//------------------------------// // A Tour Gone Wrong // Story: Luna's Escape // by sammyberry //------------------------------// Luna squeaked and ran behind a large vase. Her knees knocked together and her teeth chattered, and she was terrified that the guards would hear her. Star and Luminance looked at her strangely but otherwise didn’t acknowledge her strange behavior. As the Solar Guards marched in, carrying with them an air of pride and power, Luna crouched down low and squeezed her eyes shut. One of the Solar Guards, whose name was Astro Inferno, waltzed in and completely disregarded Star and Luminance. He looked all around with a sense of distress. Star walked up to him cautiously. “Can I help you, sir?” she asked quietly. The guard simply said, “No,” and walked around the room, sniffing things and peering under things. Star raced over to him and stood in front of the vase he was about to look behind; the very vase where Luna hid. She almost fainted with fright. “If you have business here in the castle, then I will help you. I will not permit you and your friends to just wander around the castle looking for whatever you are looking for. And if I cannot help you, then I’m afraid you’ll have to leave,” Astro glared at Star. He didn’t seem to notice her wings, which were folded on either side of her, but he did see her horn. He rolled his eyes and said, “We’re not looking for something. We’re looking for somepony. Our runaway princess. She’s dark blue and is a rare alicorn. She has wings and a horn. Happy?” Star giggled quietly. Then she burst into laughter. The guard was growing agitated with the annoying filly. “What!?!” he asked sharply. Star looked at him with tears in her eyes from laughing so much. She said, “You think alicorns are rare? Everypony here in the Royal Court is an alicorn! See?” she thrust out her wings and started flying around. The Solar Guard gaped at her in awe. The other guards looked at each other, too shocked to speak. Luminance opened up his wings and flew up with Star, laughing at the surprised looks of the guards. Astro looked at them with hatred. “Will one of you take us to your princess? Now?” he said through gritted teeth. Star looked down and said, “I’m right here!” she flew in front of Astro and bowed. “I am the princess of Elysian. Pleased to meet you,” The guard looked at her. He let out an aggravated sigh and said slowly. “You mean to tell me that you rule this entire country? You’re only barely a mare,” Star giggled again. “Of course not! That’s my mother’s job! She’s the Queen,” Astro yelled in frustration. “Ok, fine! Take me to your queen then!” Luminance showed them the way to the throne room, looking annoyed. Probably because he had tried to use his peanut butter joke on one of the other guards and they hadn’t changed their expression. When the five ponies were all out of earshot, Star walked over to Luna and helped her up. “Luna, did you know those ponies?” Luna bit her lip and hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she trusted these new ponies enough to tell them her true identity. Even the queen didn’t know her true identity. After a few minutes of contemplating, Luna realized she didn’t have to explain anything. Star was staring at her crown. Crap! Luna thought to herself. She ad completely forgotten about her crown! Had the queen noticed? She probably had. But then, why had she not said anything? Luna blushed and said quietly, “You aren’t going to turn me in, are you?” Star shook her head and refocused her eyes on Luna. “Of course not, Luna! Or should I call you Princess Luna? No, that was a stupid question. Of course you want me to call you Luna. Can I at least call you Your Highness?” Star’s eyes were wide and she looked at Luna with kindness. “Um, I’d rather you just refer to me as a regular pony, please. Somepony else might overhear,” Luna said softly. Star nodded and smacked her forehead. “I’m so not with it at the moment. Of course you don’t want me to point any of that out! Don’t worry, Luna, your secret’s safe with me… and Luminance?” Star looked at Luna expectantly. Luna sighed and said, “Well, if he’s going to be with us a lot, then I guess it’s only fair for him to know, too. But only if swears on his life that he won’t tell anypony!” Star cheered and said, “Oh, Luminance is good with keeping secrets. He kept my surprise birthday party a secret from me for four months! That takes skill,” Star grinned. Luna couldn’t help but smile at Star’s excitement. “Well, ok,” she said softly. She gave Star an equine hug and said, “Thank you for being a good friend,” Star returned the hug and replied back, “Oh, it’s nothing. You definitely need some friends right now, especially since you’re here from a completely different country! Oh! You must tell us all about Equestria! I’ve always longed to go there, but since my mother is here, I’ve had to stay here. And my duties require me to stay here as well. Even if I’m not a pure royal pony, I’m still a princess,” Luna smiled as Star rambled on and on. She was glad to have found some friends. