A Journey through Memories

by Centauri

Chapter Thirteen - Confessions

A Journey through Memories

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Chapter Thirteen - Confessions

Rainbow Dash tore through the air to see if Dietrich was okay. Applejack was hard on her heels, trying to stop her from going into harm’s way. I stared at the scene unfolding in front of me in shock. What had just happened? Applejack was now trying to haul Dash away from Dietrich so we could all get out of there. I could not do anything; my legs had simply stopped obeying my commands. Dietrich was lying on his side, unmoving. I could not fathom the situation.

Behind Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I saw two stallions with swords at their sides standing on the road, having come out of a hiding spot at the base of the cliff. I heard a gasp from Rarity and I guessed that there were more behind us. Soon, we were surrounded by no less than ten stallions, all of whom had swords or maces on their saddles. They were tall, and very strongly built, very different to Dietrich’s wiry frame. A navy blue earth pony started walking towards the prone figure of Dietrich, presumably the ringleader for these bandits. I prayed that they were only bandits and not anything worse.

He looked at Dietrich and bent over him. The earth pony rifled through the brown unicorn’s saddlebags, and eventually found the purse he carried, and the substantial array of weapons under his cloak. “Looks like we could’ve used this one, lads,” he called to the stallions around us, a couple of who laughed. Rainbow Dash finally looked away from Dietrich and stared at the blue stallion with loathing.

“You bastards,” she growled at them.

“Oh, yeah?” The stallion taunted, cockily. “And what’re you going to do about it?”

“I’ll bucking show you what I’ll do about it.” What Rainbow Dash did next was stupid, dangerous and extremely foolhardy: she tried to attack the ringleader.

While Rainbow Dash had spent two hours each day for eleven days practicing hoof combat, and she was able to throw an above decent punch, she was not adept at it. The ringleader, however, was. As Dash threw her punch, the stallion ducked the attack with surprising agility for his build and slammed a hoof into Dash’s stomach. As she doubled over, the stallion slammed an elbow down onto her wing.

Rainbow Dash screamed in agony. Something in this cry spurred Applejack into action and she turned to the nearest stallion and did what was second nature to her: bucked him. The red earth pony had not seen it coming, and was soon on the ground, winded and favouring his ribs where Applejack had kicked him. Before she could do anything else, however, two stallions grabbed her and held her up by the forelegs. The red stallion recovered his breath and stood to face Applejack.

“You bitch,” he snarled at her. “You’re going to pay for that.” Applejack locked gazed and stared unyieldingly at the stallion; she was not showing fear, but I knew she must have been feeling it. The red stallion walked up to Applejack, held by two of his companions, and slammed a hoof mercilessly into her stomach. As she raised her head, another hoof came in an arc into the side of her face. She gave an almost inaudible whimper as the blow landed, but did not want to show it.

It was after about a minute of torturous beating that the ringleader spoke. “Enough,” he commanded. The red earth pony looked at the leader and then back at Applejack. He readied himself and gave one final buck into Applejack, straight to her front, and then the two stallions let her fall to the ground in a slump. I had felt every blow land on Applejack, and knew it was at least ten times as worse for her than for me. My body was still not obeying me; all I could do was stand and watch. I saw all that I had designed in ponies channelled into violence, and I felt as if my world was crashing around me. How could anypony do this? I questioned myself, but I could not find an answer.

The ringleader addressed us. “Now: what are seven pretty little fillies doing on a road like this?” He looked at Fluttershy, who was trembling wildly.

However, it was Rarity, in an amazing display of cavalier attitude and dignity, who spoke up. “Minding our own business. It would do you good to follow suit.” The navy blue ringleader’s attention was drawn to Rarity, and he sauntered up to her casually. Rarity gasped, realising how reckless she had just been, but tried to appear strong and unfazed in the face of an act worse than any beating.

My mind started racing. How can I stop this? I need to stop this from happening. I knew that Rarity’s life could well depend on it. As the ringleader raised his hoof to Rarity’s face, I finally found my voice. “Do not touch her,” I growled at the navy blue earth pony. He turned to regard me.

