Moon Townby StarwingChaptersRise of the Moon PoniesEpisode 1: When Rocks FlyEpisode 2: Where Has the Cider Gone?Rise of the Moon PoniesFour months. It's all Luna needs to snap. "Ay, when the moon shines the brightest, There is no place but the tides beneath the clear full moon, Where the glory of thy brilliant light is seen with interest!" Luna stumbled through the crater, singing her lungs out, trying to call out to home. To Celestia. "Those who stand in the way of the night swoon, At the sight of the stars, they tremble with fear, At first they loved us, tonight they only sneer. Now we simply shed a tear..." Luna trips over a moon rock and falls to the ground, then starts sobbing. Nopony loves her night. She spends so much work perfecting it and making it as beautiful as can be, but it's useless. She's all alone. No friends, not even family. That's not what bothers her. She's going to be so bored! She realizes crying would do her no good, so she stands up proud and looks off towards Equestria, before turning her head back to the plain moon she's standing on. "When I return, Tia, I will make sure to give you a thousand years of boredom! With my hoof!" She mutters, hanging her head down and trotting off to nowhere. "What to do, what to do, so much to do! Moon rocks over there, big and small! I can go sliding, hmm... That would hurt too much." Luna just keeps on trotting in no apparent direction while talking to herself. The hard, barren surface of the moon really does a number on hooves, as Luna is already exhausted within an hour. She sees a small crater within a crater. There's a nice collection of two rocks; One big and flat, and one small and curved. Coincidence or not, it's a great spot to rest, compared to the rest of the moon of course. Taking her shoes off, she ies down and gets comfortable on the rocks. She spares one final glance at home before dozing off into a sleep. Nothing had changed, the same old moon she has been living on for the past few months. Her neck is sore from the rock pillow; Other than her being recently refreshed from sleep, nothing had changed at all. Nothing except a pale pony staring at her. She falls off the rock mattress and looks up at the mysterious, pale pony. "GAH! Who-what-why?" Regaining her composure, Luna continues asking questions, this time using the royal Canterlot voice. Usually the royal voice would get answers out of ponies. Why not try it on the moon? "I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" Her loud words does nothing to to faze the strange pale pony. He continues staring unnervingly. As if he is watching her soul. The creepy smile that plastered his face disturbs her to a great extent. He stirs, then opens his mouth to utter the most unexpected words Luna has ever heard. "Welcome to the land of grey, the city of twilight, crescent village... or as it is locally known, Moon Town." He shifts his eyes from her face to her mane, searching it thoroughly before his eyes soon widen in realization. "The ruler of the night!" The pale pony starts shouting, seemingly calling out to other ponies, "Princess Luna graces our prescence with a visit! Praise the comets!" Luna knows that everypony knows who she is - but ponies on the moon? How does he know who she is? It makes sense that ponies living on the moon should know who raises the moon, but it's still strange all together. "How are you on the moon? Shouldn't you be in Equestria? I-I wha- HUH?" Luna starts struggling with words, shocked how anypony else could be on the moon with her. She's banished from Equestria, in complete isolation. The only pony that has ever been banished in fact. The fact that there's another living creature up here makes no sense. The pale pony just has a big, manic grin on his face. Luna took the moment of odd silence to inspect him. No mane, no tail, half of his face has a grayish hue to it. His cutie mark is of the moon with several craters lined in a specific patterns, shaping out to be an arrow. The strangest part of him was that he had holes in his hooves. "Princess Luna! I formally invite you to Moon Town, may we be graced by your grandeur?" His smile fades and his expression transforms into foalish pleading eyes with a frown. He starts biting his lip to add to the show. Luna narrows her eyes as if interrogating him. Pleading never works on Luna as she is a master illusionist. She can decipher any form of mendacity if the task need be. "You! You're some kind of anti-changeling aren't you! No wings or horn, no features, aside from the cutie mark, holes in hooves, it all adds up!" The mysterious pony just shoots her a deadpan look. "What the dust is a changeling!? I'm a moon pony if you haven't figured that out already, Princess. And what about my hoof holes? It's not a liability, if that's what your thinking!" His voice started to increase in tone, he's clearly getting frustrated. Luna didn't know a pony that smiles so much could even get mad in any way. "Sorry about the outburst. I sort of dislike changelings. they're so gross, not to mention most of them are pure evil. Ugh, they give me the wiggles." At that notion, Luna shivered. The last thing she needed was changelings to invade her space while trapped on the moon. "Well back to the main point, come visit our town!" He looked around, as if he's nervous that someone is listening in. He stepped closer and cuffed his hooves over his mouth before he turned to Luna's ear and whispered, "We really need the morale. Ponies have been saying that it's been dull recently." "Dull?" "Dull..." "Why so much emphasis on dull, and why are you whispering it?" "Ssshh! Don't say it so much! We thrive on excitement, joy, and suspense. We can't have things get boring around here," He transitioned from a serious tone to a dramatic and happy-go-lucky voice, "But enough of all that mood-killer stuff! We can discuss more of the personal business after the town has met you, and might I say that Shining Star would just love to do things with your mane." The final sentence he voiced sent a disturbing chill through Luna. Somepony doing stuff with her mane? No dice. With his speech finished, the name-less acquaintance took her hoof to pull her outside. "Hey! I need to put my royal shoes on." He replied by staring at her flatly, taking a step back, and waiting. Luna quickly levitated the shoes and pressed each one into the according hoof. Once she was finished, she nodded, and he started beaming again. Then he threw his forelegs into the air and announced with mocking volume, "I shall lead the way, as you probably don't know where our great civilization is. Come Stella, we haven't had visitors in such a long time. "Wait, what? I'm confused, who's Stella?" He turned back to Luna, the same smile on his face as before, but a bit more crooked. "Oh, can't we have fun and change names every now and then? I say Stella suits you just as well as Luna." Luna put a hoof to her mouth and scrunched her face in thought. "Nah... I'm pretty sure I prefer Luna. That's my name, after all." They then start walking off towards the village of his. The stranger was indeed strange, and compared to every pony else, bonkers. The moon, as beautiful as it is from a distance, is a bland place. What else could she do other than follow him to Moon Town? She has a thousand years ahead of her, and she might as well make the most of it. Anything could happen to Luna, and quite frankly, she likes it. Author's Note Judge me! Episode 1: When Rocks FlyLuna has been following him for about half an hour. Still no sign of a 'Moon Town'. She begins to question his angle. The moon isn't that big, so it wouldn't take this long in one direction to get somewhere. Still, who is she to question a moon resident? After another five minutes of walking, Luna starts getting impatient. "Hey, Mr. No-Name, where exactly is Moon Town? We've been walking for quite a long time." He stops abruptly, which causes Luna to run headfirst into his back and face-plant the ground. Out of all the times to fall face first on the ground, it has to be in front of somepony else. She looks up at his face, the smile replaced by a worried expression. "Ooooo, sorry about that. I thought you had some kind of psychic sense that reads minds or something; after all you are the princess!" Unlike before, instead of helping her up, he just kept standing there. How rude. She stood up and feels her head with a hoof. It hurts pretty bad, and that's not even by princess standards. "Eh, anyways, I hope the village you keep smiling on about is worth it. My hooves are starting to itch from the endless trotting." He frowns at that, as if he looks down on her for being fragile. Luna and the stranger keep staring at each other, both waiting for a response from the other. Luna decides to go first. "If you think I'm weak and fragile, then you are mistaken. I'm a princess and an alicorn at that; I'm pretty sure I could handle myself in most any situation. My hooves just aren't used to all this walking. Not to be a drama queen, but when are we getting there?" Now he just looks confused. He opens his mouth to say something, pauses, then let's out a barrage of words. "Well, if you're a princess and a previous ruler of a kingdom, then shouldn't you have A. a longer attention span, B. More patience, and C. Complain a bit less for an almighty being." Luna's jaw falls to the ground from his criticism. Never before has she been insulted so much at a given time before. She is about to go 'banishment mode' on him before she realizes that it would be wrong, pointless, and honestly stupid. He holds his head high, showing that he regrets nothing. She sighs and gives in to his opinion. "You're right, hopefully spending years on the moon will teach me to stop acting royal and uptight." He opens his eyes and waits a moment before he starts smiling again. The. Same. Smile. Luna can tell she's already growing on it. There was just something about him, like he stood out even from his own kind, even though Luna hasn't met any other Moon Ponies. They continued walking. When Luna looked back, the dark side of the moon was approaching. They better hurry up. After a while of trotting, Luna got bored and decided to strike up an obvious and long waited question. "So Moon Pony, I never caught your name, what's the deal?" True that the stranger never told her his name. crazy or not, a name to be called by is a necessity. Even though Luna is behind him and can only see the top of his head and his back, she can tell he has a smug grin on right now. "You'll find out in time Luna, perhaps once you get to know us humble moon ponies?" Luna just let out a soft groan, making sure he can't hear it. He's hiding too much information. The duo continue trotting off in silence towards Moon Town. Structures. It felt like eternity, but now there's finally proof of civilization! Luna is ecstatic! Never before has she been so excited, while on the moon of course. Now she has a grin as big as the stranger's. The moment is nearing. If she can somehow fit in with these ponies, she will be able to pass the time until she manages to escape banishment. "BOO!" "Gah!" Luna jumped a few feet from the sudden voice interrupting her thoughts. Oh that guy is in for a prank now, nopony teases Luna without getting hit back. He turned around, his grin, as big as it was already, now took up most of his face. "Aw, did I startle you? The tranquility was starting to kill me. Well, enough of the silliness. Moon Town awaits your arrival!" He stood up on his hindlegs somehow, and gestured yonder with his hoof to the nearly visible village that Luna has been awaiting. Even though she has seen much nicer cities, from months on the moon, this village looks like a castle to her. He stood back down, and began galloping towards the town. She followed close behind. When the outermost buildings surrounded the two, ponies that looked similar to the stranger started peeking out of windows, some coming out of their homes to view the spectacle. Oh, and by similar, not very similar at all. They have manes, tails, and they also have normal hooves. When they galopped a few more feet, Luna and her escort were surrounded by semi-gray moon ponies. Half of them had their mouths open and staring wide eyed, the other half shook their heads as if what they were seeing isn't real. What Luna didn't expect, is that they didn't even bow down. Sure, they were all shocked in the presence of