A tear ran down her face as she held a hoof up to the frozen surface, her smile lighting up the gloom as she beheld her true self. Maybe the transmutation spell had followed some instinctive desire, or maybe the magic itself had known what she needed better than she herself understood. Either way, she had a fresh start in life, one she didn’t intend to let it go to waste.

A quick flash of her horn dispelled the frozen surface, and she felt as much as heard the ship begin to move under her hooves as the vessel finally left port. Subtle creaks and groans were music to her ears as the ship gently rocked back and forth beneath her, but she paid it no mind as her thoughts ran rampant with excitement and ideas of what she could do now that she was no longer shackled to the throne.

A new frontier awaited her over the horizon, and a world of possibilities were calling out for her to grasp in her newfound freedom. A giddy laugh bubbled up from her chest, her heart racing as she imagined all the wondrous new things and experiences that were in store once they arrived in port.

“Look out Saddle Arabia,” Selene mused, her smile growing wider as she corrected her mental self, “there’s a new mare in town, and she’s got a whole new life to live.”

Author's Note

Hey there everypony! Another chapter up and running and hopefully some more insight into how this little adventure is going to go!

A huge thank you to my ever-helpful editor LeadlessSteed, who has been invaluable with making my chapters presentable for all of you to enjoy.

Drop a like, leave a comment down below, and let me know what you all think about this budding story. The more feedback I get the better it will be for all of you!

See you next time,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon