Flight of the Moon
By: Skarodrone451
Ch. 1
By a crystal-clear pond, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were picking sweet-smelling wild flowers as a warm summer breeze drifted through the lush grass. Rainbow Dash drifted lazily across the sky above them, hanging raincloud-grey banners with a silver crescent moon and three bronze stars emblazoned on them from any loose wisps of cloud. Ponyville was sheathed in these banners to welcome a new visitor from across the sea. A pegasus princess called Luminestra of Draconis was coming to Ponyville. For the first time in years, this pony would leave her home on Draconis Island and be seen by the world.
Rumor had it that she had been under personal house arrest for decades while suffering from amnesia. She had forgotten everything including who she was, where she was, and even basic things like how to walk. Now, after years and years of being locked in her castle, Luminestra remembered almost everything, and the word around town was that only a pony of Ponyville could help her. Scootaloo’s ears pricked up as she caught the faint blare of a trumpet. The princess was almost to the edge of town.
The three fillies ran as fast as they could back to town with Rainbow Dash soaring above them like a bolt of blue lightning. Trumpets started blaring followed by a disgruntled yell of ‘quiet’ and a unanimous laugh from the crowd. The carriage reached the center of town and stopped. The crowd fell silent as everything suddenly grew dark. A parade of some of the most distinguished Wonderbolts rocketed through the sky dragging a veil of shadow behind them to block out the sun. A soft bluish-green glow started clambering through the folds of silk surrounding the carriage’s cabin.
Princess Luminestra emerged, dressed head-to-tail in black satin. She had dark circles under her emerald eyes that made her looked as if she hadn’t slept in months. Her mane and tail, which were usually fiery orange with an electric blue streak in them, looked grey and mangled with the colors dulled to a submissive silver and light maroon. A small stainless-steel pegasus stallion with the words “For My Life” painted on the side of his metallic neck emerged and stood by her side with a completely emotionless look on the steel and chrome face as his muted brass eyes scanned the crowd and skies.
“Welcome, Luminestra.” Princess Celestia greeted her fellow royal blood and smiled kindly (if not nervously) at the metallic stallion. “Was your trip alright?”
“I suppose it was alright,” Luminestra replied dryly. “I was so bored the whole time that I started programming a speech matrix for my companion.” She glanced at the bronze-eyed pony as she said this.”This is Icy Steel, by the way. You can just call him Robot if you like.” The ponybot bowed to Celestia who nodded back. He twitched his metal ears and strolled away to start taking Luminestra’s suitcases inside, although she only had two of them. Celestia cleared her throat nervously as he walked away.
“So, why is it that you have come to us on such short notice?” The midnight-clad mare laughed in her throat.
“I have a problem, my dear Celestia. The only pony who can fix it lives here. Speaking of which, there she is now.” As she said this, Rainbow Dash landed in the middle of a newly hushed-and-parted crowd. She looked around at everyone and then pointed at herself. Luminestra nodded slowly and smiled. “Rainbow Dash! Would you please come over here?” The pegasus gulped and wished for a moment that the dark princess wasn’t there.
“Y-Yes, Princess Luminestra?” Dash grinned as she said it, hoping like a schoolbound filly that she wasn’t in any sort of trouble. Luminestra just laughed again.
“There’s no reason to be afraid of the pony who needs your help, young pegasus.” Dash gave her a surprised look. Help? Her? What?? She tried to formulate a sentence of profound complexity and etiquette, but all that ended up coming out of her mouth was a faint ‘huh?’. Luminestra’s smile grew into a broad grin.
“You little silly,” she said. “I don’t remember EVERYTHING just yet. I know all but one thing. The one thing that it is rumored that YOU are the best at. Can you guess what it is?” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment and only one thing jumped out at her.
“Umm... F-Flying?” In her head, she added a quick ‘please, please, pleeeease’. Luminestra nodded slightly and yawned.
“Perhaps,” she said, stretching one of her back legs, “after I have a quick nap. I’m completely exhausted.” With that, Celestia beckoned her to follow her to the palace. As they got further away, the light slowly returned as the veil followed the princesses.
Ch.2
Luminestra wasn’t seen again for the next week. Her metallic assistant, however, was unavoidable. At one point, the word around town was that there were actually hundreds of them. There was, however, only the one equidroid. He was Luminestra’s “equine consistent honorable observer” or “E.C.H.O.,” as he liked to put it. As Twilight Sparkle and Rarity saw it, he was just a snoopy little spybot with a lot of time on his hooves.
I simply cannot believe that such a noble pony as Luminestra could be seen in public looking so...” Rarity trailed off.
“Unkempt?” Twilight suggested. “I don’t usually care about that sort of thing, but that was a bit strange.” Fluttershy spoke up next.
“Well, she has been through a lot the last few years. Maybe she just hasn’t had time to deal with things that don’t really make any difference when you’re locked in a castle for ages and ages.” Twilight thought about this.
“Maybe. What do you think, Dash?” Rainbow Dash just kept staring into her cocoa disbelievingly. Finally, after twenty minutes of silence, she spoke.
“She needs me to teach her to fly,” she whispered. “Me! Rainbow Dash! I get to teach a princess how to fly!” She grinned a wide, confused, and gleeful grin. Just as the thrill of her realization sank in, Robot walked in with a summons.
“Luminestra is ready for her first lesson, Rainbow Dash,” he said flatly. “She is waiting for you in the palace garden. Do not be late.” With that, he beckoned for her to follow him and left. Rainbow Dash stared after him in disbelief. He hadn’t been able to talk that morning, but now he was ordering her about like he was the King instead of the butler. She thanked Fluttershy for the cocoa and hurried off to the palace gardens and her first ever lesson where she wouldn’t be the student.
***
“Okay,” said Rainbow Dash. “Do you think you’re ready?” Luminestra looked doubtful but nodded anyway. “Alright... GO!” The pegasus charged forward with her wings spread. Flapping frantically, she jumped over the side of the cliff they’d decided to practice gliding on. Seeing that it wasn’t working, Dash bolted after her over the side, catching her just before she hit the ground. Once they made it back to the cliff, the midnight princess sighed and slumped against a pillar.
“I don’t think this is going to work, Rainbow Dash. I don’t think I’ve got the wing strength any more.” Rainbow Dash was about to argue with her, but a thin, digitally-synthesized voice beat her to it.
“You mustn't think that way, your majesty. That is how one fails.” Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped a little bit. Did that iron-hearted, glassy-eyed, oil-run sorry excuse for a stallion just try to encourage her??? Dash snapped herself out of it and offered for Robot to try teaching the princess for a while. He bowed and backed up a couple of steps.
“It is my duty to serve, but it is not my duty to instruct. It is not in my surface programming to teach anypony anything. Unless there is a code, subroutine, or background program that my system scans do not pick up, then I am literally unable to teach.” Dash gave a smug smile.
“Hey, I didn’t know that. Thanks for teaching it to me.” Robot, not noticing what she’d said, just replied as an unaware robot would.
“You are welcome.” With that, Luminestra lost it and actually fell over because she was laughing so hard. “Are you alright, Ms. Luminestra? Did I do something wrong?” Luminestra and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, cracking up, and then they both lost it. Robot didn’t know what to think as the two pegasus ponies rolled around on the ground, their eyes watering, hugging their sides and gasping for air. The only thing he could process about the situation was that he had done something incorrectly and that this was humorous to them. He searched his records for everything he’d said and heard in the last ten minutes.
Suddenly, it dawned on him what he’d done wrong. He made a sour face and Rainbow Dash figured he’d have been blushing if he wasn’t made of metal. Luminestra put a silver wing around the equibot.
“It’s alright, Steel,” she said comfortingly. “I confess I gave you an instruction matrix. It manifests itself in the ability to give orders. Would you like to try instructing me?” Robot gave her an embarrassed look and a slight nod.
“Alright,” he said in a confident voice. “Follow my lead.” He did a series of movements with his wings, which they both followed. “Now, this is going to be much more difficult. You must be exact or it will end in tragedy. Follow exactly.” With this final instruction, Robot rushed toward the cliff’s edge and jumped off with Luminestra and Dash right behind him. With her enormous wings outspread and flapping frantically, Luminestra could feel herself slowing down. She rotated her wing joints as Robot had instructed. She stopped falling and glided down to the landing platform they had set up for practice.
Rainbow Dash ran up and hugged her before she thought about it. Luckily, Luminestra hugged her back. “Well, Robot,” said Dash. “I guess I wasn’t the one who could teach her again.” Robot seemed to shrink at the compliment and he gave her a slight smile. The princess brushed him with her wing as she walked past him back to the palace. Robot, for some unknown reason, seemed to freeze as she did this. He was puzzled by what he was suddenly processing as emotion and it didn’t make sense to him why it was that a previously alien feeling had caused his legs to stop working. When they finally did start working again, he felt that a spring had found it’s way into his mechanical step.
Ch. 3
Luminestra soared. As much as Rainbow Dash and Robot begged her, the star princess simply refused to plant her hooves on the ground. As suddenly as she was in one place in the sky floating on her back, she’d have flown to a completely different place and started busting clouds. After a while of chasing her, Dash got tired of the game and landed. Robot persisted, however. Pleading with her whenever he caught up to her.
“Please, Ms. Luminestra!” He shouted to be heard. You’re going to injure yourself! Please, come down to the ground and rest for a little while before it’s too late!” Luminestra just laughed at his concern.
“How would I injure myself, Bot? By having too much fun?” The mechanical pony ground his silver teeth. He hated being called Bot. He didn’t really like being called Robot when it got right down to it, but he tolerated it because Luminestra had told him it was easier to remember. Suddenly, a warning siren in his thought matrix went off. The current flight path was extremely hazardous.
“Please! There’s something ahead of us! If you won’t land, at least turn around!” Luminestra didn’t hear his cries. She slammed into the side of an enormous stone building, went through a ventilation grate, and landed face-first in an enormous theater-esk room. She got up and noticed there was something wet on the end of her nose. She licked it. Blood.
She did a quick check of her condition. Bruised, but nothing broken or even irritated really. She came to a startling conclusion: the blood wasn’t her own. She looked around and saw chains and shackles hanging from the ceiling. Vats with different colored liquids in them lined one wall while scaffolding stood on the other, just below what appeared to be the only door. As she started toward it to get out of this nasty place, for it was quite nasty, Luminestra felt something grab her tail. She spun around to two-dozen big gray ponies in black suits and one crimson pony in crisp white. He chuckled as she looked at him.
“Well now, “ he said. “Where did this little pegasus come from? You’re not from Cloudsdale, are you?” Luminestra didn’t know what to think about this. Her head had started spinning from the concussion that was coming on. She shook her head slowly so not to be motion sick. The white-clad pony laughed again. “Poor lost pegasus. We should try to help you, shouldn’t we? Judging by the fact that you just busted your way through a solid steel grate, I’d say you’re pretty strong. We could use you here.” The guard ponies all grinned or snickered.
“Oh... Okay,” Luminestra said shakily. She couldn’t remember anything that had happened before she’d woken up on the floor. The red pony smiled at her.
“What is your name?” Luminestra told him she didn’t know. “Where are you from?” She didn’t know that either. He thought about it for a moment and finally grinned at her and put his arm over her shoulders. “Why, you don’t remember me? Your old boss? Or the factory? None of it rings a bell? I knew we shouldn’t have let you try to fix that latch on the grate. Come with me and I’ll refresh your memory.” Luminestra just smiled back. If her old boss said it was true, then it simply must be true. She laughed at herself for being so stupid and forgetful.
“Hey, boss,” she said to him in a springy voice. “Can you tell me my name?” The crimson pony’s eyes searched for a moment and landed on her cutie mark. A pink, tribal-looking dragon curling around a rainbow tornado.
“Why,” he said matter-of-factly. “Your name is Rainbow Storm. Do you remember now?” Rainbow Storm? It sounded right and it would fit her cutie mark. Luminestra -or Rainbow Storm now- nodded and laughed in her throat.
“Of course! How silly of me! How could I forget my own name? I mean really!” They both laughed.
“How easy that was to come up with a name for her,” thought the “boss”. “I wonder how much more she’ll believe...” So it began. The pony, called Dr. Atmosphere, wove a story for Rainbow Storm, his creation, about how he had found her on a near-black storm cloud as a newborn. He had raised her as his daughter and had hired the best flier in Cloudsdale to teach her. He’d shown her how to use the rainbow machines as a filly and she’d done everything he’d tasked her with since then. He spun a web of wonderful yet terrible lies and she ate it up.