royalty, but they didn't even acknowledge her power. Oddly enough, she wasn't just fine with it, but she liked it. Sometimes being over treated can be tiring. Then a moon pony who stood out from the rest in the front of the crowd took a few steeps forward. She has a purple and silver mane shaped like a nebulae, a tail that resembles a group of shooting stars, and a cutie mark of the sun behind the moon, making a solar eclipse. She looked from Luna to the stranger then opens her mouth. "Comet Runner, looks like your not useless after all. You have found and brought us the great Princess Luna. You are now welcome back to Moon Town," she turns her head from Comet Runner to Luna, "As for you Princess, thank you for visiting us, or is this involuntary? Something tells me your stuck here." Is she a mind reader or something? How does she know I'm banished here? "Well, yes I am here, I'm here because I'm banished. Oh, also because Comet Runner found me and brought me here. So I'm assuming your the leader, or mayor, or whatever?" She smiled, and hay, Luna is getting used to the endless grins wherever she turns. She took another step forward and put a hoof to her chest, and boasted, "Why yes, I am Mayor Milky Way. I guess you COULD call me leader, however I'm more of a representative, but I'm glad you were banished here! You can stay with us during your stay! Oh the joy of having the princess in Moon Town! So much fun!" Luna gave Milky Way a flat look with her ears drooped. "You're glad, that I got banished, for a thousand years? Way to show empathy!" To reinforce her point, Luna rolled her eyes. "Oh pssh. You'll have the time of your life here, I promise you that! If you get their respect..." She whispered the last part, though because Luna dwells during the night, she has adapted to have enhanced hearing. "If I get their respect? What does that mean?" Milky Way's eyes widens for a second, but then she regains her composure and continues to answer her questions. "Well, we Moon Ponies don't generally think kind of outsiders, sure, we love outsiders visiting us, however we don't have respect for them, princess or not." Luna contemplated how she would earn respect for a moment, before she decided to ask yet another question. "Well, just HOW would I earn their-" "WELP! No time for that, go see the innkeeper pronto! It's the tall building to your right, the dark side is coming. Everypony else get in your homes!" Milky Way rushed off before Luna could say anything else. The inn and the innkeeper huh? Might as well comply. Luna galloped to the building with the big sign marked "Tavern". When she got close to the doors, she noticed she could easily see inside since they were two folding half-doors. As she stepped inside, she took in all of the details. The tavern is dimly lit by candles, there are a few tables and chairs throughout the main floor. Behind the bar, there stands a moon pony with a strange dent in the top of his head. Assuming that he's the innkeeper, Luna approached him. She needs to know how to earn respect. "Hey, um, Innkeeper? I was wondering, how do I earn my place in Moon Town?" He slowly turns his head over as if he's balancing a pile of books. He looks her over with a neutral-aggressive look before responding. "Well... There is the weekly hurtle championships, and that's tomorrow. However It's not likely your going to win it, let alone get third place. Meteor Hooves always wins." "Time? Place? Do I have to sign up or anything? I must do whatever I can to fit in!" Luna slams her hoof on the counter to emphasize her point. What's the point of living here if I would just get rejected? The Innkeeper gives her a startled look, then rolls his eyes. He clearly doesn't like talking to Luna. "All you have to do is show up, pick a number, wait until your up, and chuck a fifty pound moon rock as high as you can." Hah! A puny rock is no match for my alicorn magic. Ace in the hole. Now, about that room. "That business aside, I need a room to stay in. I heard you have open suites?" Luna tried to imitate Comet Runner's pleading look, but it failed. "Bahahah, a suite? Hardly. How about a floor two den?" He stated, giving her a key, "You'll be nice and comfortable there. Now the bar is closing. Get in your room or get out!" Aww, he's such a gentlecolt. Not. Luna levitated the key and read the the inscription in the keychain. "Room 3", the lucky number. Luna headed up on the creaky staircase and guided herself to her room by counting down the other doors. Luna finally reached her room and inserted the key in the doorknob. With at twist, the door dramatically opened, revealing... A small bed made of hay with no pillow, and a torch high up in the room. she groaned in disgust at her sleeping environment. Truth be told, It's better than a rock bed. In resignation, she stepped in, closed the door behind her, and settled in the bed. She covered herself with hay and formed a pillow out of it. Tomorrow will be a piece of cake. She will surely be the belle of the ball. Thinking positive thoughts, Luna falls asleep with determination spread across her face. Luna groggily wakes up, then starts coughing. Pieces of hay flies out of her mouth, only to settle back down on her eyes. She proceeded to wipe a hoof across her face to not only get the hay off, but to slap herself awake. *CCHh*. "Ouch! I'm awake Tia! sheesh..." But then Luna realized she was banished. No need to fear her dear sister Tia. Though dear is stretching her definition of love. Luna kind of has a grudge on Celestia for the most obvious of reasons. Luna sat up and massaged her eyes with her magic. That's when someone started knocking on the door. "Hold on! I just woke up, give some time." Luna stood up and approached the door, yawning and opening it, revealing Comet Runner. "Heeyy, Luna," He drawled, "I heard from the Innkeeper that you were going to participate in the rock hurtle. Just some advice, don't look at Meteor Hooves's hooves, and you should be fine." He glanced at his hooves, looked back up at Luna, and made a throat-slitting gesture. "Okaaay. I get it. No need to make a scene. So It's today right? When will it start?" He looked shocked then spoke out in a rushed tone, "Oh you silly alicorn, It starts in ten minutes. Hope your ready! I'm going to go get first row in the crowd." With that, he rushed off leaving Luna both confused and shocked. She had to get there, and fast. There's no window in her 'den', so Luna decided to sprint out the tavern and find out where this event is being hosted. Luna dashed out the door, making sure to close it behind her, and jumped down from floor two to floor one in a single hop. Proceeding her marathon, she started flapping her wings to give her extra speed as she literally flew out the door. When outside, she looks from side to side, no sign of anypony on this street. She galloped the next, and that street is deserted as well. This would take a while. It's been seven minutes of searching, and Luna is about to give up. Approaching a wide intersection, she looks forward, nope. To the left, nope, and finally, to the right. A crowd of ponies that would upstage the crowd of her arrival stood in the middle of the street. Banners with rock decals filled the road. Luna quickly pushed herself past the crowd and spotted a table with numbers on it. She trotted over to it. "Hey, I'm going to participate, can you give me a number?" The two moon ponies behind the table looked as if they were going to burst out laughing, but they stopped, took deep breathes, and answered, "Yeah, heh, just pick a number of your choosing. Your number will signify when your up to throw." She scanned the numbers, finding one that sticks out. Number 3. Might as well match my room number, right? She grabbed it and scanned it. It has a strap so Luna assumes that she's supposed to put it around her neck, like her necklace. Once she finished putting it on, she looks over at the row of rocks and stretching athletes. Huge rocks, and even bigger competitors. One that stands out the most however, is a small pony, with a mane and tail resembling flames, and gigantic hooves. Luna is scared now. Those hooves of his will surely be tough to compete with, even if she does have magic. Looking back at the row of rocks, one of them had a sign labeled '3' in front of it. She trotted over to wait. "Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the hurtling championships. This week, we have a very special guest, our very own Princess Luna!" Both cheers and and boos can be heard from the crowd. It doesn't let Luna down. Nothing is going to stop her from winning over the moon ponies. "Since Princess Luna is an alicorn, I must inform her that, no magic or flying is allowed." No magic or flying is allowed... Since all of these ponies have no horns or wings, I should have suspected this. Young ignorance strikes again. It's not like Luna will lose, she's an alicorn! Surely she's stronger than any of these moon ponies. Except maybe Meteor Hooves. "Like always, number fifteen will go first." Oh surprise surprise, another surprise. Of course I'm nearly the last for maximum suspense. After two minutes of everypony stretching, the announcer finally called off the first thrower, "Thrower fifteen, you may begin." A moon pony with strange cup-like hooves far from Luna nodded and crouched down on her hindlegs, from there she picked up the rock with those strange hooves of hers, and strangely enough, started spinning. The rock, as big and misshaped as it was, stuck to her hooves as she spun faster and faster. In a flash, she did a wicked flip and chucked the rock far up in the air. Some ponies were moving a barrel where the rock is about to fall, and they backed away as the rock landed in it with a dull thud. "Fifteen feet! Oh the irony!" The announcer can be heard laughing even through the cheering. Each thrower went by, the competition coming closer to luna. Numbers fifteen through five never got higher than eighteen feet. Luna realizes she hasn't looked to see who numbers one or two yet. She spares a glance to her left, revealing the small pony with huge hooves and a very jagged pony with her tongue sticking out. She looks WAY too spiky to be considered an equine entity. With thrower four now done, It's Luna's turn. She gulps in anticipation and nervousness. "Princess Luna, A.K.A thrower three, your up. Try to beat eighteen feet." This was the moment of redemption. Win this and live happily ever after, at least that's how every other story goes. Luna bit her lip in utter concentration. She wraps herself around the rock, balances on her hindlegs, slumps the rock over her shoulders, and prepares for the throw. Come on stars. Don't fail me now. With a grunt, Luna crouched, and jumped in the air while launching her hooves up to propel the rock as far as possible. The rock flies high, higher than Luna has seen from any of the other ponies. The same barrel ponies get the rock. Wow... I never realized how strong I am. Woohoo! All of the ponies in the crowd don't even look surprised. Come to think of it, most of them are looking smugly at the small pony with big hooves... Wait, could he be... Meteor Hooves? Wow. "Twenty-three feet! Let's all watch nonchalantly as Meteor Hooves blows her score away!" The announcer sure didn't care about her good score. Meteor Hooves just pulled off the smile Luna is used to, and proceeds to pick up his rock. He looks over to her, his smug smile growing bigger. He lifted the rock up and threw it. It barely went high at all. The rock, according to Luna's estimations, went about ten feet. I won! but he reared his right front hoof to punch it. But before he could, a smooth, round, pebble somehow got under right hindleg and caused him to slip and fall, the rock landing on his legs. A bone-chilling snap can be heard throughout the hushed crowd. He screamed in agony, "My precious legs! They're broken! Somepony help me!" At his screams of help, the barrel ponies rush to him and picked him up. They rushed off into the distance while his screams can still be heard. The announcer decided to interrupt the moment of silence. "Well, Meteor Hooves has never lost before. That's... certainly troubling! Well, might as well see what score Shockwave gets." The spiky pony, Shockwave, actually got fourteen feet of height. This means that Luna just won the respect of her new town. Comet Runner came up to her and winked. The crowd started cheering her