Light of the moon

Moon Light hated his name. It was a little filly’s name, not a name for an awesome stallion like him. According to everyone he had asked, his name came about when, in the middle of the night, the smallest amount of light caused him to appear to shine. Technically speaking, the light refracted through his hair and gave the appearance of coming from his flesh, but nobody ever cared about technicalities. These ponies could see a straw bend in water and would scream that Princess Celestia had personally come down to show them magic. But, that’s life in a village with no unicorns, or any strange occurrences at all.

As the sun was rising above the eastern horizon, Moon woke with a start. What a strange dream, to have Nightmare Mo— Princess Luna in it. It seemed so strange that what had once been a story to terrify him as a foal was now one of the rulers of the land. Now he had a story to tell his two friends once he saw them at school.

Oh. School. Moon sighed as he remembered that today was a school day.

“Well, time to get up I guess.”

As he tried to get up, his hoof caught in one of the holes in his blanket, and he fell flat on his face. Grand. Just grand. Could anything else go wrong today?

The second Moon thought that, he immediately regretted it. Life was bad enough without tempting fate. As it is, he still had to go to school, get mocked repeatedly, work at the nearby farm, find something edible that ISN’T grass, and still have enough energy to clear the skies later. Life as a poor Pegasus sucked.

Moon stood up and looked around. The orphanage was nothing like his old home in Canterlot, but it was well enough. The floor creaked, the roof leaked, and the windows were really just glorified holes in the wall, but it was home.

The soft knock came just as Luna was drifting off to sleep. The moon had set, and the sun was up.

“What now?” Luna moaned at the door. “Tell Lord Seed if he wants to come back to court then he can take his complaints and shove them right up his-“

“LUNA!” Celestia opened the door, her mouth open. “I know that he is not the greatest of ponies, but…” Celestia looked around, and seeing no guards, leaned in close. “I agree” she whispered to her sister. Luna and Celestia shared a quick little laugh. “Anyways, I came to tell you that we found that pegasus you described. He is out in Barn’s Ville.”

“Barn’s Ville? Why doesn’t that name mean anything to me?” Luna asked, confused.

“It’s a small town, out near the Foal Mountains. Nothing happens there of any real note. The only real reason it still exists is the farms nearby needed a train stop to sell their goods to Baltimare and Filly Delphia. In fact, the only reason we found him in the first place is by sheer chance. A royal guard just got back from visiting his family there and remembered seeing that kid.  Tell me Luna, why do you want to know? Is he in some kind of trouble? Are you?”

Luna opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it. Maybe some things her sister should not know. If Celestia thought that she couldn’t fix dreams well enough anymore, then she may decide that Luna was unfit to do anything. “I saw him in a dream of mine, and he has some interesting features about him. I can’t say more until I do some research first. Also, I want a student too. Twilight is nice and sweet, but I want a letter too.”

Celestia laughed. “Very well, I will have him brought in immediately. With the travel time, that should get him here around… 9:00 P.M.”

Moon’s day did not improve. His old cloak, made from little more than scraps of cloth clumsily stitched together, had torn again. The giant tear in the side showed off his blank flank, as well as bringing up memories best left forgotten. The lesson in class, 187 Ways to Farm Oats, was probably the worst one yet. His friends, Thorn Bush and Needle Point, both laughed at his dreams. They told him that maybe his special talent could be daydreaming.

Thorn Bush was a Mare’s Stallion. The Earth pony always knew the right things to say, and flirted with every girl he came across. His cutie mark was a sideways rose, which represented romance in his home city of Filly Delphia. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, he was always cheerful and knew how to make Moon laugh.

Needle Point was a Pegasus who loved sewing. She was amazing, but in a place like Barn’s Ville, sewing was only ever used to repair cloths or to make trade goods. By taking a drawing of a pony, she could make a scale doll of them that was amazingly accurate and durable. The spool and needle of her cutie mark was shown prominently near the train station, and was a major source of income to the town.

Moon turned his thoughts to the things after class.  He couldn’t wait until tonight. Tonight he would get outside to see the stars. Celestial Navigation and Lunar Craters and how to Identify Them, his two books, will be his companions tonight, not dreams of princesses and forests. The darkness and stars were kind. They shone on everyone equally, whether they were special or not.

Moon shook his head. Special. That was a joke. Everyone else knew what their talent was. Everyone else knew what made them special. Except him.

The door exploded inward. Royal Guards stormed in, swords ready.

“WHAT THE—“the old octogenarian teacher exclaimed, immediately censoring herself before she let another word out.

The Royal Guards swept the room, and then inspected every pony. The guards would check each cutie mark and then move on to the next one. They seemed to be searching for a certain pony.  Moon’s eyes grew wide. What if… What if the Princess was actually in his dream? What if she was hurt in there, and now he was to be tried and executed for harming or killing Luna?

A guard came to him and lifted his cloak and stared at his blank flank. “I GOT HIM!” Moon was suddenly tackled by three guardsmen, and very quickly tied up. He was then unceremoniously dragged outside like a sack of potatoes.

At this point, Moon had regained some semblance of mind. “What is going on?!” He exclaimed. “What? What did I do? Why are you here? Why are yo- mmm! MMPH!” His questioning was quickly muffled by the guard captain putting a hoof over his mouth.

“Moon Light, you are under arrest for interfering with Princess Luna’s duties by rendering her unconscious. You will come with us, and if you resist, you will be put to the sword without remorse.”

The sergeant knew things were bad. Not only had Princess Luna gone silent, Princess Celestia was glaring at him.

“So. You decide to interpret orders to retrieve someone as orders to retrieve a prisoner? You just ASSUMED that he was related to Luna’s collapse? I pray to the stars that I never tell you to get my student, because you would probably bring her back DEAD!”

Celestia’s voice rose until it was almost a shout of pure anger and rage, and then immediately dropped down to her starting volume. “Maybe, before you traumatize a colt any further, you would like to bring him in here, as well as apologizing for his embarrassment!”

The sergeant’s voice was nearly a whisper, but in the dead silence of the throne room, it echoed. “Yes ma’am.”

Luna watched him turn and leave. “Sergeant, also report to the kitchen. You will be peeling potatoes for the next few days. We will tell you if there is any further punishment. Now, bring the boy to me.”