This pony was her father. She was his daughter. She worked for him here in the factory making rainbows out of the hearts and souls of failed pegasus ponies. Her whole life came back to her and she smiled at her father. “I remember now. I remember all of it. I must have hit my head harder than I thought.” They both chuckled at this. “I should probably get back to work...” Rainbow Storm trailed off. “Umm, dad? Can you show me how to work the machines again? I forgot.” They walked back to the theater room and he lead her over to a control panel. He showed her all the buttons, switches, levers, and lights
She punched in a command and pulled one of the levers. A purple pony with a bright green mane and tail was pulled up into the shackles and chains. Another command and a button. The chains began to squeeze and twist the pony. A knob turn. Now, the screaming pony’s ribs began to crack and break. Even to tear through his skin. Suddenly, Storm felt something inside her snap to life. She felt her heart go cold and her soul was nowhere to be found. Her mind twisted as the power she’d found washed over her. A murderous grin spread across her face and she knew exactly what she was doing. She was using the worthless to make rainbows. Her hooves moved themselves around the controls like she knew they always had.
Ch. 4
Icy Steel was in a panic. His flight path back to Ponyville was full of zigs and zags. His coolant system was overloaded and his mechanical lungs gasped for air. When he finally made it back, all he could bring himself to do was run around like a maniac shouting for help. Finally, Big Macintosh grabbed the equidroid and lifted him up until he calmed down enough that he stopped squirming. After he’d been set back down, the little robot turned and bowed to Princess Celestia who’d heard his shouting and didn’t want to waste any time with formalities.
“What is wrong, Steel?” The princess asked gently. He shook his head, still gasping slightly. If he’d been able to, he would have been crying.
“It’s Luminestra. She’s been captured and is being held in a terrible place.” After this, he babbled metallic-sounding nonsense. Big Macintosh made a move to pick him up again, but he jumped out of the way and cleared his throat. I fear that she may have been injured. She flew through a closed steel grate.” Applejack looked confused.
“Now how exactly does one go about flyin’ through a closed grate?” Robot faced her and raised his eyebrow plates.
“Simple. It was there. She impacted it at full speed. It isn’t there anymore.” The crowd of ponies all gasped and grimaced at the visions they got of this. Even Celestia had to shake her mane to get the picture out of her mind.
“Can you tell us where she is? So we can formulate a rescue plan?”
“NO!” A few ponies jumped back at this little machine’s powerful and passionate yelp. “You mustn't go anywhere near that place. Especially you, your majesty. I am forbidden by my original programming to tell you where she is. However, I could tell you what popular knowledge says happens there.” He paused, taking a breath and whispering something about bypassing a security protocol. He then took another deep breath and spoke in a very grave and serious voice. “It is the place where the rainbows are made.”
A bolt of electricity flew down his spine and left a giant scorch mark all down his back. The metallic stallion fell to his knees. All moved to help him, but he waved them away. Robot stood shakily and coughed with the sound of grinding gears. Everypony looked sympathetic for this little machine they’d hated only a few hours ago. Celestia steadied him.
“We will free her. If it truly as terrible as you made it sound in the Rainbow Factory, we will do everything we can to shut it down.” Steel smiled up at her and started walking slowly toward the factory.
“Wait!” called Twilight Sparkle. “Where are you going?” He only turned his head and he didn’t stop walking.
“ If we are to reach the factory with any chance of saving her, then we must leave immediately.” So everypony grabbed whatever they thought they might need and followed the scorched and furious Steel out of town and toward the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.
***
Rainbow Storm was, in a word, insane. The screams, blood, and lust for power that had come to her from the first victim had only grown in her heart and spread through her veins. She laughed at every subject as it looked desperately at her and begged her to set them free. She closed her eyes and savored the crack of the bones and the screams as the unfortunate failure was crushed by the bloodstained chains. Every now and then, she would glance at her father and he would stare back at her with the utmost pride and approval in his eyes.
The door on the scaffolding was thrown open. Rainbow Dash bolted in and slammed the door behind her. Her eyes were frantic and desperate. Her wings hung limply at her sides.
“Doctor!” She gasped as she spoke. “We’re going to have company. That robot that got away, the 3rd in that series, is leading them here. They’re coming after her.” She glanced disdainfully at Rainbow Storm, and gasped as she did a double take. Was this Luminestra? The silver pegasus was wearing a white work coat with blood spattered all over it. Her mane and tail were ruffled and also had blood in them in some places. Her once-kind emerald eyes were now wide, crazed, and a horrifying shade of scarlet. The terrible grin was still plastered across her face. This was not the star princess. Not anymore, at least.
“Why, I can’t think of why I might be hunted by a bunch of earthponies and a disgruntled robot,” she said. Her voice was different now, too. It was higher in pitch and sounded like she was trying not to break out in hysterical laughter. She turned to her father. “Have I done something to anger them, dad?” Dash looked confused and scared.
“Umm... Dad?” Dr. Atmosphere beckoned her over and motioned for Storm to keep working. He nodded to himself and then spoke in a low whisper.
“Listen, Dash. When she came hurtling through the wall, her memory was wiped clean. I simply gave it back to her. Get it?” Dash nodded.
“What should we do when they get here?” Dash was actually a little scared of the concept. Atmosphere just smiled at her.
“We show them what she’s become. She trusts me. I’m her father, after all, and I’ve told her all she needs to know. She’ll think you’re a spy or something when it all boils down to it. Now, go tell those ponies what to expect. Don’t say a lot about it, though. Let them see what she’s become for themselves. Now go!” With that, Rainbow Dash flew out of the factory, making sure she didn’t get any blood on her coat. About ten minutes later, she was back to the other ponies and thought up a quick story, making sure to put on just enough of a show.
“Princess Celestia!” She sounded just desperate enough to be believeable.
“What is it, Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” Everypony looked worried. Icy Steel looked as if he might faint if the news was too bad.
“Luminestra is alright,” Dash said. Everypony heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s just...” They all went back on edge. “She’s... different. She’s changed. I didn’t see much of it, but it must be as terrible as Steel says. Luminestra was working there. She was controlling the machines. Her fur was all crazy, her mane and tail were all ruffled out, I even think there might have been...” She trailed off and shivered.