name. "Luunaa! Luunaa! Luunaa! The greatest moon pony that ever lived!" Tears of joy started to escape her eyes. She's usually not this emotional, but this is a special occasion. "There's your winner for this week! You better treat the new champion to a drink, cause she's got hooves of steel." The announcer stepped down from the podium and left the maintenance ponies to clean up as the crowd dispersed. "Well, Princess, how does it feel to be to respected?" Of course she knows the answer to this question. "It feels fine, though at the same time good. I'm so used to it, might as well stick to it right?" He nodded, then kept wearing that smile while talking. "Well, I still have a job to do, so I might see you sometime, maybe in a few days?" He ran off towards the edge of town before Luna could even reply. But that didn't matter right now. She's proud of her success, even if by default. Time to celebrate. Author's Note Chapter 2 is finally here, though I don't know how long 'finally' is for you, but there was a lot of character building in this chapter. With the introduction of lots of names, you probably noticed that they have names resembling space in some way. Critique please? Episode 2: Where Has the Cider Gone?The tavern is currently a lively place, filled with rowdy ponies that got worked up from the tournament just about two hours ago. Everypony was drunk on all kinds of cider and ale, whether it be wine or just beer. Laughing is the highlight of the commotion, being heard at all times. Luna sits on a stool in the center of the bar, a few glasses of wine around her. She isn't drunk and hampered like the rest of the moon ponies, she has had hundreds of years of drinking experience. It takes a lot more than just a few glasses to get her down in the hay. Moon ponies are all diverse, they all have different characteristics. Especially physical ones. For example, the innkeeper has a dent in his head so he can hold very special wine on the spot, which Luna drank a bowl straight from it. It looked weird at the time, but they all shared good laughs. Shockwave is sharp and smoothed out like that because she is a crater diver, another weird sport invented by these ponies. It's like sky diving, but they land in a pool every time so they don't have any safety gear. Comet Runner, Luna didn't know. He's very elusive, but those hoof holes mean something. Sure, they're queer, at least to her, but Luna can't disagree with their taste on partying. Even though the town has only been for a couple hours, the tavern ran out of drinks a while ago. Ponies are starting to get disappointed from the lack of beverages, some even went home early. Luna asked for another wine, but the innkeeper just shrugged. “Sorry princess, but we’re all out of... Well, everything.” Aww’s echo throughout the tavern as Luna pouts. A flashback popped up in her mind, ‘’ Maybe, I could help these ponies thrive by somehow getting more drinks. Now to only ask the innkeeper how. With the thought and plan completed, Luna turned to the innkeeper. “Hey, innkeeper, I never quite caught your name. Mind telling me?” Luna figured she get to know as many ponies as she can, besides, she’s tired of calling the innkeeper innkeeper. “It’s Moonshine. By the way, I’m pretty surprised you beat Meteor Hooves. It’s a shame his hindlegs got broken. I mean, if he doesn’t recover from that, he’ll lose his job! Not only that, It’s the only job he’s good at. I kind of feel bad for the fella.” True, Luna still wonders how that pebble was able to trip him, and how it got under his hoof in the first place. Back to the subject. “These ponies look pretty down that there’s no drinks. Don’t you have some kind of source where you get the supply? I could probably go fetch them, I don’t want anypony having a bad time just because of a shortage.” Moonshine nodded at that and responded with a chuckle. “Funny you should ask my name and ask our supply at the same time, for our main beverage is moonshine, and that can only be found deep within the moon in huge pools.” Luna was expecting a task with simplicity, like walking down town to fill a keg of it or something. Not a huge underground adventure! “Tell me. How hard, exactly, is it to get the moonshine?” He leaned back on one of his cabinets while looking at Luna smugly. “Very very hard. Only explorers are sent out to get supplies. Fun fact, most of our supplies comes from the underground moonshine or not.” Luna taps her chin in thought, only to be stabbed by her somewhat sharp hoof shoe. She winces, about to face-hoof at her mistake, then she realizes she would be stabbed again. “So uh, I wanna help out, but I don’t know these moon tunnels. Have any explorers that could come with me?” “For mercenary hiring, you’re gonna have to go see the mayor. I’m only the innkeeper remember?” “Mercenaries? No, simply an escort to guide my path.” Luna continued, “Besides, what does protection and fighting have anything to do with getting some moonshine?” Moonshine looks surprised, then his expression returns to normal. “Oh, I forgot that you’re new to the moon. Come to think of it, being an alicorn and all, you don’t need any mercenaries. Now shoo! We need that Moonshine!” Luna complied by walking out the door and setting out to find the mayor. It's going to be another long, fateful day of more searching. The streets, unlike the other two times, aren't very empty. There are groups of ponies hanging around the town, smiling, communicating, the norm of an average village back on Earth. Surprisingly, Luna found the mayor in only a few minutes. She's chatting with a few important-looking ponies. Luna walks over to Milky Way. Seeing her approach, Milky Way excuses herself from her companions. "Ahh, Luna! How's it going champion? I thought you were in the bar with the rest of the town partying." Luna shook her head and replied, "Oh, well I can explain that. You see, we ran out of drinks and I offered to go get some moonshine for Moonshine. I heard it was dangerous, and the fact that I don't even know where it is proves that I'm in need of an escort." Luna puts on an innocent smile to go with her reasoning. Milky Way nods in thought, then her expression changed to questioning. But Luna already knew what she was going to say, so she answers for her. "No, I'm pretty sure I don't need a mercenary for finding a pool." After all, pools don't tend to have some kind of defensive maneuvers for ponies trying to get some Moonshine. However there always is the possibility of monsters lurking their depths, waiting to snatch up the ponies, and brew them in a big tasty stew. Milky Way doesn't look surprised, but simply agrees by nodding. After a few seconds of silence, Milky appears to have finished her thinking and gives her conclusion to Luna. "Yeah, I'll get an explorer for you so he can guide you to the underground springs. Oh, and you might want to bring quite a bit of pottery to hold all of it. It's a journey you want to take the least amount of times." What's the big deal? Why is everypony making a big deal out of some underground network that may or not be a huge dangerous maze with endless pits. Bah, who am I to judge their safety measures. Luna snapped out of her pondering episode to see Milky Way talking to Comet Runner. How does time fly so fast when she thinks? She doesn't know. "Oh she needs a trusty explorer to help her out in this particular conundrum of ours? Well no worries! Comet Runner here gotcha covered." "Yeah, well, I don't really think you're qualified for the job. I'm sure she'll be better off with some other explorer." Milky Way tries to shoo Comet Runner away, but he stands his ground while at the same time noticing Luna standing in the background. He turns back to Milky Way with a sly grin. "Well, why don't you let Luna decide," he said, gesturing with his hoof to Luna's general direction. Milky Way turned around to look yonder as Luna started approaching. Comet Runner might not know the direction, but he's a nice stallion to keep company around, I would rather have a friend as company over a sense of direction With her thoughts and trot finished, she tells her plan to Milky Way. "I do not care what you think of him, however I enjoy his company anyways and I would like him to escort me through the strange mysterious tunnels of great Moon!" Milky Way looks confused, then Luna deadpans in response. "It was a joke. Still no response or recognition from the mayor. "You know, because you ponies keep saying It's all not fun or something?" That's when Milky realizes it. She scratches the back of her head then replies, "Oh, well... Comet should know the way, I guess. Oh, you should probably go to our general market and buy some pots, and if you don't have saddlebags, then buy saddlebags." It seems like an advertisement, but Luna knows she will indeed need those items. Following her suggestion, Luna walks to find the general store, only to realize that Comet Runner is here to guide her anywhere. Stopping in her tracks, Luna gives him an innocent smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where the general store is, do you?" "Well, duh. Just because I was, uhm, banished from the town for a while doesn't mean I don't know my way around." He turned and started trotting to the direction that Luna assumes where the general store is. She follows, making sure not to lose his tail as he makes quick turns every street. Eventually they arrived. The general store is a humble sight, a few barrels hang out by the front as two wooden columns hold up the sun roof. Comet Runner opens the door and gestures his hoof inside, wanting her to go first. She nods, thankful that he isn't rude like the others. There is stock, supplies, and other items out on display throughout the whole store. A single pony rests in a chair behind the counter reading a magazine. He looks up and smiles at her approach, Luna's eyes still browsing the various miscellaneous items. He closes his magazine and sits up, tapping two of his hooves together in anticipation. All ponies loved money, as Luna learned from the aristocracy system back in Equestria. Nobles and the like kept a tight coin pouch, proving their wealth to the princesses. while regular old traveling merchants kept a close eye on their money, they still traded. Not finding what she needed, she went up to the counter to ask the shopkeeper. "Nice to meet you, I'm Luna, and this is Comet Runner, and do you happen to have a large stock of pots or vases capable of holding large amounts of liquid?" The merchant listened intently and nodded to every word she uttered. While Luna was talking, he managed to pull out his full assortment of pottery, including lids. Luna's mouth is agape at how fast the shop owner was able to listen to what she wanted while preparing the items. "Well, you certainly are fast at multitasking. So how many bits does all of it cost?" He waves his hoof over the assembled pots as if casting a spell on it, then starts to give his bid. "Well, I would say ten pounds of meteorite, but I guess twelve is fine too, and what are bits? If they're anything like meteorite then I will gladly take them off your hooves." Luna shows him the three bits she always keeps in her mane not only for luck but in case of emergency. He inspects it closely, feeling it, and even going to tasting it. He finishes and sticks his tongue out in disgust. "No no, gold? Bah! Useless in Moon Town. I need meteorite. Come back when you actually have some." WHAT? How am I supposed to get meteorite? As if reading Luna's thoughts, Comet Runner leans in to whisper into her ear. "The caverns, there is lots of meteorite there. Maybe we can make a deal with this guy." He's right. If Luna can get the pottery first, get the moonshine, and harvest enough meteorite to pay off the merchant, It's a home run after that! She begins to voice her thoughts to the merchant. Reluctantly he agrees to the plan, giving her all of the pots, and even two pairs of saddlebags. "Remember, those saddlebags are another four pounds of meteorite. If you don't make it back, I guess I'll have to hire an explorer to loot my belongings off of your corpse. Have a nice time now!" the shopkeeper waves to her as she walks out, chilled to the bone by his dark sentence. While outside, Luna and Comet Runner put their pairs of saddlebags on and split the cargo. Being fully prepared, except where to go, Luna turns and bumps Comet Runner's back that tells