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* After a couple of hours spent aimlessly wandering around in the garden, Star and Luna heard footsteps approaching. “Don’t worry guys, it’s me!” The ponies heard Luminance call. Both ponies relaxed and turned toward the footsteps. They smiled when they saw Luminance. Star raced up to him and put her arm around him. “Ok, so Luna is actually the runaway princess! Can you believe it?” Star was about to go on in intricate detail, but Luminance shook his head and said, “I already know,” Both ponies stared at him and said, “You do?” He nodded and said, “I noticed your crown when I first saw you, which is why I thought you’d be trying to get close to the queen for power for your own country or something. So I thought you were kinda mean and selfish and dangerous, but when Star introduced you to me, I saw how scared and helpless you looked, so I decided you had to be harmless,” Luna glared at the ground. “I’m not helpless,” she said. Luminance could tell he hit a nerve and said, “Well, that’s what your appearance looked like to me. I know you’re not helpless,” he stopped trying to make up for his mistake, seeing how he only made her angrier. Luna sighed and said, “It’s fine. I’m sorry I’m so sensitive,” Star put her arm around Luna and said, “Aw, don’t be sorry for your personality. That’s just how you are. We’ll have to get used to you a little, but we’ll definitely try and make you feel comfortable. Now, let’s go talk about Equestria!” Star started walking off towards the castle while Luna and Luminance just stared at her. “You really think talking about Equestria-the place I ran away from-will make me feel better?” she asked incredulously. Luminance nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Star, seriously. We should take her around the city and show her everything. Then, if she’s feeling better, she can talk about Equestria if she wants,” Luna smiled gratefully at Luminance, who smiled back. Star groaned. “But that’s so boring!” she whined as she walked back to them. Luminance glared at her, and Star said, “Ok, ok, ok. Let’s go show you the city,” Luna took a step, then stopped. “I need to have some kind of disguise. Those guards might still be here, or more might come. Better to be safe then sorry, right?” Luna smiled apologetically. The other ponies looked at each other, then back at Luna. “Let’s go find you a disguise!” Star cheered. Luna smiled and followed them. An hour later, Luna, who was wearing an emerald green cape to cover her cutie mark and a matching hat to cover her crown, was walking around with Star and Luminance. They were showing her around, introducing her to some ponies and showing her shops. “Over there’s Midnight Madness, a magic shop! A pony name Trixie works there. She used to be a famous magician, but she grew tired of showing off so instead she opened up that shop. She’s pretty nice once you get to know her. And over there is Gumdrop’s Sweets. She’s really nice, too. Oh, and here’s my favorite place, Olive’s Eatery. Yum!” Star was saying. Luna tried her hardest to remember all the stores’ and everypony’s names, but it was getting hard. Star couldn’t understand how different they were. Luna would have liked to just walk along through the town, gazing at all the stores the way she wanted to, and Star was going extremely fast, but since she was her only friend so far (besides Luminance, who had stopped at Trinket’s Toy Store and said he’d catch up with them later), she didn’t want to make her upset, so she kept her mouth shut. Maybe Luminance could show her around later. He was more like Luna than Star was, that was a definite fact. Luna felt herself smile a little at the thought of Luminance. Even though he had been reluctant to befriend her, and had even called her helpless, she couldn’t help but feel happy whenever he was around. Unfortunately, Star caught Luna’s smile and she said, “You’re thinking about somepony, aren’t you?” she asked with a knowing smile. Luna looked up quickly. “What? Oh, no,” she said softly, blushing. Star looked at her. “Luminance?” she asked. Star didn’t even have to ask; she had seen Luna and Luminance together before. They were cute together. Luna looked down, covered her face with her mane, and nodded her head. Star giggled. “Oh, you two look so cute together! Really! Ok, now it’s my job to help put you two together!” Luna looked up sharply. “No,” she said immediately. Star stopped smiling and looked at Luna. “Why not?” Luna looked down at the ground. She couldn’t tell Star that that thought scared her. She would think she was a baby and helpless. “I… I want do it myself,” Star replied, “Well, you can do it now, then. Here he comes,” Luna’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No, I want to do it when I’m ready,” “Do what when you’re ready?” Luminance asked, coming up to them. Luna quickly looked for an excuse. “Try one of Gumdrop’s Cherry Cookies. I don’t really like the taste of Cherry. But I will try a Lemon Drop. I love the taste of Lemons!” she recovered with a smile. Luminance nodded, but he had a distant look in his deep blue eyes. Luna looked at him sideways and said, “Luminance? Is everything alright?” Luminance was shaken from his gaze and looked at Luna. “We have to get out of here. Now,” Luna didn’t like the sudden seriousness of his voice. “Luminance, what’s wrong?” Star asked, realizing something was happening. He shook his head and just said, “We have to leave now,” Suddenly there was a gunshot. The ponies ducked down and Luna’s eyes widened. She suddenly felt somepony lift her up and put her on their back. It was Luminance. “Luminance?” she asked quietly. “Luna, whatever you do, do not look back,” Star was running beside them. Luna ignored Luminance and turned her head back around, curious as to what could have changed everypony’s actions so drastically. What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life. A pony dressed in the same armor as the guards who had taken her to see Queen Astral was lowering his hovering gun. He had shot a pony. The light blue pony winced in pain. The guard aimed his gun again and said, “This is what you get for not paying your taxes,” and he shot the pony. The pony squirmed for a minute, and then was still.