“Might have been what, Dash?” prompted Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash looked up at them all with tears welling up in her violet eyes.
“I think there was blood in her mane. I don’t think it was her own, either. She had this sick and twisted grin on her face. You should have seen her eyes, Celestia. She’d have scared Discord away! She looked like her soul had been ripped out. It was horrible.” She began to sob. Steel heard this. Her soul had been ripped out. He felt a new emotion now, one he didn’t know and couldn’t control. He ground his teeth and stomped the ground. A metallic shriek exploded out of his throat as he was overcome by the new emotion. He knew what he was feeling. This was rage.
Spreading his wings, he leapt up into the air and shouted to the ponies below.
“If you have wings, you’re coming with me. If you don’t, hurry up. Our fastest needs to be faster. Dash, you fly ahead and clear the way of any clouds. Forget saving her. If she’s had her soul removed as Rainbow Dash said it appeared, it’s too late for her. I’m more interested in tearing that factory apart for what they did to her now.”
With this, he blasted upward into the star-filled sky and shrieked again. Forget rescuing her, he wanted revenge. As Rainbow Dash rocketed ahead of them, the only thing he could think of was when Luminestra had brushed his shoulder with her wing. He realized now that this had been a tender gesture. She trusted him. She may have even cared for him. Whatever it was, it had been torn out of her heart and he felt the need to burn the entire factory to the ground. If she refused to leave, he’d stay with her, damn the consequences.
His metal heart pounded away in his steel chest. He knew what he’d felt that day. He was in love. He loved her. He wanted to tell her but he couldn’t. She was the only thing he’d functioned for since he’d escaped the factory and now he knew why. Steel had no idea how to save Luminestra, but he knew that if he had to fight for it until the day he shut down, he would. He blasted toward the factory as fast as his rage-fueled wings would carry him. He would always fight for her.
***
Nopony expected what they found when they got to the factory. Dr. Atmosphere greeted them at the gates and guided them inside. The party made it to the door on the scaffolding and paused. The door was unlocked and they were told that the one they sought was on the other side. Steel took a deep breath and braced himself for what Luminestra had become. He slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Nopony stood on the platform or in the holding area. He opened the door and looked straight ahead. Swinging on the chains like she was at a play park, her work coat soaked with blood, a horrifying look on her wide-eyed face, was Luminestra. She laughed hysterically at the frightened crowd of ponies. Rainbow Dash hadn’t been lying when she said the star princess had changed.
Steel couldn’t believe his eyes. The mare he’d come to save seemed perfectly at home with the bloodstained machinery. His mouth hung open. He didn’t try to speak to her. He knew he couldn’t. All the rage had been sucked out of him by her soulless scarlet eyes. Nopony said anything. Luminestra didn’t say anything to them. They just sat there staring at each other. Finally, Steel was able to choke out a word.
“N-n-no.” That was all he could say. No. This couldn’t be happening. He felt his face grow warm and his eyes grew damp. He was crying. It wasn’t possible for him to cry, but it was happening anyway. Luminestra’s pupils dilated to their normal size and the grin faded. She stopped swinging and looked around. Where was she? What was going on? Why was Steel crying? She glided over to him and lifted his chin with her wing. He looked fearfully up into her eyes and saw that the red was fading and the emerald green was slowly coming back.
He leapt up and hugged her as tight as he could without crushing her. He didn’t care anymore. He kissed her face and brushed his wings through her mane. Luminestra had no clue what had just happened but she wasn’t going to say anything. He kissed her cheeks again and started sobbing into her neck.
“You! You’re back! You’re normal! Sane! Beautiful! I’ve never been so happy to see you look at me like I’m nuts! I was so afraid. I thought you were gone. I thought I’d lost you to madness or to the factory. You're not lost, though, you’re just confused and out of place. I’m so happy!!” He swung his head around and caught her in a kiss. She was horrified about what must have caused him to act this way, but she wasn’t complaining. Luminestra had felt for the robot for a very long time now. Without even thinking or caring about the fact that everypony was watching or that they were in a terrible setting, she kissed him back.
They broke away from each other and they were both shocked by either that it had just happened or that Steel was still in one piece. A resounding ‘aww’ came from the crowd behind them. They both turned and smiled at them. Luminestra’s true smile now shown on her slim silver face. The green eyes had dark circles around them and her mane and tail seemed to be peppered with white hairs, but he didn’t care. He would never care what she looked like. As long as she was herself and they were together, he would love her with all his metallic heart.
Ch. 5
They made it back to Ponyville just as the moon was setting. Luminestra and Steel had flown together the whole way and had been talking the whole time. Once they got to the edge of town, they landed and started walking. The others were right behind them and they had no idea what was about to come next. With the full moon slowly setting behind them, a gentle night breeze blowing through Luminestra’s mane, Steel stopped her walking and started speaking softly to her.
“Luminestra. I... I’m madly in love with you. I don’t know if the feeling is mutual but-” Luminestra cut him off.
“ It is,” she said. He stared at her, a small smile spreading across his face.
“ What I mean to say... is... um...” He gulped and knelt in front of her. Her took her hoof and looked up into her eyes. “W-will you m-m-marry me?” As he finished his proposal, he closed his eyes and ducked his head, waiting for her to either strike him or reject him. He felt himself being pulled up. He opened his eyes and saw Luminestra smiling at him, tears in her eyes, the moon illuminating her every feature. No wonder she was the princess of the midnight stars. She pulled him close and whispered in his ear.
”Yes.” He kissed her again.
This princess of darkness who had commanded him for years was now kissing him as his soon-to-be wife. They broke away from each other and started laughing, crying, and hugging all at the same time. Neither of them knew what to think of the whole mess and neither of them cared. The other ponies looked at the two of them like they were nuts until Steel explained.
“Hey! You’re never gonna guess what just happened!” They all looked at each other and then back at him.
“What just happened?” Pinkie Pie shouted back.
“ We’re getting married!” As soon as they heard this, they all ran over to the couple and congratulated them each about 2000 times each. The paparazzi ponies grabbed their cameras and started taking snapshots of the two of them. They smiled for every camera.
