//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Luna's Lacunae // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// After pulling the blankets up to Maeve’s chin, Luna stepped away from the sleeping human girl, feeling very alone and unsettled. Stepping backwards, she made her way to the door, her eyes never once leaving Maeve, and a dreadful heaviness settled in Luna’s heart. Luna knew she was no better than their captors and the knowledge pained her. They had arrived at the castle, stepping through a doorway and into the dining room. Maeve had been as limp as a rag doll. Luna had asked for help, had asked for hospitality, and the fey had offered their own particular hospitality in return, talking about debt. With the fey, it was all about debt. Maeve and Luna had nothing to pay in return for their host’s hospitality, so Maeve had been taken as a slave and Luna had become livestock. Maeve and Luna had no say in the matter, there was no arguing, no begging, no pleading. Luna whimpered when she thought about it, her cry was a soft agonised sound. Luna had once tried to plunge the entire world into darkness, had tried to force others to obey her, to worship her, she had once tried to take away the free will and the choices of an entire world. What the fey had done to her and Maeve, she had tried to do to the entire world, to take every living thing and make all of life a slave to her whims, forced to do her bidding or perish in the dark of the night. The fey demanded that Maeve be subservient and submissive if she wanted food and water; Luna, when she had become Nightmare Moon, she had held similar plans, knowing that life would not thrive during the endless night. Life would have been contingent upon pleasing Luna and satisfying her twisted desires. Closing her eyes, Luna took a final step backwards, closed the door, pressed her face against the cool wood, opened her eyes, and then started to weep, soft silent sobs, hoping that she wouldn’t disturb anypony. Sobbing against the door, Luna whispered, “I am so sorry…” Quickie Cob was a tall solid looking earth pony, his pelt was a mossy green, and his mane was like fine cornsilk. He stood out in sharp contrast against Rose Gold, who was shorter, stouter, and a bit more heavy set. He leaned over, pressing against his wife, and watched as Maeve and Red Russet watched ladybugs. “I think I like her—” “Cobby, don’t be terrible!” Rose looked at her husband, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. The stallion heaved a powerful sigh and then chuckled. “Okay Rose Nose, all jokes, aside, I do like her. Even if she is strange looking. She’s good to Red and that goes a long way in my book.” “Cobby… don’t test my patience…” “My beloved Rose Nose, you wound me.” The stallion dropped his head and kissed his wife upon the cheek, leaving behind a somewhat slobbery smooch. “She is funny looking, but I like funny looking. I married you, didn’t I?” “Cad!” Rose Gold took a swipe at her husband with her hoof, but he was already running. She let out a whinny and took off in pursuit of her husband. “I wish I could run,” Red said as he watched his parents. “It’s awful, being a pony and not being able to run. Running is such a big part of what we are.” Reaching out her hand, Maeve gave a gentle tug on Red’s ear and then began to scratch just behind his ears. Barefooted, she flexed and wiggled her toes in the damp grass, inhaled, enjoying the smell of damp earth, lush forest, and the smell of wood smoke. “They still act like foals together.” Red sighed and watched his parents. “They still play tag. I like watching them play… it gives me a chance to imagine that I’m running alongside them.” He leaned over a little as Maeve’s fingers moved onto a itchy spot and worked their magic. “I am going to be a foal forever.” “What are you talking about, Red?” Maeve turned her eyes away from Quickie and Rose Gold to have a look at her companion. “How can you be a foal forever?” Red Russet’s whole demeanour changed. The colt swallowed, cleared his throat, and then stared down into the grass. “At the end of the summer, I’m going to go to Manehatten and I’m going to be staying there for a while and seeing some doctors. They want to stop my growth and keep me at about this size. They say my legs will never hold my weight as an adult and I’ll constantly have stress fractures and hairline fractures and little breaks in my bones and when that happens I’ll be stuck in the bed.” The colt fell silent and and he lifted his eyes to watch his parents as they ran. “Other ponies have had this brittle bones disease. This is a new means of treatment. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very, very grateful that Princess Celestia had sponsored me and has offered to pay the bill, and this is going to help me out a whole lot, but I don’t want to be foal sized forever. I’m approaching the limit of what my bones can deal with though and they are already under a lot of strain.” “Being small doesn’t seem so bad.” Maeve gave Red’s ear another tug. “I can’t play. I can’t run around. Now, I’ll never grow up. I’ll never be adult. No filly, no mare will ever, ever be interested in me. I’m going to stay a little colt forever and my mother is going to use this as an opportunity to baby me until I die.” Red eased himself down into the grass, got comfortable, and rested his head upon his crossed front legs. “I’m sorry, Red. I really am.” “Why are you sorry? This isn’t your fault.” Red’s eyes glanced over at Maeve. “But I am your friend—” “You are my only friend,” Red muttered, his gaze returning to his parents, who were still galloping around the trees. He felt tears sting his eyes and a burning feeling of frustration welled up within him, but no trace of what he was feeling showed upon his face. He said nothing about only ever having a friend. He said nothing about never finding love, or getting married, or being a father, he said nothing about any of these things. Red was the quiet sort, and he kept certain things to himself. Instead, all he said was, “You’re the best sort of friend I could hope for… thanks, Maeve.” “You have other friends.” Maeve’s face contorted in a frown of concentration. “Princess Celestia likes you, Doctor Greycrest—” “All of them are adults. They are nice to me because they are polite