“Or you’ll do what?” He walked over to me, still casual. “You want to end up like your rainbow friend over there? Maybe you’ll be able to end up like Blondie right there, and we’ll see how you take that.” He scoffed. “Hay, maybe I’ll even give you a go before the little white snowflake just behind me.” He said all this in a cocky and arrogant way, but I could see that he was watching my horn carefully, ready to punch me at the first sign of magic and break my concentration. Making up his mind, he lifted his hoof to rip my cloak off me, but before he could tug, I brought my own hoof around in a devastating punch which him to the ground in a heap. It took a second for the rest of the group to process what had happened, and then one foolhardy pegasus tried to tackle me and send me to the ground. I evaded the pegasus and bucked him in the side. He rolled away from the blow, saving himself from grievous damage. As I regained my balance, another stallion tackled me. This time, he succeeded and I was brought to the ground. I jumped away but he held on to my cloak, which tore off me and was left in his hooves.

Everypony stopped, then and there. They were able to see my wings now; along with my horn, they marked me as a princess of Equestria, and each of the eight conscious stallions around us could see that.

“Shit.” It was the red stallion who beat Applejack that spoke. “Get out of here!” Chaos ensued as the eight stallions fled the scene. There was only one I wanted to stop. I lit up my horn and sent magical coils towards the red stallion, binding him and causing him to trip. Soon, the road was clear but for the six mares, Dietrich, the red earth pony, the navy blue ringleader and me. I knew the ringleader would not wake for a long time after I punched him, and the earth pony was well under control. I looked in horror at what I had done, and all the emotional centres of my brain shut down; I simply became a machine, surveying the scene around me.

I cantered towards Dietrich; the crossbow bolt had hit his enchanted cloak, but the force of the shot to the head did some serious damage. I surveyed his condition thoroughly: his skull had been fractured, but it had not yet splintered, meaning that he would have a very strong headache, but would not damage it more unless he applied pressure to it.

I rolled him carefully onto his back. In the interest of reducing the movement of his head to a minimum, I lifted a hind leg over his chest and straddled him, gripping tightly. In any other circumstances, I would have paused given the awkwardness of the position. I used my forehooves to hold parts of his head which were not damaged. Feeling as though I was ready, I sent a jolt of magic coursing through him.

Dietrich’s body went into hyper-drive, and it was only my vastly superior strength that stopped him from smashing his damaged skull against the ground. As he awoke, I let my mind drift against his. Dietrich, listen to me: you must not move. You have a fractured skull and a serious concussion. I need you to let me in so I can fix it. Dietrich was confused, but understood well enough to lower his defences. Working quickly, I dug through the processes until I found his heartbeat. I left a piece of my mind to monitor that. I soon found the process for breathing and did the same.

I now had some time to work at the cost of separating my mind into four parts, demanding a lot of concentration on my part. I found processes for healing muscles, organs, and skin until I found the process for healing bones. I concentrated it on the skull at the point where it was fractures and the body started to multiply the bone material and fuse it together with the rest of the skull. Soon, that piece of healing was finished and I moved on to fix his concussion. Finding the right processes here was difficult, because of the sheer number of them in the brain. I found the right one and, as I finished my work, I knew that Dietrich would be able to walk around as if nothing had happened.

I let my scattered mind return to its host as I opened my eyes. I looked around the area: Rainbow Dash was moaning in pain, but Applejack was silent. Knowing that the quiet ones are more likely to be in danger, I moved towards Applejack, mentally fatigued. My fears were realised as I surveyed Applejack’s condition: a broken jaw, five broken ribs from the buck and internal bleeding near the stomach; not counting anything on the surface, which included serious bruising and swelling along with both black eyes. If she was not an Element of Harmony, she would be beyond my help in her current state. Fortunately, I could enter her mind with little fear of her dying and taking me with her. However, as I tried to enter her mind, I realised that I had neglected to ask her permission to let me in, so the natural barrier was still there around her mind. She barely had the willpower to picture an open door when I asked her to, but eventually I could enter.

I looked for the process for mending internal organs, knowing that the internal bleeding was the most serious ailment in Applejack’s wide array of injuries. Fixing the tissue in the liver (not the stomach, as I had guessed earlier), I set my mind to banishing the blood where it ought not to be. I looked at her abdomen and saw the blood from the internal bleeding. I concentrated on it and set my mind to removing it from the body; a complex and delicate process, in which I eventually succeeded. The blood now banished, I found the processes for fixing the ribs, ignoring the fatigue messages from my brain. As I fixed one of the broken ribs and moved onto another, the energy I was using simply ran out.

I fell backwards onto the ground, and I heard Applejack gasp loudly as my mind was yanked from hers and restored to my own. I saw black at the corners of my vision and soon heard Fluttershy land beside me. “Four broken ribs,” I breathed to her, the blackening in my eyes threatening to take over, “and a broken jaw.” Fluttershy nodded grimly, knowing what she had to do, and I let myself fall away from consciousness, adrenaline running out to be replaced by pure peace.