The next day, they were married. A small ceremony with a few dozen ponies was performed. There was no reception. No cake. No big party or anything afterward. They simply grabbed their stuff and left. The last they ever heard of Luminestra and Steel was that Discord had tried to get Draconis Island from them. According from the letter Celestia was sent, Luminestra acted like she’d been told she was in the factory. It terrified Discord and he left willingly to “get away from that freaky thing”. As far as anypony knows, they’re still living a quiet life together and not caring what is said about them.
~~Luminestra Steel
Author's Note
The second chapter is a lot more.... horrifying.
Flight of the Moon
By: Skarodrone451
Ch. 1
By a crystal-clear pond, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were picking sweet-smelling wild flowers as a warm summer breeze drifted through the lush grass. Rainbow Dash drifted lazily across the sky above them, hanging raincloud-grey banners with a silver crescent moon and three bronze stars emblazoned on them from any loose wisps of cloud. Ponyville was sheathed in these banners to welcome a new visitor from across the sea. A pegasus princess called Luminestra of Draconis was coming to Ponyville. For the first time in years, this pony would leave her home on Draconis Island and be seen by the world.
Rumor had it that she had been under personal house arrest for decades or even centuries while suffering from amnesia. She had forgotten everything including who she was, where she was, and even basic things like how to walk. Now, after years and years of being locked in her castle, Luminestra remembered almost everything, and the word around town was that only a pony of Ponyville could help her remember what she was still missing. Scootaloo’s ears pricked up as she caught the faint blare of a trumpet. The princess was almost to the edge of town.
The three fillies ran as fast as they could back to town with Rainbow Dash soaring above them like a bolt of blue lightning. Trumpets started blaring followed by a disgruntled yell of ‘quiet’ and a unanimous laugh from the crowd. The carriage reached the center of town and stopped. The crowd fell silent as everything suddenly grew dark. A parade of some of the most distinguished Wonderbolts rocketed through the sky dragging a veil of shadow behind them to block out the sun. A soft bluish-green glow started clambering through the folds of silk surrounding the carriage’s cabin.
Princess Luminestra emerged, dressed head-to-tail in black satin. She had dark circles under her emerald eyes that made her looked as if she hadn’t slept in months. Her mane and tail, which were usually fiery orange with an electric blue streak in them, looked grey and mangled with the colors dulled to a submissive silver and light maroon. A small stainless-steel pegasus stallion with the words “For My Life” painted on the side of his metallic neck emerged and stood by her side with a completely emotionless look on the steel and chrome face as his muted brass eyes scanned the crowd and skies.
“Welcome, Luminestra.” Princess Celestia greeted her fellow royal blood and smiled kindly (if not nervously) at the metallic stallion. “Was your trip alright?”
“I suppose it was alright,” Luminestra replied dryly. “I was so bored the whole time that I started programming a speech matrix for my companion.” She glanced at the bronze-eyed pony as she said this.”This is Icy Steel, by the way. You can just call him Robot if you like.” The ponybot bowed to Celestia who nodded back. He twitched his metal ears and strolled away to start taking Luminestra’s suitcases inside, although she only had two of them. Celestia cleared her throat nervously as he walked away.
“So, why is it that you have come to us on such short notice?” The midnight-clad mare laughed in her throat.
“I have a problem, my dear Celestia. The only pony who can fix it lives here. Speaking of which, there she is now.” As she said this, Rainbow Dash landed in the middle of a newly hushed-and-parted crowd. She looked around at everyone and then pointed at herself. Luminestra nodded slowly and smiled. “Rainbow Dash! Would you please come over here?” The pegasus gulped and wished for a moment that the dark princess wasn’t there.
“Y-Yes, Princess Luminestra?” Dash grinned as she said it, hoping like a schoolbound foal that she wasn’t in any sort of trouble. Luminestra just laughed again.
“There’s no reason to be afraid of the pony who needs your help, young pegasus.” Dash gave her a surprised look. Help? Her? What?? She tried to formulate a sentence of profound complexity and etiquette, but all that ended up coming out of her mouth was a faint ‘huh?’. Luminestra’s smile grew into a broad grin.
“You little silly,” she said. “I don’t remember EVERYTHING just yet. I know all but one thing. The one thing that it is rumored that YOU are the best at. Can you guess what it is?” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment and only one thing jumped out at her.
“Umm... F-Flying?” In her head, she added a quick ‘please, please, pleeeease’. Luminestra nodded slightly and yawned.
“Perhaps,” she said, stretching one of her back legs, “after I have a quick nap. I’m completely exhausted.” With that, Celestia beckoned her to follow her to the palace. As they got further away, the light slowly returned as the veil followed the princesses.
Ch.2
Luminestra wasn’t seen again for the next week. Her metallic assistant, however, was unavoidable. At one point, the word around town was that there were actually hundreds of them. There was, however, only the one equidroid. He was Luminestra’s “equine consistent honorable observer” or “E.C.H.O.,” as he liked to put it. As Twilight Sparkle and Rarity saw it, he was just a snoopy little spybot with a lot of time on his hooves.
I simply cannot believe that such a noble pony as Luminestra could be seen in public looking so...” Rarity trailed off.
“Unkempt?” Twilight suggested. “I don’t usually care about that sort of thing, but that was a bit strange.” Fluttershy spoke up next.
“Well, she has been through a lot the last few years. Maybe she just hasn’t had time to deal with things that don’t really make any difference when you’re locked in a castle for ages and ages.” Twilight thought about this.
“Maybe. What do you think, Dash?” Rainbow Dash just kept staring into her cocoa disbelievingly. Finally, after twenty minutes of silence, she spoke.
“She needs me to teach her to fly,” she whispered. “Me! Rainbow Dash! I get to teach a princess how to fly!” She grinned a wide, confused, and gleeful grin. Just as the thrill of her realization sank in, Robot walked in with a summons.
“Luminestra is ready for her first lesson, Rainbow Dash,” he said flatly. “She is waiting for you in the palace garden. Do not be late.” With that, he beckoned for her to follow him and left. Rainbow Dash stared after him in disbelief. He hadn’t been able to talk that morning, but now he was ordering her about like he was the King instead of the butler. She thanked Fluttershy for the cocoa and hurried off to the palace gardens and her first ever lesson where she wouldn’t be the student.