him to lead the way. Trailing behind Comet, Luna is both nervous and excited about the coming adventure into the depths of the somewhat uncharted celestial body that is the moon. She has enough pottery to last the tavern a week, that is if she, A. brings it back, and B. if the tavern doesn't party for a while. Since ponies will be asking 'where has the rum gone?' It is Luna's duty to keep them alive and good-spirited. The journey begins. "Ecce cavernis vita!" Luna could never have been more confused in her entire life, and that's a long time. What did he just say? "Uhm, what the hay did you just say? Try enunciating your words sometime." "Oh, I couldn't have enunciated any more. It's actually 'behold the caverns of life' in Trotin. Ah, different languages, so random and fun." The reason he said that is because the two have finally arrived at the gaping cave entrance. It's maw revealing nothing but darkness. Comet Runner looked at Luna with a face that tells tales of frustration, yet also a hint of embarrassment. "Hey, Luna, No mean to burst your mood, but..." "Yes...?" "...I forgot to bring a lantern. Don't hate me!" Even though his words made him sound frightened, he's actually still smiling, though worry does slightly show on his face. Luna needs no lantern, as she knows many illumination spells. Luna sudden impulse to show him up by summoning a light orb. She focused her magic and weaved it into a floating orb of light that would follow them where they went. He looks impressed. Very impressed. His jaw is to the ground and his eyes sparkle in awe. Obviously moon ponies have never seen magic. Shaking his head Comet Runner composes himself. "Well then, we should be all set to go." He shuffles around on his hooves, looking back and forth between the cave entrance and Luna looking both nervous and eager. After a few more seconds of shifting, he finally speaks up. "Are you going to put that light orb thingy in there yet? I've been waiting." Oh, guess it makes sense. Following his directions, Luna controls the orb and brings it inside the cavern to provide plenty of light. His smile settles back into place as he walks into the cavern fast enough to look brave, but careful enough to look scared. Luna trots close behind, the orb giving a few meters of light where they face. Comet Runner stops, tapping his chin as he contemplates the path to the springs. There's a three-way intersection. The left one looking the least scary, and the right one looking utterly horrifying. Of course Comet Runner chooses the right path. "Springs are that'a way! Oh, good thing you have metal-clad shoes. You're going to have such a nice time down here." True to the fact that she is wearing her princess shoes, the right path is insanely spiky, a grunt can be heard from Comet every two steps he takes. The tunnel reminds Luna of Shockwave for some reason. Turns, spirals, and all kinds of loops and twists makes up most of the path they are taking. Comet Runner has been explaining to Luna why explorers are qualified to be explorers. They need very good memory, an agile body, and most importantly, survival skills. Turns out, the reason he got kicked out of town was because he failed to bring a shipment back. Pretty harsh if you ask her. Suddenly they stopped. A brilliant opening in the path reveals their destination. The pools shone, glowing mushrooms that drip a weird blue liquid fill the cavern. It's an amazing sight. The distinct scent of alcohol lingers in the air. It's the perfect place of tranquility. The only thing that could interrupt the peace would be... "RUN!" He screamed as he made a dash for the path from which they entered. Luna bolts for the exist just as fast as her alicorn reflexes kicks in. The reason for the interruption would be the ominous growling that seems to be heard from all sides. Even running away, the growling just gets louder. Luna is starting to sweat from the stress and tension of the pursuer. Comet Runner began running to the left, and so Luna followed his lead. After a few more steps, he cuts off his galloping and slides into a pony-sized crevice. But she's an alicorn. She's much bigger than normal ponies. She slides into the crevice too, but is stopped at the shoulders. Her magic is limited on the moon, but it's enough for a short range teleportation spell. She gulped and wished to be in there. Her life depends on it. The growling is quieter. She slowly opens her eyes, heart noticeably beating. Luna looks up to see Comet Runner in the corner staring at her, visibly shaking. "You survived! Woohoo! So you teleported in here?" "Shush! That monster, or whatever it was, could still be lurking around." She demanded in a hushed manner. Comet Runner saved her life by quick thinking. Under qualified? He's more than qualified for protection and guidance. The growling gradually faded in to the distance. Okay so it turns out these caves really are dangerous with mysterious monsters. Ugh, I should have payed attention. "Alright, Comet Runner? What in the blessed hay was that?" He simply shakes his head and responds, "You really don't want to know. I will tell you one thing though, you do not want to be caught near it. It messes with your mind. That's why it sounded like it was everywhere." Luna is dumbfounded. That creature messed with my mind? Is that even possible without unicorn magic and knowledge of a mind altering spell? "Well, what now?" He sighs and slowly slumps to the ground. The silence of the cave chilling the mood even further. "You're going to have to wait a while. I'm assuming that it went out to... feed... He snorted in disgust. "Wait, if hes out feeding, shouldn't we take this opportunity to go collect some Moonshine... and meteorite?" He just chuckles and shakes his head to go with his response. "Oh no. He falls into an incredibly deep sleep after feeding. Besides, we would be killed if we went there now. It doesn't take him THAT long to go get some food." Eh, makes sense. Luna collapses to the ground, making a thud echo throughout the safety hole. Comet Runner gasps and runs up to her, shaking her. Annoying her. "Would you stop! I'm trying to relax here." He continues to look worried, before he starts smiling. "I guess you aren't as boring as I thought. Surprises from you, surprises everywhere." A thought pops in Luna's mind. Turning to Comet, who is pacing a few feet from here, she relays her thoughts. "How long, exactly, will that thing be asleep?" "Pfft, easy. around a day." "Then I guess you won't mind if I take a nap." "Nope." "Then goodnight." "It's day." "Whatever!" Luna lays her head back down for a quick and much needed nap. The floor is uncomfortable, but Luna is used to that by now. May the stars be ever roaming in my dreams. She fades into unconsciousness. The last thing she sees is Comet sitting down. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. Screaming, rumbling, running. The fear of a thousand ponies, prowling through the night. The trembling of the environment, the squealing of doomed foals. Luna is helpless. She cannot help her fellow ponies. She must watch them all suffer underneath the cataclysmic monstrosity that is the creature. The nameless nightmare of all. After finishing off everypony else, the creature approaches Luna. A demonic snicker can be heard from all around. Luna can't move, she is sitting prey. The thing stops in front of Luna's muzzle... and whispers her fate. "WAKE UP!" Luna jumps up to smack straight into Comet's face. Sweat covers her body, her throat is sore. Comet is just a few inches away rubbing his muzzle, obviously in pain from her smack. The mini-cave they have been resting in is the same. Just a faint rumbling fading into nothing. He stutter-crawls over to her and puts a hoof over her shoulder. "You okay, I uh kind of forgot to tell you he gives really bad nightmares when he's nearby." Wow, really? I totally didn't see THAT coming. It's called sarcasm readers. Luna decides to bring her thoughts to his ears. She opens her mouth whilst simultaneously throwing her hooves in the air. "What? Do you have amnesia or something! That nightmare was absolutely terrible, and worst of all, Vivid." He gives her a sheepish smile and apologizes. After a moment of well-needed silence to get their bearings, Comet decides to get the hay out. "Alright. Luckily, I gathered around thirty pounds of meteorite while you were asleep. This cave we dived in has a lot. Now we just need to slip into the springs room, grab the moonshine, and high-tail it out of here." Luna nods as he starts wiggling out of the hole. Once he got through, Luna lays right next to the hole and teleports next to him. They begin trotting to the springs, passing by a few crevices similiar to their own every now and then. Luna notices that the cave looks different, more jagged. After a few paces, the duo finally arrive at the springs. Not wasting any time, they take out the pottery and start filling each with as much Moonshine as they can hold. Her newly filled saddlebags are considerably heavy. Looking over to Comet, who was already leaving, she begins a slow and laborious walk out. She gives the cave a once-over before heading out. Luna hopes with all of her heart that she doesn't have to face that evil creature again. To town.... they go. Ah, somewhat blissful civilization, we meet once again! Luna and Comet gallop into the town, eager to dump off the load of heavy meteorite and moonshine. Arriving at the tavern, Luna quickly swings the door open and leaps inside followed by Comet. "I'm Luna!" "And I'm Comet Runner!" Speaking together, "And we are the dynamic duo here with you-" "OKAY! I get it! Just hand over the precious money." Complying, Comet Runner walks up and dumps around half of his meteorite load. The merchant takes a minute to inspect the meteorite before accepting it. After a few comments exchanged, Luna quickly excuses Comet and herself out to the tavern. In only half a minute of sweaty sprinting, the two arrive at the deathly quiet inn. Luna and Comet step inside at the same time, revealing a few groups of bored-looking ponies and a couple ponies playing darts in the corner. Moonshine is cleaning glasses. Luna walks up to Moonshine with a grin that can compete with Comet Runner's smile. "Guess who brought the moonshine back?" Moonshine perks up and looks carefully at her saddlebags. Helping the two of them unload the pots of beverages, Moonshine surprisingly hugs them both. "Oh, however can I repay you? The deed you have done today will keep ponies full of good spirits for days to come!" Not wanting to feel needy, Luna refuses any form of favor or payment. "It's quite fine. Now, I hope you don't mind, but I need to hit the hay. I'm awfully exhausted from all of the adventuring tod-" Before Luna could even finish, the tavern doors swing open loudly as Mayor Milky flies in at an impressive speed. Coming to a complete halt, though it should be called crash, she looks up at Luna to speak. "I heard you came back! Well, not only have you proven our respect, you also managed to pull off a task of great magnitude! I, Mayor Milky Way, hereby decree Luna a free and tax free residence!" To finish her statement, she flings a key into Luna's face with great optimism. It stings. Levitating the key, Luna both thanks and questions the mayor to where her house is, to discover It's actually across the street from the tavern. "Like I was saying, I'm really tired. Thanks for the offer mayor, and everypony... See you sometime else?" With her goodbyes finished, she rushes to the rather big house across the street. She inserts the key, turns it, and opens the door to reveal a grand entrance room. Not bothering to take any more details due to the lack of sleep, she assumes the bedroom is upstairs and gives a few wing flaps to help her up. She turns to the left to discover the bathroom in the upstairs hallway, and turns to the right where a princess-sized bed awaits her. Gasping in glee, she belly-bombs it. Even with her saddlebags and shoes on, she drifts into tranquil sleep. The most exhausting day of her life soon to be over. No more monster dodging, rampaging dungeon raiding. Just at physical and mental peace at her pacific labors. Good night moon ponies. Author's Note PHEW! You wouldn't believe how long this took me to write. Oh, and surprise surprise, Starwing here manages to finish a chapter on time! This has a very unexpected word count. I kind of rushed it at the end, so if that causes any issues reading, sorry.