* * *

My body slammed against a hard surface, causing me to wake abruptly; I knew that it was alicorn instinct to wake up if its instinct guessed that its life was threatened, even if they passed out previously. I rolled over and groaned, causing a stir among the ponies accompanying me. I was surprised to find that it was Fluttershy who spoke first.

“Take one more step towards her, Rainbow Dash, and you will regret it,” the sudden outburst was a show of passion for her patients, but otherwise uncharacteristically loud for the normally timid pegasus. Soon, her once again quiet voice was directed to me. “I’m just going to get some water,” she assured me. “I’ll be back really soon.” I nodded, not wanting to speak.

True to her word, Fluttershy returned with water caught in a bucket. I could almost smell the magic on the bucket and guessed that it was in existence thanks to Twilight. Fluttershy tilted the liquid into my mouth; I drank greedily, but it was not long before the flow ceased, causing me to complain quietly.

“You mustn’t drink too quickly,” Fluttershy told me. “Twenty seconds before you get any more.” I sighed, knowing that Fluttershy was right and resolute in this matter. “Here you go,” she tilted more water into my mouth. The process was repeated a few more times until I waved off more water.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” I said, weakly. I gathered my hooves under me and pushed, standing. Fluttershy tried to protest, but I quickly waved her off. After a bit of stumbling, I finally regained my balance and looked at the ponies in the camp. Dietrich looked haggard: I guessed he had carried me, given that we had moved from the road where we had been confronted. Everyone else looked normal, bar two.

I gasped as I saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked relatively well, except for seeming slightly… stir crazy, I mentally decided. I guessed that she had not been able to fly because her wings were bandaged tightly to her sides. Fluttershy was amazing at basic medicine, but nopony would be able to fix Dash’s broken wing on the road. Applejack’s appearance was frightening. She was bandaged around her side, as was Dash, but her jaw was bandaged as well, trying to stop her from moving it. Applejack was also severely bruised, although most of them were yellowing, leading me to guess I had been unconscious for about three days. The only thing worse than Applejack’s physical condition was her demeanour: she was downcast and drained of all humour. I feared for her then, and hated myself for not being able to fix her.

“A- Applejack…” I stammered. “I- I really am sorry.” She simply nodded, remaining silent. I looked towards the moon. A waning half-moon, I thought. I should be able to do this. I sent my mind out to the moon. I had not done this for a very long time; thus, it felt strange to know that something so far away could feel so close, as was my relationship with the moon. I drew on its power, using the magic to strengthen me for what I was about to do.

“Are you ready, Applejack?” I asked her. She looked up, puzzled, then comprehension showed on her face; she sighed, and I knew she was opening the door to her mind. I entered it thankfully, knowing I could fix what I hadn’t been able to before.

Feeling alive with energy, I found the processes to fix her bones. As I did, I noticed something odd: even her subconscious thoughts and processes were jumbled. I feared for her mental health, and I knew she would need to talk about it. I poured energy into the bone process and soon her ribs were mending quickly. I moved on to find the other bone process I needed, and soon her jaw was also on the mend. I finally turned my piece of mind to the many bruises about Applejack. I realised that the tiny blood vessels that caused the minor internal bleeding were all fixed naturally, so I stepped out of Applejack’s mind and focused on banishing all the blood where it shouldn’t have been. It was more difficult this time, as there were trace amounts of blood throughout Applejack’s entire body, but I eventually managed to complete the task.

Weary after such a complex healing, I drew more energy from the half moon and moved on to Rainbow Dash. I bade Fluttershy remove the bandages around Rainbow Dash’s midriff, and Rainbow Dash let me into her mind. I dove into Dash’s subconscious and looked for the bone repair process. It was slightly more difficult than Applejack’s ribs: wings were a complex bone structure; and the bones’ composition was different, so as to make them lighter than bones in the rest of the body. I knitted them together delicately and started the healing process. It was not long before the broken bone had become an unnoticeable scar, and I knew that it would not break while Rainbow Dash was flying. I rose to the surface and finally returned to my own body.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack both thanked me, but I could barely hear them. I moved to a soft patch of pine needles and lay down so I could finally sleep properly.

* * *

I felt a nudge against my shoulder and saw Twilight nuzzling me awake. “You need to get up now, Luna,” she whispered. “It’s two hours past dawn.” I gasped slightly, wondering how I could sleep in for so long. At the same time, I realised how hungry I was, and how little I had eaten in the past four days in my comatose state. I found my saddlebags, which had been carried by Pinkie Pie, and retrieved an apple from them, starting to munch on it. As I did, I noticed something strange: there were two ponies being tended to by Fluttershy. It was then that I remembered.