***
“Okay,” said Rainbow Dash. “Do you think you’re ready?” Luminestra looked doubtful but nodded anyway. “Alright... GO!” The pegasus charged forward with her wings spread. Flapping frantically, she jumped over the side of the cliff they’d decided to practice gliding on. Seeing that it wasn’t working, Dash bolted after her over the side, catching her just before she hit the ground. Once they made it back to the cliff, the midnight princess sighed and slumped against a pillar.
“I don’t think this is going to work, Rainbow Dash. I don’t think I’ve got the wing strength any more.” Rainbow Dash was about to argue with her, but a thin, digitally-synthesized voice beat her to it.
“You mustn't think that way, your majesty. That is how one fails.” Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped a little bit. Did that iron-hearted, glassy-eyed, oil-run sorry excuse for a stallion just try to encourage her??? Dash snapped herself out of it and offered for Robot to try teaching the princess for a while. He bowed and backed up a couple of steps.
“It is my duty to serve, but it is not my duty to instruct. It is not in my surface programming to teach anypony anything. Unless there is a code, subroutine, or background program that my system scans do not pick up, then I am literally unable to teach.” Dash gave a smug smile.
“Hey, I didn’t know that. Thanks for teaching it to me.” Robot, not noticing what she’d said, just replied as an unaware robot would.
“You are welcome.” With that, Luminestra lost it and actually fell over because she was laughing so hard. “Are you alright, Ms. Luminestra? Did I do something wrong?” Luminestra and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, cracking up, and then they both lost it. Robot didn’t know what to think as the two pegasus ponies rolled around on the ground, their eyes watering, hugging their sides and gasping for air. The only thing he could process about the situation was that he had done something incorrectly and that this was humorous to them. He searched his records for everything he’d said and heard in the last ten minutes.
Suddenly, it dawned on him what he’d made a mistake. He made a sour face and Rainbow Dash figured he’d have been blushing if he wasn’t made of metal. Luminestra put a silver wing around the equibot.
“It’s alright, Steel,” she said comfortingly. “I confess I gave you an instruction matrix. It manifests itself in the ability to give orders. Would you like to try instructing me?” Robot gave her an embarrassed look and a slight nod.
“Alright,” he said in a confident voice. “Follow my lead.” He did a series of movements with his wings, which they both followed. “Now, this is going to be much more difficult. You must be exact or it will end in tragedy. Follow exactly.” With this final instruction, Robot rushed toward the cliff’s edge and jumped off with Luminestra and Dash right behind him. With her enormous wings outspread and flapping frantically, Luminestra could feel herself slowing down. She rotated her wing joints as Robot had instructed. She stopped falling and glided down to the landing platform they had set up for practice.
Rainbow Dash ran up and hugged her before she thought about it. Luckily, Luminestra hugged her back. “Well, Robot,” said Dash. “I guess I wasn’t the one who could teach her again.” Robot seemed to shrink at the compliment and he gave her a slight smile. Luminestra didn’t seem to think anything of it, however. She brushed past him without even a glance.
Ch. 3
Luminestra rocketed through the sky. Rainbow Dash and Robot chased her as best they could, pleading with her to land. She would just shout back to them that she was having too much fun and that she would come down when she felt like it. Finally, Dash just gave up and landed but Robot persisted. He begged her to at least slow down so he could talk to her without shouting, but she would just speed up defiantly. Who was he to tell her what to do?
Suddenly, a warning went off in Robot’s security matrix. The current flight path was extremely hazardous. “Please, Ms. Luminestra! Listen to me! If you won’t land, you at least need to turn around! Turn around!!” His voice was drowned out by the rush of the wind going past her ears. Before she could react, a dark stone wall appeared in front of her. She slammed into it, going right through it. Then through a series of solid steel plates. Finally landing face-first in an enormous theater-esk room.
She looked around and saw chains and shackles hanging from the ceiling. Vats with different colored liquids in them lined one wall while scaffolding stood on the other, just below what appeared to be the only door. The last thing she saw before she passed out was about three dozen guards in black uniforms standing around her as a crimson pony in white said something about terminal velocity.
***
She woke up on a sort of platform with a broken wing and a throbbing headache. There was a series of different ponies bustling around her trying to get clipboards from one place to another. The crimson pony from before was talking quietly to a cobalt blue pony who only nodded occasionally. He happened to glance at her and saw that she was awake. The blue pony said something and everyone around her stopped and stared at her. All she did was stare back.
The crimson pony took his leave of the blue one and walked over to her with a slightly demented smile on his face. “Ah! So, you decided to remain in the world of the living, did you? Well, good.” Luminestra just looked numbly at him. Her headache was making it hard to think. He laughed a little. “You don’t remember, do you?” Luminestra thought about it for a moment. She didn’t remember anything.
She shook her head at him and had a coughing fit. One of the ponies was a doctor and he handed her a cough drop. The crimson pony went on. “You almost left us there for a minute. You went through two walls and a series of fifteen solid steel plates. To be honest, I didn’t think you were going to make it.” She just nodded slowly as he spoke. He probably had a better idea of what had happened than she did.
“Wa... where am I?” Her voice was scratchy. “What’s going on here? Who are you?” She winced as a sharp pain bolted through her left wing. The crimson pony pushed her back into the laying down position.
“You are in the Rainbow Factory. You actually destroyed a good portion of its structure. We’re just now finishing the repairs to the outer wall. I’m called Dr. Atmosphere. I supervise here. I supervised you as you blasted through the wall. We could use that kind of strength here.” Luminestra didn’t quite know what to think. The idea of being given something to do other than lay there and feel bad sounded pretty good to her. She smiled slightly and nodded. Dr. Atmosphere helped her up. He gave her a white work coat and lead her to what would be her new work station.
After he showed her everything, she started nervously motioning over the controls. She punched in a command and pulled one of the levers. A purple pony with a bright green mane and tail was pulled up into the shackles and chains. Another command and a button. The chains began to squeeze and twist the pony. A knob turn. Now, the screaming pony’s ribs began to crack and break. Even to tear through his skin. Suddenly, she felt something inside her snap to life. She felt her heart go cold and her soul was nowhere to be found. Her mind twisted as the power she’d found washed over her. A murderous grin spread across her face and she knew exactly what she was doing. She was using the worthless to make rainbows. Her hooves moved themselves around the controls like she knew they always had. She wasn’t Luminestra anymore.