Rise of the Moon PoniesFour months. It's all Luna needs to snap. "Ay, when the moon shines the brightest, There is no place but the tides beneath the clear full moon, Where the glory of thy brilliant light is seen with interest!" Luna stumbled through the crater, singing her lungs out, trying to call out to home. To Celestia. "Those who stand in the way of the night swoon, At the sight of the stars, they tremble with fear, At first they loved us, tonight they only sneer. Now we simply shed a tear..." Luna trips over a moon rock and falls to the ground, then starts sobbing. Nopony loves her night. She spends so much work perfecting it and making it as beautiful as can be, but it's useless. She's all alone. No friends, not even family. That's not what bothers her. She's going to be so bored! She realizes crying would do her no good, so she stands up proud and looks off towards Equestria, before turning her head back to the plain moon she's standing on. "When I return, Tia, I will make sure to give you a thousand years of boredom! With my hoof!" She mutters, hanging her head down and trotting off to nowhere. "What to do, what to do, so much to do! Moon rocks over there, big and small! I can go sliding, hmm... That would hurt too much." Luna just keeps on trotting in no apparent direction while talking to herself. The hard, barren surface of the moon really does a number on hooves, as Luna is already exhausted within an hour. She sees a small crater within a crater. There's a nice collection of two rocks; One big and flat, and one small and curved. Coincidence or not, it's a great spot to rest, compared to the rest of the moon of course. Taking her shoes off, she ies down and gets comfortable on the rocks. She spares one final glance at home before dozing off into a sleep. Nothing had changed, the same old moon she has been living on for the past few months. Her neck is sore from the rock pillow; Other than her being recently refreshed from sleep, nothing had changed at all. Nothing except a pale pony staring at her. She falls off the rock mattress and looks up at the mysterious, pale pony. "GAH! Who-what-why?" Regaining her composure, Luna continues asking questions, this time using the royal Canterlot voice. Usually the royal voice would get answers out of ponies. Why not try it on the moon? "I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" Her loud words does nothing to to faze the strange pale pony. He continues staring unnervingly. As if he is watching her soul. The creepy smile that plastered his face disturbs her to a great extent. He stirs, then opens his mouth to utter the most unexpected words Luna has ever heard. "Welcome to the land of grey, the city of twilight, crescent village... or as it is locally known, Moon Town." He shifts his eyes from her face to her mane, searching it thoroughly before his eyes soon widen in realization. "The ruler of the night!" The pale pony starts shouting, seemingly calling out to other ponies, "Princess Luna graces our prescence with a visit! Praise the comets!" Luna knows that everypony knows who she is - but ponies on the moon? How does he know who she is? It makes sense that ponies living on the moon should know who raises the moon, but it's still strange all together. "How are you on the moon? Shouldn't you be in Equestria? I-I wha- HUH?" Luna starts struggling with words, shocked how anypony else could be on the moon with her. She's banished from Equestria, in complete isolation. The only pony that has ever been banished in fact. The fact that there's another living creature up here makes no sense. The pale pony just has a big, manic grin on his face. Luna took the moment of odd silence to inspect him. No mane, no tail, half of his face has a grayish hue to it. His cutie mark is of the moon with several craters lined in a specific patterns, shaping out to be an arrow. The strangest part of him was that he had holes in his hooves. "Princess Luna! I formally invite you to Moon Town, may we be graced by your grandeur?" His smile fades and his expression transforms into foalish pleading eyes with a frown. He starts biting his lip to add to the show. Luna narrows her eyes as if interrogating him. Pleading never works on Luna as she is a master illusionist. She can decipher any form of mendacity if the task need be. "You! You're some kind of anti-changeling aren't you! No wings or horn, no features, aside from the cutie mark, holes in hooves, it all adds up!" The mysterious pony just shoots her a deadpan look. "What the dust is a changeling!? I'm a moon pony if you haven't figured that out already, Princess. And what about my hoof holes? It's not a liability, if that's what your thinking!" His voice started to increase in tone, he's clearly getting frustrated. Luna didn't know a pony that smiles so much could even get mad in any way. "Sorry about the outburst. I sort of dislike changelings. they're so gross, not to mention most of them are pure evil. Ugh, they give me the wiggles." At that notion, Luna shivered. The last thing she needed was changelings to invade her space while trapped on the moon. "Well back to the main point, come visit our town!" He looked around, as if he's nervous that someone is listening in. He stepped closer and cuffed his hooves over his mouth before he turned to Luna's ear and whispered, "We really need the morale. Ponies have been saying that it's been dull recently." "Dull?" "Dull..." "Why so much emphasis on dull, and why are you whispering it?" "Ssshh! Don't say it so much! We thrive on excitement, joy, and suspense. We can't have things get boring around here," He transitioned from a serious tone to a dramatic and happy-go-lucky voice, "But enough of all that mood-killer stuff! We can discuss more of the personal business after the town has met you, and might I say that Shining Star would just love to do things with your mane." The final sentence he voiced sent a disturbing chill through Luna. Somepony doing stuff with her mane? No dice. With his speech finished, the name-less acquaintance took her hoof to pull her outside. "Hey! I need to put my royal shoes on." He replied by staring at her flatly, taking a step back, and waiting. Luna quickly levitated the shoes and pressed each one into the according hoof. Once she was finished, she nodded, and he started beaming again. Then he threw his forelegs into the air and announced with mocking volume, "I shall lead the way, as you probably don't know where our great civilization is. Come Stella, we haven't had visitors in such a long time. "Wait, what? I'm confused, who's Stella?" He turned back to Luna, the same smile on his face as before, but a bit more crooked. "Oh, can't we have fun and change names every now and then? I say Stella suits you just as well as Luna." Luna put a hoof to her mouth and scrunched her face in thought. "Nah... I'm pretty sure I prefer Luna. That's my name, after all." They then start walking off towards the village of his. The stranger was indeed strange, and compared to every pony else, bonkers. The moon, as beautiful as it is from a distance, is a bland place. What else could she do other than follow him to Moon Town? She has a thousand years ahead of her, and she might as well make the most of it. Anything could happen to Luna, and quite frankly, she likes it. Author's Note Judge me!
Episode 1: When Rocks FlyLuna has been following him for about half an hour. Still no sign of a 'Moon Town'. She begins to question his angle. The moon isn't that big, so it wouldn't take this long in one direction to get somewhere. Still, who is she to question a moon resident? After another five minutes of walking, Luna starts getting impatient. "Hey, Mr. No-Name, where exactly is Moon Town? We've been walking for quite a long time." He stops abruptly, which causes Luna to run headfirst into his back and face-plant the ground. Out of all the times to fall face first on the ground, it has to be in front of somepony else. She looks up at his face, the smile replaced by a worried expression. "Ooooo, sorry about that. I thought you had some kind of psychic sense that reads minds or something; after all you are the princess!" Unlike before, instead of helping her up, he just kept standing there. How rude. She stood up and feels her head with a hoof. It hurts pretty bad, and that's not even by princess standards. "Eh, anyways, I hope the village you keep smiling on about is worth it. My hooves are starting to itch from the endless trotting." He frowns at that, as if he looks down on her for being fragile. Luna and the stranger keep staring at each other, both waiting for a response from the other. Luna decides to go first. "If you think I'm weak and fragile, then you are mistaken. I'm a princess and an alicorn at that; I'm pretty sure I could handle myself in most any situation. My hooves just aren't used to all this walking. Not to be a drama queen, but when are we getting there?" Now he just looks confused. He opens his mouth to say something, pauses, then let's out a barrage of words. "Well, if you're a princess and a previous ruler of a kingdom, then shouldn't you have A. a longer attention span, B. More patience, and C. Complain a bit less for an almighty being." Luna's jaw falls to the ground from his criticism. Never before has she been insulted so much at a given time before. She is about to go 'banishment mode' on him before she realizes that it would be wrong, pointless, and honestly stupid. He holds his head high, showing that he regrets nothing. She sighs and gives in to his opinion. "You're right, hopefully spending years on the moon will teach me to stop acting royal and uptight." He opens his eyes and waits a moment before he starts smiling again. The. Same. Smile. Luna can tell she's already growing on it. There was just something about him, like he stood out even from his own kind, even though Luna hasn't met any other Moon Ponies. They continued walking. When Luna looked back, the dark side of the moon was approaching. They better hurry up. After a while of trotting, Luna got bored and decided to strike up an obvious and long waited question. "So Moon Pony, I never caught your name, what's the deal?" True that the stranger never told her his name. crazy or not, a name to be called by is a necessity. Even though Luna is behind him and can only see the top of his head and his back, she can tell he has a smug grin on right now. "You'll find out in time Luna, perhaps once you get to know us humble moon ponies?" Luna just let out a soft groan, making sure he can't hear it. He's hiding too much information. The duo continue trotting off in silence towards Moon Town. Structures. It felt like eternity, but now there's finally proof of civilization! Luna is ecstatic! Never before has she been so excited, while on the moon of course. Now she has a grin as big as the stranger's. The moment is nearing. If she can somehow fit in with these ponies, she will be able to pass the time until she manages to escape banishment. "BOO!" "Gah!" Luna jumped a few feet from the sudden voice interrupting her thoughts. Oh that guy is in for a prank now, nopony teases Luna without getting hit back. He turned around, his grin, as big as it was already, now took up most of his face. "Aw, did I startle you? The tranquility was starting to kill me. Well, enough of the silliness. Moon Town awaits your arrival!" He stood up on his hindlegs somehow, and gestured yonder with his hoof to the nearly visible village that Luna has been awaiting. Even though she has seen much nicer cities, from months on the moon, this village looks like a castle to her. He stood back down, and began galloping towards the town. She followed close behind. When the outermost buildings surrounded the two, ponies that looked similar to the stranger started peeking out of windows, some coming out of their homes to view the spectacle. Oh, and by similar, not very similar at all. They have manes, tails, and they also have normal hooves. When they galopped a few more feet, Luna and her escort were surrounded by semi-gray moon ponies. Half of them had their mouths open and staring wide eyed, the other half shook their heads as if what they were seeing isn't real. What Luna didn't expect, is that they didn't even bow down. Sure, they were all shocked in the presence of royalty, but they didn't even acknowledge her power. Oddly