Moonlight Terror

The horizon was a blurry mess behind the thin veil of fog. Every aspect of the day could only be described as damp, from the hazy sky blurring out parts of the sun to the grassy mass of muddy ground. The massive weather system of clouds and fog had come out of the Everfree Forest and weather teams across Equestria had decided it wasn’t worth dealing with for the minimal disruption it caused. In fact it had reduced their rain quota for the next month.

“Not much further now your Highness,” the guardstallion said for what seemed like the hundredth time. Luna strained to see the line that separated the earth from sky but sighed at the futility and sank back to a sitting position in the chariot.

Luna still had trouble when she tried to fly. The wound across her back had refused to close even now. The royal physicians were baffled by it and it didn’t bleed as a wound like it would be expected to. They had eventually released her as it didn’t seem to be life-threatening. They had instructed Luna as to how to keep the mysterious gash clean and infection free and left her to her former routine, though changing a bloody wrapping every night for the past month had to be added.

As if Celestia would have let her go anywhere alone again anyway. Luna thought. As if she were made of glass and would shatter at the slightest breeze. As if there were vicious creatures hiding behind every corner, and every tree, and every bush, and every blade of grass. As if Celestia herself weren’t a pretentious, high and mighty, self-righteous-

“Your Highness,” the guardstallion said, snapping Luna out of her thoughts. The envoy was descending towards a large area of farmland. The land wasn’t flat like most farmland though. Instead it was made up of shelves carved out of the rocky hills that covered the area. They landed in front of a group of ponies with an older looking Earth-Pony stallion at its head. Luna let her anger seethe under the surface and put on her best royal looking face.

“Princess Luna,” the old stallion began, “Thank you for coming all this way to hear of our woes,”

“Indeed…”

The old stallion stood uncomfortably for a few moments, fidgeting in the soggy grass. “Yes… well…would you care to step inside?” he asked, pointing with a nod of his head to a small series of building along the walled side of one of the great stairs.

Luna strode past him without any indication of hearing him other than the direction she was heading in. The guards filed in her wake, the bewildered old stallion receiving only a shrug and an equally confused look from the hind guard.

The inside of the building was no surprise after seeing the outside, both being made of simple wood, though one wall was actually the carved stone of the shelf. The furnishings consisted of a long table in the middle of the room, a series of chairs around it, and the makings of a kitchen along the far wooden wall.

Luna took a seat at the head of the table with the guards flanking her. The old stallion squeezed past the armored ponies and sat on the other end. The rest of the crowd peered through the doorway, catching a glimpse of royalty.

“You see your highness, our not so little farm hasn’t been doing too well for awhile,” Luna merely stared the old pony down. “We know what’s wrong though,” he began again after a few moments of awkward silence “We haven’t gotten any real rainfall for months. This drizzly weather is the most water we’ve had for so long and it wasn’t evensupposed to happen, I don’t think we can afford to keep our land if this keeps up,”

One of the guards decided against her better judgment to look up at her princess. Luna remained sitting there stoically as if she were an artisan sculptor’s masterpiece; her mane’s gentle flowing in a non-existent breeze the only thing that made her seem the least bit alive.

The old stallion picked up that he wouldn’t get a response. “We know we’re the only thing out here that needs the rain, all our neighbors being quarries and what have you, and we realize that the nearest weather reservoir has us so out of the way, but this is our very livelihood,”

Luna finally moved, arching one of her eyebrows, “Is that it?” she asked.

The old stallion looked bewildered, “Y- yes Your Highness?”

Luna stood from her seat, “’Tis no reason I can see to devote Equestria’s precious resources to organizing something like that to such an insignificant speck of dirt,” She began walking toward the exit.

“Please Your Highness! Please reconsider!” The old stallion leapt from the table and rushed towards the princess “Please, this is our livelihood we’re talking about!”

Luna glanced back towards him, “Find another way to make your bits,”

“But Your Highness, this is our home!” he said inching closer to her

“Guard,” she called.

One of the guardstallions moved up in front of the old pony. “Please step back sir,” he said with pity in his eyes.

Luna sat in her bath back at the castle. Accursed mud had gotten everywhere after her brief time outdoors. Such groveling that pony had done she thought staring at the gilded marble tiles covering the walls of the room. A light haze filled the room just like the world outside, but as the outdoors had brought chills the room was saturated with warm steam.

Everypony wanted something from her she thought as she stepped out onto the tiled floor. She reached out with her magic, grabbing a towel to dry herself off. Whether it were nobles, or merchants, or groveling-dirt-farming peasants, or Celestia her-royal-self, everypony wanted her to fix something. She winced slightly as her towel rubbed across her wound the wrong way. Especially Celestia, the precocious-

Fire raced across her back. The great gash seemed to erupt in acid pain that radiated across the rest of her body, venom swimming though her blood. Luna collapsed to her knees, teeth gritted and tears streaming down her face. Her jaws held tight and prevented any scream from escaping. Her breaths came in quick gusts through her teeth as the muscles in her diaphragm began to cramp up. She began to try and stand again. Try to call out for help.

The venom reached her heart and exploded, her chest feeling as if there should have been a gaping hole there now. Her back arched and her lungs filled to their bursting point with a great gasp.