Ch. 4
Rainbow Dash was furious. How could she have let Luminestra fly right into the factory? She thought about what would happen if the star princess got away. If she talked. She shuddered to think of what would happen to her if anypony found out what went on in there. She just hoped that Dr. Atmosphere had caught her or something, but also that he’d had the good sense not to kill her. All the possibilities flashed through her mind until she saw the doors to the rainbow department wide open. Nopony seemed worried or concerned about anything other than the current shortage of red and the fact that the lightning department had gone on strike. She looked around, bewildered.
“Looking for something?” Dr. Atmosphere walked calmly up to his boss. Dash frowned menacingly at him.
“Actually, yes. There was an accident earlier. A silver pegasus?” The doctor’s ears pricked up at the mention of her.
“Ah, yes. The amnesiatic girl. Poor thing couldn’t even remember her own name when she finally woke up. I showed her the controls and she’s been working at an extraordinarily efficient rate. We’ve taken to calling her Sunset Haste considering how fast she’s been draining the colors. I think she’s gone a little wonky, though. She hasn’t stopped grinning and I hardly ever see her blink. Her eyes are different now, too. They used to be green but they’re blood red now.
“She didn’t try to escape or anything?” Dash didn’t believe it. “Not even so much as the slightest struggle?” A gleeful giggle behind her made her spin around. Sunset Haste was standing behind her grinning like a maniac and only speaking between sporadic fits of hysterical laughter.
“The- the machine’s-, overheated, sir.” She managed to choke out between giggles. “We- we won’t be able- to- to use it again for about an hour.” Rainbow Dash's eyes were enormous with bewilderment. Dr. Atmosphere simply scoffed and shook his head. Dash could have sworn that he almost found this to be funny.
"You work too fast for our machines, Hasty," he said with a deep, almost loving sigh. "Fine. Inform the others that it's break time and I'll sound the whistle when that awful green steam stops pouring out of the coolent system." She shreiked and walked away, laughing hysterically again. Rainbow Dash looked back at Dr. Atmosphere, a deepening shadow now encircling her eyes.
"It'd probably be best if they got an extra hour or so for break," she said darkly. "We'll have company soon. Everyone in Ponyville will be coming to try and get that filly back pretty soon. She's the princess of the stars." The cheerful glint in Dr. Atmosphere's eyes quickly faded and his expression glazed over. He stood staring past the solid concrete wall, his eyes focused on the mob of angry ponies that were rapidly storming their way to his castle.
"This cannot be allowed to take place," he said under his breath. "I cannot allow them to see the factory or to take her from me. She doesn't belong out there anymore! Stall them if you can, Rainbow Dash, and I'll make sure that what they see is what I want them to. They'll never know what really happened to her, only what she has become. Go, Dash, and give me as much time as you can!" Rainbow Dash nodded and bolted away with a near-Rainboom blast. Dr. Atmosphere stood on the scaffolding with his hooves on the rails staring lovingly at the empty factory floor.
"I've spun an elegant web of fantastic lies to explain everything to her and to gently force her to believe anything I tell her," he said. "I won't allow them to ruin this living work of art I've created out of chance and fortune. I've told her of a starstreak of wonders that all revolve around her that could be easily replicated by the factory at no cost. I've told her of the supposed dangers that keep her inside to this very day because she thinks she's been afraid of them her whole life. What was I thinking? Perhaps that nopony would ever come for her and that we'd have a tireless worker for life that loves us almost as much as we love the money and resources she's saving us. Oh, who knows? I'd better get on this scheme of mine. It's all a bit too complex for my personal day-to-day preference, but I don't think it'll be too complicated. Oooh, all in a day's work for the best liar in Equestria!" With that, he turned and went out the doors to try and find his supposed adoptive daughter and work out some sort of new willow branch to add to the lies and dreams he would have to continue weaving as long as this filly was to be his to control.
Ch. 5
Icy Steel was in a panic. His flight path back to Ponyville was full of zigs and zags. His coolant system was overloaded and his mechanical lungs gasped for air. When he finally made it back, all he could bring himself to do was run around like a maniac shouting for help. Finally, Big Macintosh grabbed the equidroid and lifted him up until he calmed down enough that he stopped squirming. After he’d been set back down, the little robot turned and bowed to Princess Celestia who’d heard his shouting and didn’t want to waste any time with formalities.
“What is wrong, Steel?” The princess asked gently. He shook his head, still gasping slightly. If he’d been able to, he would have been crying.
“It’s Luminestra. She’s been captured and is being held in a terrible place.” After this, he babbled metallic-sounding nonsense. Big Macintosh made a move to pick him up again, but he jumped out of the way and cleared his throat. I fear that she may have been injured. She flew through a closed steel grate.” Applejack looked confused.
“Now how exactly does one go about flyin’ through a closed grate?” Robot faced her and raised his eyebrow plates.
“Simple. It was there. She impacted it at full speed. It isn’t there anymore.” The crowd of ponies all gasped and grimaced at the visions they got of this. Even Celestia had to shake her mane to get the picture out of her mind.
“Can you tell us where she is? So we can formulate a rescue plan?”
“NO!” A few ponies jumped back at this little machine’s powerful and passionate yelp. “You mustn't go anywhere near that place. Especially you, your majesty. I am forbidden by my original programming to tell you where she is. However, I could tell you what popular knowledge says happens there.” He paused, taking a breath and whispering something about bypassing a security protocol. He then took another deep breath and spoke in a very grave and serious voice. “It is the place where the rainbows are made.”
A bolt of electricity flew down his spine and left a giant scorch mark all down his back. The metallic stallion fell to his knees. All moved to help him, but he waved them away. Robot stood shakily and coughed with the sound of grinding gears. Everypony looked sympathetic for this little machine they’d hated only a few hours ago. Celestia steadied him.
“We will free her. If it truly as terrible as you made it sound in the Rainbow Factory, we will do everything we can to shut it down.” Steel smiled up at her and started walking slowly toward the factory.
“Wait!” called Twilight Sparkle. “Where are you going?” He only turned his head and he didn’t stop walking.