enough, she wasn't just fine with it, but she liked it. Sometimes being over treated can be tiring. Then a moon pony who stood out from the rest in the front of the crowd took a few steeps forward. She has a purple and silver mane shaped like a nebulae, a tail that resembles a group of shooting stars, and a cutie mark of the sun behind the moon, making a solar eclipse. She looked from Luna to the stranger then opens her mouth. "Comet Runner, looks like your not useless after all. You have found and brought us the great Princess Luna. You are now welcome back to Moon Town," she turns her head from Comet Runner to Luna, "As for you Princess, thank you for visiting us, or is this involuntary? Something tells me your stuck here." Is she a mind reader or something? How does she know I'm banished here? "Well, yes I am here, I'm here because I'm banished. Oh, also because Comet Runner found me and brought me here. So I'm assuming your the leader, or mayor, or whatever?" She smiled, and hay, Luna is getting used to the endless grins wherever she turns. She took another step forward and put a hoof to her chest, and boasted, "Why yes, I am Mayor Milky Way. I guess you COULD call me leader, however I'm more of a representative, but I'm glad you were banished here! You can stay with us during your stay! Oh the joy of having the princess in Moon Town! So much fun!" Luna gave Milky Way a flat look with her ears drooped. "You're glad, that I got banished, for a thousand years? Way to show empathy!" To reinforce her point, Luna rolled her eyes. "Oh pssh. You'll have the time of your life here, I promise you that! If you get their respect..." She whispered the last part, though because Luna dwells during the night, she has adapted to have enhanced hearing. "If I get their respect? What does that mean?" Milky Way's eyes widens for a second, but then she regains her composure and continues to answer her questions. "Well, we Moon Ponies don't generally think kind of outsiders, sure, we love outsiders visiting us, however we don't have respect for them, princess or not." Luna contemplated how she would earn respect for a moment, before she decided to ask yet another question. "Well, just HOW would I earn their-" "WELP! No time for that, go see the innkeeper pronto! It's the tall building to your right, the dark side is coming. Everypony else get in your homes!" Milky Way rushed off before Luna could say anything else. The inn and the innkeeper huh? Might as well comply. Luna galloped to the building with the big sign marked "Tavern". When she got close to the doors, she noticed she could easily see inside since they were two folding half-doors. As she stepped inside, she took in all of the details. The tavern is dimly lit by candles, there are a few tables and chairs throughout the main floor. Behind the bar, there stands a moon pony with a strange dent in the top of his head. Assuming that he's the innkeeper, Luna approached him. She needs to know how to earn respect. "Hey, um, Innkeeper? I was wondering, how do I earn my place in Moon Town?" He slowly turns his head over as if he's balancing a pile of books. He looks her over with a neutral-aggressive look before responding. "Well... There is the weekly hurtle championships, and that's tomorrow. However It's not likely your going to win it, let alone get third place. Meteor Hooves always wins." "Time? Place? Do I have to sign up or anything? I must do whatever I can to fit in!" Luna slams her hoof on the counter to emphasize her point. What's the point of living here if I would just get rejected? The Innkeeper gives her a startled look, then rolls his eyes. He clearly doesn't like talking to Luna. "All you have to do is show up, pick a number, wait until your up, and chuck a fifty pound moon rock as high as you can." Hah! A puny rock is no match for my alicorn magic. Ace in the hole. Now, about that room. "That business aside, I need a room to stay in. I heard you have open suites?" Luna tried to imitate Comet Runner's pleading look, but it failed. "Bahahah, a suite? Hardly. How about a floor two den?" He stated, giving her a key, "You'll be nice and comfortable there. Now the bar is closing. Get in your room or get out!" Aww, he's such a gentlecolt. Not. Luna levitated the key and read the the inscription in the keychain. "Room 3", the lucky number. Luna headed up on the creaky staircase and guided herself to her room by counting down the other doors. Luna finally reached her room and inserted the key in the doorknob. With at twist, the door dramatically opened, revealing... A small bed made of hay with no pillow, and a torch high up in the room. she groaned in disgust at her sleeping environment. Truth be told, It's better than a rock bed. In resignation, she stepped in, closed the door behind her, and settled in the bed. She covered herself with hay and formed a pillow out of it. Tomorrow will be a piece of cake. She will surely be the belle of the ball. Thinking positive thoughts, Luna falls asleep with determination spread across her face. Luna groggily wakes up, then starts coughing. Pieces of hay flies out of her mouth, only to settle back down on her eyes. She proceeded to wipe a hoof across her face to not only get the hay off, but to slap herself awake. *CCHh*. "Ouch! I'm awake Tia! sheesh..." But then Luna realized she was banished. No need to fear her dear sister Tia. Though dear is stretching her definition of love. Luna kind of has a grudge on Celestia for the most obvious of reasons. Luna sat up and massaged her eyes with her magic. That's when someone started knocking on the door. "Hold on! I just woke up, give some time." Luna stood up and approached the door, yawning and opening it, revealing Comet Runner. "Heeyy, Luna," He drawled, "I heard from the Innkeeper that you were going to participate in the rock hurtle. Just some advice, don't look at Meteor Hooves's hooves, and you should be fine." He glanced at his hooves, looked back up at Luna, and made a throat-slitting gesture. "Okaaay. I get it. No need to make a scene. So It's today right? When will it start?" He looked shocked then spoke out in a rushed tone, "Oh you silly alicorn, It starts in ten minutes. Hope your ready! I'm going to go get first row in the crowd." With that, he rushed off leaving Luna both confused and shocked. She had to get there, and fast. There's no window in her 'den', so Luna decided to sprint out the tavern and find out where this event is being hosted. Luna dashed out the door, making sure to close it behind her, and jumped down from floor two to floor one in a single hop. Proceeding her marathon, she started flapping her wings to give her extra speed as she literally flew out the door. When outside, she looks from side to side, no sign of anypony on this street. She galloped the next, and that street is deserted as well. This would take a while. It's been seven minutes of searching, and Luna is about to give up. Approaching a wide intersection, she looks forward, nope. To the left, nope, and finally, to the right. A crowd of ponies that would upstage the crowd of her arrival stood in the middle of the street. Banners with rock decals filled the road. Luna quickly pushed herself past the crowd and spotted a table with numbers on it. She trotted over to it. "Hey, I'm going to participate, can you give me a number?" The two moon ponies behind the table looked as if they were going to burst out laughing, but they stopped, took deep breathes, and answered, "Yeah, heh, just pick a number of your choosing. Your number will signify when your up to throw." She scanned the numbers, finding one that sticks out. Number 3. Might as well match my room number, right? She grabbed it and scanned it. It has a strap so Luna assumes that she's supposed to put it around her neck, like her necklace. Once she finished putting it on, she looks over at the row of rocks and stretching athletes. Huge rocks, and even bigger competitors. One that stands out the most however, is a small pony, with a mane and tail resembling flames, and gigantic hooves. Luna is scared now. Those hooves of his will surely be tough to compete with, even if she does have magic. Looking back at the row of rocks, one of them had a sign labeled '3' in front of it. She trotted over to wait. "Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the hurtling championships. This week, we have a very special guest, our very own Princess Luna!" Both cheers and and boos can be heard from the crowd. It doesn't let Luna down. Nothing is going to stop her from winning over the moon ponies. "Since Princess Luna is an alicorn, I must inform her that, no magic or flying is allowed." No magic or flying is allowed... Since all of these ponies have no horns or wings, I should have suspected this. Young ignorance strikes again. It's not like Luna will lose, she's an alicorn! Surely she's stronger than any of these moon ponies. Except maybe Meteor Hooves. "Like always, number fifteen will go first." Oh surprise surprise, another surprise. Of course I'm nearly the last for maximum suspense. After two minutes of everypony stretching, the announcer finally called off the first thrower, "Thrower fifteen, you may begin." A moon pony with strange cup-like hooves far from Luna nodded and crouched down on her hindlegs, from there she picked up the rock with those strange hooves of hers, and strangely enough, started spinning. The rock, as big and misshaped as it was, stuck to her hooves as she spun faster and faster. In a flash, she did a wicked flip and chucked the rock far up in the air. Some ponies were moving a barrel where the rock is about to fall, and they backed away as the rock landed in it with a dull thud. "Fifteen feet! Oh the irony!" The announcer can be heard laughing even through the cheering. Each thrower went by, the competition coming closer to luna. Numbers fifteen through five never got higher than eighteen feet. Luna realizes she hasn't looked to see who numbers one or two yet. She spares a glance to her left, revealing the small pony with huge hooves and a very jagged pony with her tongue sticking out. She looks WAY too spiky to be considered an equine entity. With thrower four now done, It's Luna's turn. She gulps in anticipation and nervousness. "Princess Luna, A.K.A thrower three, your up. Try to beat eighteen feet." This was the moment of redemption. Win this and live happily ever after, at least that's how every other story goes. Luna bit her lip in utter concentration. She wraps herself around the rock, balances on her hindlegs, slumps the rock over her shoulders, and prepares for the throw. Come on stars. Don't fail me now. With a grunt, Luna crouched, and jumped in the air while launching her hooves up to propel the rock as far as possible. The rock flies high, higher than Luna has seen from any of the other ponies. The same barrel ponies get the rock. Wow... I never realized how strong I am. Woohoo! All of the ponies in the crowd don't even look surprised. Come to think of it, most of them are looking smugly at the small pony with big hooves... Wait, could he be... Meteor Hooves? Wow. "Twenty-three feet! Let's all watch nonchalantly as Meteor Hooves blows her score away!" The announcer sure didn't care about her good score. Meteor Hooves just pulled off the smile Luna is used to, and proceeds to pick up his rock. He looks over to her, his smug smile growing bigger. He lifted the rock up and threw it. It barely went high at all. The rock, according to Luna's estimations, went about ten feet. I won! but he reared his right front hoof to punch it. But before he could, a smooth, round, pebble somehow got under right hindleg and caused him to slip and fall, the rock landing on his legs. A bone-chilling snap can be heard throughout the hushed crowd. He screamed in agony, "My precious legs! They're broken! Somepony help me!" At his screams of help, the barrel ponies rush to him and picked him up. They rushed off into the distance while his screams can still be heard. The announcer decided to interrupt the moment of silence. "Well, Meteor Hooves has never lost before. That's... certainly troubling! Well, might as well see what score Shockwave gets." The spiky pony, Shockwave, actually got fourteen feet of height. This means that Luna just won the respect of her new town. Comet Runner came up to her and winked. The crowd started cheering her name. "Luunaa! Luunaa! Luunaa! The greatest moon pony that ever lived!" Tears of joy started to escape her eyes. She's usually not this emotional, but this is a special occasion. "There's your winner for this week! You better treat the new champion to a drink, cause she's got hooves of steel." The announcer stepped down from the podium and left the maintenance ponies to clean up as the crowd dispersed. "Well, Princess, how does it feel to be to respected?" Of course she knows the answer to this question. "It feels fine, though at the same time good. I'm so used to it, might as well stick to it right?" He nodded, then kept wearing that smile while talking. "Well, I still have a job to do, so I might see you sometime, maybe in a few days?" He ran off towards the edge of town before Luna could even reply. But that didn't matter right now. She's proud of her success, even if by default. Time to celebrate. Author's Note Chapter 2 is finally here, though I don't know how long 'finally' is for you, but there was a lot of character building in this chapter. With the introduction of lots of names, you probably noticed that they have names resembling space in some way. Critique please?