It seemed that, after I had bound the two stallions, the others had dragged them with us on our journey. Every morning and night, Fluttershy had ungagged them, given them an apple to eat and water to drink, and rebound their gags. I was surprised with their resolve in keeping them alive, but was glad they did. I also knew that having them with us would slow our progress dramatically. I had an idea of what I should do, and I thought I could put it into action.

“I’m sorry, everypony,” I called to my friends, “it might take a bit longer to leave than you first thought. Rainbow Dash, go and fly now, or we’ll never hear the end of it.” Dash snapped a salute and started to zip around the skies above our heads. I conjured some parchment and proceeded to burn letters onto its surface.

Dear Celestia,

In ninety seconds, you’re going to have two stallion guests. Don’t mind the binds: we felt they were necessary. Ask them for their stories, and how they came to be there. I assure you that they are to go to prison for what they nearly did to us, and what they undoubtedly did to others; however, if they tell you everything without trace of deceit, shorten their time.

I pray you have greater self-control then your sister. I would have happily killed them should I have a chance, but I trust you, Celly. Do what you think is right.

Love you,

Luna

P.S. I have an idea for when I get back. Start sending out job vacancies for the Equestrian Royal Night Guard. I feel there are some things in Equestria which could do with our collective help, don’t you?

I finished the letter and rolled it up. Soon, it had disappeared, on its way to Canterlot Castle. I turned towards the two stallions, and started walking to them. They struggled to get away, but the bonds were sufficient to stop them. I removed their gags, but they remained silent in fear. I placed a hoof on each of their sides and sent my mind roaming. It was not long before I found Canterlot Castle once again, and I poured massive amounts of energy into transporting two rather large stallions to a hall at least a hundred miles distant. I stumbled over as they disappeared from under my hooves, and I knew that they had found their mark. I smiled as I contemplated the possible reactions of any unwary nobles in the hall at the time, but quickly turned serious.

“Now: we should keep walking,” I told the six mares and stallion in front of me. “We’ll be going a lot faster now we’re no longer burdened.”

* * *

The walk that day was largely uneventful; however, Rainbow Dash had a good chance to stretch her wings and Applejack was regaining strength. The latter was worrying me: Applejack hadn’t talked to anypony for the whole trip, and only responded sullenly and quietly to any questions put towards her. Nopony was able to talk to her, to try and help her; she just wasn’t listening. My mind was clouded with what she might do with herself if there was no intervention; I also prayed that she wouldn’t do anything to herself even after somepony intervened: problems of the mind would often get worse before better.

We eventually made camp in a nondescript clearing. The forest was starting to thicken, but the mountains and cliffs were getting shorter, although barely. We managed to get a fire going, and soon the smell of stewed apples wafted throughout our camp, courtesy of Rarity. I ate the food greedily, tired from the past week’s endeavours, and so did many of the others; Dietrich claimed he didn’t need to eat as much as the next pony, while Applejack only stared sullenly into her bowl, occasionally prodding her stewed apple. I knew I would have to talk to her that night; otherwise, Applejack might do something which would hurt herself or the others.

Despite the sun still hanging in the sky, Rarity sent herself to bed, followed closely by Pinkie Pie. I had to admit, Pinkie Pie’s ability to have endless energy and then still be able to fall asleep on command was astounding, and I envied her of it. Fluttershy was next to drift away and Rainbow Dash not long after that. I lay on the ground, waiting for the time to raise the moon, and looked at Twilight. The sun was setting through the trees, bouncing off her deep purple mane, throwing the pink streak in her hair into sharp detail. Her violet eyes were quickly scanning the book in front of her, trying to absorb some knowledge in the final rays of light. She glanced up from her book and saw me gazing at her. Even from a distance of ten yards, I fell into her eyes, trying to see what she was thinking. She smiled at me, and I eventually broke the eye contact to look around the camp.

I stood up suddenly, frightened. Twilight looked around to see what had startled me. “Where’s Applejack?” She asked, worried as I was.

“I don’t know,” I replied, and sent my mind out to scan the forest around us. “Oh, please no.” I said to nopony in particular. Twilight turned to me.

“Where is she?” Twilight repeated, also worried.