and they feel pity for me.” Red lifted his head and then shook it as his ears pinned back. “Can we talk about something else? I don’t want to ruin what might be a nice day.” “Sure, Red, we can talk about anything you like,” Maeve replied. Looking down from her tree branch, Maeve checked up on Red. He was laying in a spot of sun, napping, and sunning himself. He looked a little happier. Maeve returned her attention to the serious business of tree climbing. She glanced upwards and then reached up with both arms. She grabbed a branch overhead, got a good grip with her fingers, and then pulled herself up as she kicked and used her feet against the trunk to help her get a grip. Once she got herself up to the point where the branch was at her waist, she folded herself over the branch, lifted one leg, hooked her toes onto the branch, and then raised herself into a standing position on the branch. She looked down and felt a little dizzy. The ground seemed quite some distance away. The easiest way to fix this problem was to just not look down. Maeve looked upwards instead. Reaching up, she grabbed another branch and began to pull herself up higher, determined to get up as high as possible. She shimmied up the trunk, pulling herself from one branch to the next, and it was getting easier now that she was higher up and the branches were closer together. At last, she found a comfortable fork in the tree to sit in. She rested her back against the trunk and propped her legs up on a curved branch. It was wide enough to sit upon in safety and so Maeve relaxed. She also looked down. Looking down was a mistake. She realised just how high up she was, and she felt her stomach start doing flip flops as her bowels quivered. She gulped, forced herself to look down for a few seconds longer, and then closed her eyes. “No more looking down,” she said to herself as her whole body trembled. Contemplating her situation, Maeve came to the realisation that there was no way she could get down without falling. Climbing down would mean looking down to see where to place her feet, and looking down brought about a dreadful feeling nausea inducing vertigo. “Oh… fudge.” Maeve pondered her options. Trying to get down was right out. Which meant that she had to send Red for help. Red getting help meant that a guard might be summoned, which was bad, because a pegasus might mean being grabbed and picked up, which meant that she have to endure severe panic as she struggled with being grabbed. The other option was sending Red to go wake up Luna, who had been sound asleep in her room. There was still the option of falling and plunging to her death, which was starting to become an appealing option. Luna would never let her hear the end of this, and no doubt, Princess Celestia was would hear about this as well at some point. Maeve sighed in defeat. Maeve cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Hey, Red!” The colt awoke with a snort and began to look around, his sleepy blinking causing him to look rather adorable, all things considered. He yawned, blinked a few more times, and continued looking for his friend. “Look up!” Maeve commanded. Red craned his head and began to peer upwards. He let out a terrified squeal when he saw Maeve and began to tremble as he stared upwards, open mouthed. “Maeve… what are you doing up there?” “I’m safe enough for the moment, but I can’t get down. Could you please go wake up Princess Luna?” Maeve replied. Red squealed again, panted in panic a few times, and then let out a low moan. The colt took off, taking careful steps so he wouldn’t injure himself. “Stupid hairless monkey… getting stuck up in a tree…” Looking down, Maeve saw quite a crowd of ponies approaching. The cook was down there, Mulberry. She saw Quickie Cob and Rose Gold. She could see Red Russet riding upon his father’s back so the group could move with more speed. She saw several royal guards, which did not seem necessary at all. And she saw Princess Luna, who did not look awake. Some days, Luna could be awake in the daylight with no problems. Other days… not so much. Not knowing what else to do, Maeve waved at the crowd when they approached. “Maeve Rosethicket, don’t you move! I want you alive when you come down here, so I can lecture you to death!” Cringing, Maeve felt a spike of panic. Red’s mother, Rose Gold, sounded very, very angry. Her face was twisted into a furious scowl that Maeve could see from her lofty vantage point. Maybe getting down was a bad idea. Maeve wondered how long she could stay up here. Spending her entire life in a tree didn’t seem so bad. “Is this some sort of innate primate need?” Luna asked in a sleepy voice as she peered upwards, squinting in the sun. “Most of us equines have an innate need to keep our hooves upon the ground. Have you decided to return to the trees? Shall I have an arboreal bedroom constructed so that you might satisfy this newfound desire to live in a tree? Do you plan to hoot at us and fling feces?” Groaning, Maeve closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall back against the tree trunk. She had this coming, no doubt about that. She was going to have to endure whatever sarcasm Luna had to offer. “Answer me, you silly simian,” Luna demanded. “Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time,” Maeve replied. “You have to be over fifty feet upwards… tell me, silly simian, how did that strike you as a good idea?” Luna asked. “You have no wings, and you seem to lack the arboreal nature of your simian cousins. Specifically, you lack the means to get down.” “I know I have this lecture coming, but could you please lecture me on the ground? Pretty please?” Maeve tried to sound as polite as possible as she made her request, hoping that she could hurry up and get down. She would never say it out loud, but she needed to pee. “Very well. I am coming up there to get you. But you and I are going to have a long, long talk about common sense… you silly simian.” “That’s Sorceress Silly Simian, and don’t you forget it!” Maeve shouted. “Oh… Sorceress… by all means, magic yourself down!” Luna replied. “Look, please, just come up here and get me! Luna, help me, I gotta pee! We can talk about this later!” “Very well, do not move, I am coming up there to get you,” Luna said as she spread her wings and took flight.