Episode 2: Where Has the Cider Gone?The tavern is currently a lively place, filled with rowdy ponies that got worked up from the tournament just about two hours ago. Everypony was drunk on all kinds of cider and ale, whether it be wine or just beer. Laughing is the highlight of the commotion, being heard at all times. Luna sits on a stool in the center of the bar, a few glasses of wine around her. She isn't drunk and hampered like the rest of the moon ponies, she has had hundreds of years of drinking experience. It takes a lot more than just a few glasses to get her down in the hay. Moon ponies are all diverse, they all have different characteristics. Especially physical ones. For example, the innkeeper has a dent in his head so he can hold very special wine on the spot, which Luna drank a bowl straight from it. It looked weird at the time, but they all shared good laughs. Shockwave is sharp and smoothed out like that because she is a crater diver, another weird sport invented by these ponies. It's like sky diving, but they land in a pool every time so they don't have any safety gear. Comet Runner, Luna didn't know. He's very elusive, but those hoof holes mean something. Sure, they're queer, at least to her, but Luna can't disagree with their taste on partying. Even though the town has only been for a couple hours, the tavern ran out of drinks a while ago. Ponies are starting to get disappointed from the lack of beverages, some even went home early. Luna asked for another wine, but the innkeeper just shrugged. “Sorry princess, but we’re all out of... Well, everything.” Aww’s echo throughout the tavern as Luna pouts. A flashback popped up in her mind, ‘’ Maybe, I could help these ponies thrive by somehow getting more drinks. Now to only ask the innkeeper how. With the thought and plan completed, Luna turned to the innkeeper. “Hey, innkeeper, I never quite caught your name. Mind telling me?” Luna figured she get to know as many ponies as she can, besides, she’s tired of calling the innkeeper innkeeper. “It’s Moonshine. By the way, I’m pretty surprised you beat Meteor Hooves. It’s a shame his hindlegs got broken. I mean, if he doesn’t recover from that, he’ll lose his job! Not only that, It’s the only job he’s good at. I kind of feel bad for the fella.” True, Luna still wonders how that pebble was able to trip him, and how it got under his hoof in the first place. Back to the subject. “These ponies look pretty down that there’s no drinks. Don’t you have some kind of source where you get the supply? I could probably go fetch them, I don’t want anypony having a bad time just because of a shortage.” Moonshine nodded at that and responded with a chuckle. “Funny you should ask my name and ask our supply at the same time, for our main beverage is moonshine, and that can only be found deep within the moon in huge pools.” Luna was expecting a task with simplicity, like walking down town to fill a keg of it or something. Not a huge underground adventure! “Tell me. How hard, exactly, is it to get the moonshine?” He leaned back on one of his cabinets while looking at Luna smugly. “Very very hard. Only explorers are sent out to get supplies. Fun fact, most of our supplies comes from the underground moonshine or not.” Luna taps her chin in thought, only to be stabbed by her somewhat sharp hoof shoe. She winces, about to face-hoof at her mistake, then she realizes she would be stabbed again. “So uh, I wanna help out, but I don’t know these moon tunnels. Have any explorers that could come with me?” “For mercenary hiring, you’re gonna have to go see the mayor. I’m only the innkeeper remember?” “Mercenaries? No, simply an escort to guide my path.” Luna continued, “Besides, what does protection and fighting have anything to do with getting some moonshine?” Moonshine looks surprised, then his expression returns to normal. “Oh, I forgot that you’re new to the moon. Come to think of it, being an alicorn and all, you don’t need any mercenaries. Now shoo! We need that Moonshine!” Luna complied by walking out the door and setting out to find the mayor. It's going to be another long, fateful day of more searching. The streets, unlike the other two times, aren't very empty. There are groups of ponies hanging around the town, smiling, communicating, the norm of an average village back on Earth. Surprisingly, Luna found the mayor in only a few minutes. She's chatting with a few important-looking ponies. Luna walks over to Milky Way. Seeing her approach, Milky Way excuses herself from her companions. "Ahh, Luna! How's it going champion? I thought you were in the bar with the rest of the town partying." Luna shook her head and replied, "Oh, well I can explain that. You see, we ran out of drinks and I offered to go get some moonshine for Moonshine. I heard it was dangerous, and the fact that I don't even know where it is proves that I'm in need of an escort." Luna puts on an innocent smile to go with her reasoning. Milky Way nods in thought, then her expression changed to questioning. But Luna already knew what she was going to say, so she answers for her. "No, I'm pretty sure I don't need a mercenary for finding a pool." After all, pools don't tend to have some kind of defensive maneuvers for ponies trying to get some Moonshine. However there always is the possibility of monsters lurking their depths, waiting to snatch up the ponies, and brew them in a big tasty stew. Milky Way doesn't look surprised, but simply agrees by nodding. After a few seconds of silence, Milky appears to have finished her thinking and gives her conclusion to Luna. "Yeah, I'll get an explorer for you so he can guide you to the underground springs. Oh, and you might want to bring quite a bit of pottery to hold all of it. It's a journey you want to take the least amount of times." What's the big deal? Why is everypony making a big deal out of some underground network that may or not be a huge dangerous maze with endless pits. Bah, who am I to judge their safety measures. Luna snapped out of her pondering episode to see Milky Way talking to Comet Runner. How does time fly so fast when she thinks? She doesn't know. "Oh she needs a trusty explorer to help her out in this particular conundrum of ours? Well no worries! Comet Runner here gotcha covered." "Yeah, well, I don't really think you're qualified for the job. I'm sure she'll be better off with some other explorer." Milky Way tries to shoo Comet Runner away, but he stands his ground while at the same time noticing Luna standing in the background. He turns back to Milky Way with a sly grin. "Well, why don't you let Luna decide," he said, gesturing with his hoof to Luna's general direction. Milky Way turned around to look yonder as Luna started approaching. Comet Runner might not know the direction, but he's a nice stallion to keep company around, I would rather have a friend as company over a sense of direction With her thoughts and trot finished, she tells her plan to Milky Way. "I do not care what you think of him, however I enjoy his company anyways and I would like him to escort me through the strange mysterious tunnels of great Moon!" Milky Way looks confused, then Luna deadpans in response. "It was a joke. Still no response or recognition from the mayor. "You know, because you ponies keep saying It's all not fun or something?" That's when Milky realizes it. She scratches the back of her head then replies, "Oh, well... Comet should know the way, I guess. Oh, you should probably go to our general market and buy some pots, and if you don't have saddlebags, then buy saddlebags." It seems like an advertisement, but Luna knows she will indeed need those items. Following her suggestion, Luna walks to find the general store, only to realize that Comet Runner is here to guide her anywhere. Stopping in her tracks, Luna gives him an innocent smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where the general store is, do you?" "Well, duh. Just because I was, uhm, banished from the town for a while doesn't mean I don't know my way around." He turned and started trotting to the direction that Luna assumes where the general store is. She follows, making sure not to lose his tail as he makes quick turns every street. Eventually they arrived. The general store is a humble sight, a few barrels hang out by the front as two wooden columns hold up the sun roof. Comet Runner opens the door and gestures his hoof inside, wanting her to go first. She nods, thankful that he isn't rude like the others. There is stock, supplies, and other items out on display throughout the whole store. A single pony rests in a chair behind the counter reading a magazine. He looks up and smiles at her approach, Luna's eyes still browsing the various miscellaneous items. He closes his magazine and sits up, tapping two of his hooves together in anticipation. All ponies loved money, as Luna learned from the aristocracy system back in Equestria. Nobles and the like kept a tight coin pouch, proving their wealth to the princesses. while regular old traveling merchants kept a close eye on their money, they still traded. Not finding what she needed, she went up to the counter to ask the shopkeeper. "Nice to meet you, I'm Luna, and this is Comet Runner, and do you happen to have a large stock of pots or vases capable of holding large amounts of liquid?" The merchant listened intently and nodded to every word she uttered. While Luna was talking, he managed to pull out his full assortment of pottery, including lids. Luna's mouth is agape at how fast the shop owner was able to listen to what she wanted while preparing the items. "Well, you certainly are fast at multitasking. So how many bits does all of it cost?" He waves his hoof over the assembled pots as if casting a spell on it, then starts to give his bid. "Well, I would say ten pounds of meteorite, but I guess twelve is fine too, and what are bits? If they're anything like meteorite then I will gladly take them off your hooves." Luna shows him the three bits she always keeps in her mane not only for luck but in case of emergency. He inspects it closely, feeling it, and even going to tasting it. He finishes and sticks his tongue out in disgust. "No no, gold? Bah! Useless in Moon Town. I need meteorite. Come back when you actually have some." WHAT? How am I supposed to get meteorite? As if reading Luna's thoughts, Comet Runner leans in to whisper into her ear. "The caverns, there is lots of meteorite there. Maybe we can make a deal with this guy." He's right. If Luna can get the pottery first, get the moonshine, and harvest enough meteorite to pay off the merchant, It's a home run after that! She begins to voice her thoughts to the merchant. Reluctantly he agrees to the plan, giving her all of the pots, and even two pairs of saddlebags. "Remember, those saddlebags are another four pounds of meteorite. If you don't make it back, I guess I'll have to hire an explorer to loot my belongings off of your corpse. Have a nice time now!" the shopkeeper waves to her as she walks out, chilled to the bone by his dark sentence. While outside, Luna and Comet Runner put their pairs of saddlebags on and split the cargo. Being fully prepared, except where to go, Luna turns and bumps Comet Runner's back that tells him to lead the way. Trailing behind Comet, Luna is