Light of the moon

Moon looked around the outside of the ruined fortress in front of him. This place was strange. Nothing moved, or even came close to grounds. His new home was isolated far beyond what he expected. He loved it. First things first though, he needed to explore his new home and find all that it could offer him.

“So, why did he run away in the first place?” Pinkie Pie asked as they searched through the town.

Rarity, ever quick with a response, simply turned up her nose. “Did you SEE that cloak? If I was wearing it, I would run away too, especially when it went flying through the air like that.”

Rainbow Dash smacked her face with her hoof. “You can NOT be serious. Am I the only one who actually has eyes and saw the distinct LACK of a cute mark?"

The group fell silent for a bit. They had all seen it, but it didn’t bother most of them. With all the strange things Ponyville had seen, it wasn’t exactly the biggest thing to enter town.  Applejack rolled her eyes.  “We know about that. It was kind of hard to hide… Or not hide, as it turns out. Rainbow Dash, how about this; When we find that boy, don’t mention it to him. Ah think he may have panicked. Applebloom will most likely explode when ah tell her. Oh, that poor boy… If them Cutie Mark Crusaders get their hooves on him, I don’t know what will happen.”

Pinkie blinked “Oh. I didn’t notice. I was planning the party.”

The girls laughed as they continued their search. Their laughter soon died down when they realized the only place nearby left to search was right in front of them. The group stared at the Forest. None of them really wanted to go in first. Suddenly, Twilight came up with a brilliant idea.

“Should we see Zecora? I don’t think anyone knows the Forest quite like her, and maybe she found him already.”

From the outside, the castle looked huge. Inside, however, it seemed to be much smaller than Moon had anticipated. There were three major rooms. The first one he came to, just inside the main door, had a strange looking construction at the far end, looking to be some sort of planetarium, with five empty sockets hung around a starburst in the middle. He looked at it, confused. What possible use could this have? It was just another question to ask Luna when—

Suddenly, it occurred to him that he hadn’t even thanked Luna, let alone saw her off from Ponyville. She was going to be pissed. Sighing, he knew that he didn’t exactly have a choice of whether or not to see her. The Pegasus figured he had a good four or five hours left on his life before the Princess of the Night obliterated him for his rudeness. Might as well examine his new home and maybe go back to Ponyville to apologize for running out.

The second room he came across was strange. Odd letters covered the northern wall, in a script he did not recognize, that were glowing a pale red. Looking for anything that seemed familiar, shapes and figures seemed to form out of the letters, forming what looked to be a planetary system. The centre of the system was dominated by a large shape, containing only one letter, and within one orbital line, multiple planets revolved.

Moon spun away from the wall as his mind reeled. Shapes carved into the stone itself could not move, and certainly could not form the solar system. It didn’t make sense. His head felt like exploding while he tried to comprehend what simply could not be. Looking back at the wall, it had reverted back to its original form. Shaking his head, he quickly moved on to the last room.

Small bits of metal and broken glass covered the middle of the room. At the very end was a cracked platform, with barely any height at all. The strange, ambient light from the last room reflected off of something large and metallic in the far back, and Moon approached cautiously. He crept forward, making sure to avoid all pieces of glass and metal, and soon reached the glinting object. Picking it up, it appeared to be a helmet of a unicorn, made of black metal that radiated sadness and anger. As he looked at the helmet, one of the eye holes began glowing green.

For the second time today, Moon ran away. He didn't know what that amour was, he didn’t know what that creepy wall was, and right now, he did not want to put up with it. He had to get back to Ponyville, and soon. Maybe Pinkie Pie knew where he could stay, or maybe Rainbow Dash would let him stay with her…

His mind wandered, and before he knew it, he found himself standing under a strange tree. Something tugged at his mind, but he didn’t care. The tree was relaxing. Maybe Rainbow Dash could meet him here and they could spend some time together, just being happy. Such a tree was wonderful. Nice, warm, comfortable tree...

A jet of water blasted him right in the side, knocking him over. As he looked up, the tree changed form into a red-maned, green Pegasus, and took off, leaving a black trail so thick that the stars themselves seemed to disappear, after hissing at the figure that spat water at Moon.

“Are you alright, my young colt? That horrible beast gave you quite a jolt. Your friends have been looking for you, for they wish to apologize and give you your due."

Moon looked up at the strange, multi-coloured pony. Right now, he just wanted to go home, and this new pony was the last straw. After the rescue from that tree/Pegasus thing, he was done with this forest.

“Stay away from me. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care, but if you are in this forest, then you want to hurt me, and I’m not putting up with that anymore. I’m out of here.”

Taking off, he flew up through the trees. Clouds seemed to be forming nearby, so there must be some pegasi over in that direction. Maybe one of them could tell him how to get home. Putting on as much speed as he could, he quickly came to the cloud. “HEY! You guys in there! I need help getting ho—back to Ponyville. Which way is it?”

The cloud remained silent, and Moon assumed that they couldn’t hear him. Storm clouds were loud, and it was difficult to hear yourself think when you work with one of those. Storm clouds are also completely under the control of pegasi, so the first lightning bolt caught him by surprise. “Hey! There is a forest down there! You are going to start a fire! Are you guys all idiots or something?”

Diving in, Moon went to confront the source of the danger, but could not find a single Pegasus. He bit one of the clouds, trying to dismantle the storm before the stupid controllers burnt down the whole forest.

The lightning bolt caught him in the right wing, lancing straight through to his hoof, and continuing down to the ground. The pain was horrible. It felt like someone had torn his entire wing off, and poured lemonade into the wound. He tried to move, to look at his wing, but the scenery changed too fast. He was falling, and his right wing seemed to be paralyzed. Looking down, then up, he noticed the ground coming towards him. It didn’t seem like the trees were going to stop his fall. Five seconds to impact. I’m so sorry, Princess. I wasn’t good enough.

Three seconds to impact. A small, white creature ran away from the clearing, seeing his descent. That lucky rabbit.

One second.

Impact.