“ If we are to reach the factory with any chance of saving her, then we must leave immediately.” So everypony grabbed whatever they thought they might need and followed the scorched and furious Steel out of town and toward the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.
***
About ten minutes later, Rainbow Dash was back to the other ponies and thought up a quick story, making sure to put on just enough of a show.
“Princess Celestia!” She sounded just desperate enough to be believeable.
“What is it, Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” Everypony looked worried. Icy Steel looked as if he might faint if the news was too bad.
“Luminestra is alright,” Dash said. Everypony heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s just...” They all went back on edge. “She’s... different. She’s changed. I didn’t see much of it, but it must be as terrible as Steel says. Luminestra was working there. She was controlling the machines. Her fur was all crazy, her mane and tail were all ruffled out, I even think there might have been...” She trailed off and shivered.
“Might have been what, Dash?” prompted Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash looked up at them all with tears welling up in her violet eyes.
“I think there was blood in her mane. I don’t think it was her own, either. She had this sick and twisted grin on her face. You should have seen her eyes, Celestia. She’d have scared Discord away! She looked like her soul had been ripped out. It was horrible.” She began to sob. Steel heard this. Her soul had been ripped out. He felt a new emotion now, one he didn’t know and couldn’t control. He ground his teeth and stomped the ground. A metallic shriek exploded out of his throat as he was overcome by the new emotion. He knew what he was feeling. This was rage. Spreading his wings, he leapt up into the air and shouted to the ponies below.
“If you have wings, you’re coming with me. If you don’t, hurry up. Our fastest needs to be faster. Dash, you fly ahead and clear the way of any clouds. Forget saving her. If she’s had her soul removed as Rainbow Dash said it appeared, it’s too late for her. I’m more interested in tearing that factory apart for what they did to her now.”
With this, he blasted upward into the star-filled sky and shrieked again.
Ch. 6
Nopony expected what they found when they got to the factory. Dr. Atmosphere greeted them at the gates and guided them inside. The party made it to the door on the scaffolding and paused. The door was unlocked and they were told that the one they sought was on the other side. Steel took a deep breath and braced himself for what Luminestra had become. He slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Nopony stood on the platform or in the holding area. He opened the door and looked straight ahead. Swinging on the chains like she was at a play park, her work coat soaked with blood, a horrifying look on her wide-eyed face, was Luminestra. She laughed hysterically at the frightened crowd of ponies. Rainbow Dash hadn’t been lying when she said the princess had changed.
Steel couldn’t believe his eyes. The mare he’d come to save seemed perfectly at home with the bloodstained machinery. His mouth hung open. He didn’t try to speak to her. He knew he couldn’t. All the rage had been sucked out of him by her soulless scarlet eyes. Nopony said anything. Luminestra didn’t say anything to them. They just sat there staring at each other. Finally, Steel was able to choke out a word.
“N-n-no.” That was all he could say. No. This couldn’t be happening. He felt his face grow warm and his eyes grew damp. He was crying. "J-just no. No, no, no!" As his yell finished echoing, the silver pegasus swung herself out of the chains and landed right in front of him.
"Yes, yes, yes!" she shrieked in a raspy voice. Everypony shrank back at the terrifying vocal outburst. "So, you overgrown GPS, I guess you came to take me away with you, huh?" Steel nodded slowly. The grin faded from her mouth and her eyes grew even more intense. "Well, that must be so disappointing to you. I'm not going anywhere and, since you so kindly came to get me, neither are you!" With a single flip of a switch, a mechanical arm with a USB plug at the end hiss softly out of its hiding place behind the equidroid and snapped into place on the nape of his neck. Binary code flashed through his mind and, as suddenly as it had started, the string of numbers stopped. The plug retracted and he blinked, shifting his head around to scan the room around him. "Go to your post, Unit 3," barked the silver pegasus. "We'll have strong words later."
Unit 3 twitched his ears in recognition and glided down to a post on the lower-level catwalk. Then, turning back to the intruders, Luminestra decided to exercise how much authority she actually had. "Now! I'm going to suggest to you all that you leave, forget this ever happened, and move on with your lives." An orange pegasus filly pushed her way to the front.
"What're you gonna do to us if we don't, hmm?" Scootaloo said, getting right in Luminestra's face. Luminestra grinned menacingly at the foal.
"I'm going to keep you here! Doesn't that sound like fun? It does to me. Here, let me demonstrate to you and everypony else just how fun this will be for me!" Luminestra throws Scootaloo into the chains above. She motions for Unit 3 to begin the demonstration. With a pull of a lever, the chains once again start to move, this time wrapping around the tiny pegasus. Rainbow Dash blasted forward from the crowd and landed on the far railing.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cried as her wings began to crack. "Please, help me! Rainbow Dash, help me!" Rainbow Dash started laughing in her throat, a cruel smile spreading across her face.
"Oh, Scoots," she said. Her voice echoed through the chamber. "I'd love to help you. I really would..., but I'm afraid my orders come from royalty." Scootaloo's face twisted in horror as Luminestra and Rainbow Dash exchanged an icy chuckle. Unit 3 pulled another lever and the chains constricted completely and started twisting the foal. Her bones cracked, broke, and ripped through the flesh as she shrieked in agony. The other ponies on the scaffolding backed slowly from the chamber, turned, and ran as fast as their hooves and wings could carry them. Luminestra chuckled again as she watched them run.
"It really is a pity, Dash," She said with a shake of her head. "Scootaloo's death was a necessary action on the factory's behalf, I'm sure, but she was also so young. She had so much potential. We could have kept her here as Atmosphere has kept me and she would have forgotten the outside world in time." She looked at Rainbow Dash. "What will we do now?" Rainbow Dash's eyes grew dark and a small smile came to her lips.
"We continue on, Haste. Not even Celestia could shut us down. Cloudsdale would start a revolution if the factory was closed." Luminestra tapped her chin and nodded slightly.
"A 'War of the Rainbows'! What a splendid idea. For now, however, we need to start up production again." Luminestra turned and walked over to her controls. Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her shoulder.
"Keep up the good work, Haste," she said. "I think you are the one with potential." Luminestra smiled a slightly twisted smile and started turning a crank to the side of her console. Everything slowly sprang back into life. "Welcome home, Haste. Welcome home."