both nervous and excited about the coming adventure into the depths of the somewhat uncharted celestial body that is the moon. She has enough pottery to last the tavern a week, that is if she, A. brings it back, and B. if the tavern doesn't party for a while. Since ponies will be asking 'where has the rum gone?' It is Luna's duty to keep them alive and good-spirited. The journey begins. "Ecce cavernis vita!" Luna could never have been more confused in her entire life, and that's a long time. What did he just say? "Uhm, what the hay did you just say? Try enunciating your words sometime." "Oh, I couldn't have enunciated any more. It's actually 'behold the caverns of life' in Trotin. Ah, different languages, so random and fun." The reason he said that is because the two have finally arrived at the gaping cave entrance. It's maw revealing nothing but darkness. Comet Runner looked at Luna with a face that tells tales of frustration, yet also a hint of embarrassment. "Hey, Luna, No mean to burst your mood, but..." "Yes...?" "...I forgot to bring a lantern. Don't hate me!" Even though his words made him sound frightened, he's actually still smiling, though worry does slightly show on his face. Luna needs no lantern, as she knows many illumination spells. Luna sudden impulse to show him up by summoning a light orb. She focused her magic and weaved it into a floating orb of light that would follow them where they went. He looks impressed. Very impressed. His jaw is to the ground and his eyes sparkle in awe. Obviously moon ponies have never seen magic. Shaking his head Comet Runner composes himself. "Well then, we should be all set to go." He shuffles around on his hooves, looking back and forth between the cave entrance and Luna looking both nervous and eager. After a few more seconds of shifting, he finally speaks up. "Are you going to put that light orb thingy in there yet? I've been waiting." Oh, guess it makes sense. Following his directions, Luna controls the orb and brings it inside the cavern to provide plenty of light. His smile settles back into place as he walks into the cavern fast enough to look brave, but careful enough to look scared. Luna trots close behind, the orb giving a few meters of light where they face. Comet Runner stops, tapping his chin as he contemplates the path to the springs. There's a three-way intersection. The left one looking the least scary, and the right one looking utterly horrifying. Of course Comet Runner chooses the right path. "Springs are that'a way! Oh, good thing you have metal-clad shoes. You're going to have such a nice time down here." True to the fact that she is wearing her princess shoes, the right path is insanely spiky, a grunt can be heard from Comet every two steps he takes. The tunnel reminds Luna of Shockwave for some reason. Turns, spirals, and all kinds of loops and twists makes up most of the path they are taking. Comet Runner has been explaining to Luna why explorers are qualified to be explorers. They need very good memory, an agile body, and most importantly, survival skills. Turns out, the reason he got kicked out of town was because he failed to bring a shipment back. Pretty harsh if you ask her. Suddenly they stopped. A brilliant opening in the path reveals their destination. The pools shone, glowing mushrooms that drip a weird blue liquid fill the cavern. It's an amazing sight. The distinct scent of alcohol lingers in the air. It's the perfect place of tranquility. The only thing that could interrupt the peace would be... "RUN!" He screamed as he made a dash for the path from which they entered. Luna bolts for the exist just as fast as her alicorn reflexes kicks in. The reason for the interruption would be the ominous growling that seems to be heard from all sides. Even running away, the growling just gets louder. Luna is starting to sweat from the stress and tension of the pursuer. Comet Runner began running to the left, and so Luna followed his lead. After a few more steps, he cuts off his galloping and slides into a pony-sized crevice. But she's an alicorn. She's much bigger than normal ponies. She slides into the crevice too, but is stopped at the shoulders. Her magic is limited on the moon, but it's enough for a short range teleportation spell. She gulped and wished to be in there. Her life depends on it. The growling is quieter. She slowly opens her eyes, heart noticeably beating. Luna looks up to see Comet Runner in the corner staring at her, visibly shaking. "You survived! Woohoo! So you teleported in here?" "Shush! That monster, or whatever it was, could still be lurking around." She demanded in a hushed manner. Comet Runner saved her life by quick thinking. Under qualified? He's more than qualified for protection and guidance. The growling gradually faded in to the distance. Okay so it turns out these caves really are dangerous with mysterious monsters. Ugh, I should have payed attention. "Alright, Comet Runner? What in the blessed hay was that?" He simply shakes his head and responds, "You really don't want to know. I will tell you one thing though, you do not want to be caught near it. It messes with your mind. That's why it sounded like it was everywhere." Luna is dumbfounded. That creature messed with my mind? Is that even possible without unicorn magic and knowledge of a mind altering spell? "Well, what now?" He sighs and slowly slumps to the ground. The silence of the cave chilling the mood even further. "You're going to have to wait a while. I'm assuming that it went out to... feed... He snorted in disgust. "Wait, if hes out feeding, shouldn't we take this opportunity to go collect some Moonshine... and meteorite?" He just chuckles and shakes his head to go with his response. "Oh no. He falls into an incredibly deep sleep after feeding. Besides, we would be killed if we went there now. It doesn't take him THAT long to go get some food." Eh, makes sense. Luna collapses to the ground, making a thud echo throughout the safety hole. Comet Runner gasps and runs up to her, shaking her. Annoying her. "Would you stop! I'm trying to relax here." He continues to look worried, before he starts smiling. "I guess you aren't as boring as I thought. Surprises from you, surprises everywhere." A thought pops in Luna's mind. Turning to Comet, who is pacing a few feet from here, she relays her thoughts. "How long, exactly, will that thing be asleep?" "Pfft, easy. around a day." "Then I guess you won't mind if I take a nap." "Nope." "Then goodnight." "It's day." "Whatever!" Luna lays her head back down for a quick and much needed nap. The floor is uncomfortable, but Luna is used to that by now. May the stars be ever roaming in my dreams. She fades into unconsciousness. The last thing she sees is Comet sitting down. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. Screaming, rumbling, running. The fear of a thousand ponies, prowling through the night. The trembling of the environment, the squealing of doomed foals. Luna is helpless. She cannot help her fellow ponies. She must watch them all suffer underneath the cataclysmic monstrosity that is the creature. The nameless nightmare of all. After finishing off everypony else, the creature approaches Luna. A demonic snicker can be heard from all around. Luna can't move, she is sitting prey. The thing stops in front of Luna's muzzle... and whispers her fate. "WAKE UP!" Luna jumps up to smack straight into Comet's face. Sweat covers her body, her throat is sore. Comet is just a few inches away rubbing his muzzle, obviously in pain from her smack. The mini-cave they have been resting in is the same. Just a faint rumbling fading into nothing. He stutter-crawls over to her and puts a hoof over her shoulder. "You okay, I uh kind of forgot to tell you he gives really bad nightmares when he's nearby." Wow, really? I totally didn't see THAT coming. It's called sarcasm readers. Luna decides to bring her thoughts to his ears. She opens her mouth whilst simultaneously throwing her hooves in the air. "What? Do you have amnesia or something! That nightmare was absolutely terrible, and worst of all, Vivid." He gives her a sheepish smile and apologizes. After a moment of well-needed silence to get their bearings, Comet decides to get the hay out. "Alright. Luckily, I gathered around thirty pounds of meteorite while you were asleep. This cave we dived in has a lot. Now we just need to slip into the springs room, grab the moonshine, and high-tail it out of here." Luna nods as he starts wiggling out of the hole. Once he got through, Luna lays right next to the hole and teleports next to him. They begin trotting to the springs, passing by a few crevices similiar to their own every now and then. Luna notices that the cave looks different, more jagged. After a few paces, the duo finally arrive at the springs. Not wasting any time, they take out the pottery and start filling each with as much Moonshine as they can hold. Her newly filled saddlebags are considerably heavy. Looking over to Comet, who was already leaving, she begins a slow and laborious walk out. She gives the cave a once-over before heading out. Luna hopes with all of her heart that she doesn't have to face that evil creature again. To town.... they go. Ah, somewhat blissful civilization, we meet once again! Luna and Comet gallop into the town, eager to dump off the load of heavy meteorite and moonshine. Arriving at the tavern, Luna quickly swings the door open and leaps inside followed by Comet. "I'm Luna!" "And I'm Comet Runner!" Speaking together, "And we are the dynamic duo here with you-" "OKAY! I get it! Just hand over the precious money." Complying, Comet Runner walks up and dumps around half of his meteorite load. The merchant takes a minute to inspect the meteorite before accepting it. After a few comments exchanged, Luna quickly excuses Comet and herself out to the tavern. In only half a minute of sweaty sprinting, the two arrive at the deathly quiet inn. Luna and Comet step inside at the same time, revealing a few groups of bored-looking ponies and a couple ponies playing darts in the corner. Moonshine is cleaning glasses. Luna walks up to Moonshine with a grin that can compete with Comet Runner's smile. "Guess who brought the moonshine back?" Moonshine perks up and looks carefully at her saddlebags. Helping the two of them unload the pots of beverages, Moonshine surprisingly hugs them both. "Oh, however can I repay you? The deed you have done today will keep ponies full of good spirits for days to come!" Not wanting to feel needy, Luna refuses any form of favor or payment. "It's quite fine. Now, I hope you don't mind, but I need to hit the hay. I'm awfully exhausted from all of the adventuring tod-" Before Luna could even finish, the tavern doors swing open loudly as Mayor Milky flies in at an impressive speed. Coming to a complete halt, though it should be called crash, she looks up at Luna to speak. "I heard you came back! Well, not only have you proven our respect, you also managed to pull off a task of great magnitude! I, Mayor Milky Way, hereby decree Luna a free and tax free residence!" To finish her statement, she flings a key into Luna's face with great optimism. It stings. Levitating the key, Luna both thanks and questions the mayor to where her house is, to discover It's actually across the street from the tavern. "Like I was saying, I'm really tired. Thanks for the offer mayor, and everypony... See you sometime else?" With her goodbyes finished, she rushes to the rather big house across the street. She inserts the key, turns it, and opens the door to reveal a grand entrance room. Not bothering to take any more details due to the lack of sleep, she assumes the bedroom is upstairs and gives a few wing flaps to help her up. She turns to the left to discover the bathroom in the upstairs hallway, and turns to the right where a princess-sized bed awaits her. Gasping in glee, she belly-bombs it. Even with her saddlebags and shoes on, she drifts into tranquil sleep. The most exhausting day of her life soon to be over. No more monster dodging, rampaging dungeon raiding. Just at physical and mental peace at her pacific labors. Good night moon ponies. Author's Note PHEW! You wouldn't believe how long this took me to write. Oh, and surprise surprise, Starwing here manages to finish a chapter on time! This has a very unexpected word count. I kind of rushed it at the end, so if that causes any issues reading, sorry.