“Up a cliff,” I told her, and snapped out my wings, trying to get there before Applejack did anything. “I’ll take care of it, Twilight; don’t worry.” I flew away from the camp, and soon found myself overlooking a large expanse of forest. I saw a fleck of orange on the tallest cliff around and flew towards it. Seeing that Applejack was simply sitting there, and not about to jump, I slowed my advance. She was watching the sun set, and I landed beside her, saying nothing.

“How do ya handle it, Luna,” Applejack simply said the words; I wasn’t even sure if it was a question.

“I haven’t had to,” I was honest in my reply. “Before I was Nightmare Moon, this didn’t happen. We kept all the roads safe, Celestia and I. The Royal Guard patrolled the roads regularly, and helped anypony who needed it. Right now, their horsepower is stretched too thin to do this anymore. I told Celestia about that: I asked her to set up the Night Guard once more.” I sighed. “A thousand years ago, it was the Night Guard who patrolled the cities and fending off crime, acting as the simple law enforcers for the ponies of Equestria. They were abolished when their princess left her duty to others. The Royal Guard had to handle two organisations’ work, including the out-of-city patrols and fighting battles for Equestria they did before. It became too much: they couldn’t do what they needed to do and some of the land fell into what you had to endure back there.

“I had never experienced the worst of ponykind a week ago,” I told her. “Forgive me, but I daresay that it affected me a lot more than you: remember that I helped shape how ponies are today, and seeing my work put into that was a very harsh wake-up call.” I did, however, know that it had affected Applejack greatly: she was the Element of Honesty, and never would do something to harm another pony like that. Seeing that some ponies were willing to do something like that had placed a magnet next to her moral compass, and she wasn’t sure what was right, only that what had happened was wrong.

“Yeah, Ah guess it would be, at that,” she grunted, and paused. “After seeing what happened there, Ah feel mighty ashamed to be a pony anymore. If Ah had to make the choice you did, Luna, Ah’m not sure what Ah would’ve…” she looked towards the sun. “The sun looks like its dying to me. Everything looks dead now.” I sighed.

“The forest is alive, Applejack,” I reassured her. “It is only sleeping, resting so it can be ready for the year to come. And this sun is not dying: turn around. Look behind you. It’s going to come back tomorrow morning, Applejack, but something needs to take its place in the sky in the meantime.” Once again, I opened my wings to their fullest extent, and sent my horn out to the silver light beneath the horizon. I grasped firmly, and instinct told me exactly when I was to raise it. Applejack was staring in awe at the moon as it edged up the sky. The sun’s rays died behind us, allowing the stars in the night sky to shine. I finally let the moon continue along its course independent of me, and closed my wings. The mental strain was less, this time, but it was still tiring.

“Those ponies were a vast minority,” I told her. “And that minority is going to become smaller over the next few years, I assure you of that. Yes, it will be difficult, but it will get done.” I looked back at Applejack. She was still looking at the moon. “I’ll leave you with your thoughts,” I started down the cliff into the forest, and Applejack didn’t follow. By rights, I should’ve been worried, but I knew I had done all that I could do, and if what I had just said to her didn’t help her, than nothing would.

I found my way back to the camp, and walked over to Twilight. I wrapped my forehooves around her. “I’ve done all I can. Pray it was enough.” She held me all the tighter at that point.

“I am,” she returned to her spot on the soft pine needles, curled up with her cloak around her, and slept. I smiled at her and found my own patch of pine needles and curled up. I closed my eyes and slept.

* * *

After a very long fortnight, we finally found ourselves walking into an inn at the crossroads from Cadmos, the Daydream Outpost, and the many tropical settlements towards the west. Applejack had brightened up especially in the past two weeks, basically back to her old self; the rest of us were content to simply leave the matter behind us. It was only another four or five days until we reached Daydream Outpost, so we were content to stay and rest for two or three nights at the inn. From popular choice, we chose to stay for two.

“Evenin’, fillies,” the barkeep greeted us pleasantly. “What can I do for ya?”

Rarity stepped up to speak. “Can we please get four rooms for the next two nights?” She requested of the grey colt. “And some dinner.”

“Eight bits per room per night,” the colt calculated, “so that’ll be sixty-four bits. Anything ya want for dinner in particular?”

“Nothing to do with apples,” Dash piped up, slightly obtuse. The barkeep nodded understandably.

“Forgot to pack some variety, did ya?” He scolded us playfully. “Well, I hope you mares learned your lesson from it.” Rarity nodded, slightly abashed. I payed the grey colt seventy bits for the rooms, plus the forty for us eight ponies’ dinners.

“What was your name, sorry?” I asked him.

“Woodcutter,” he answered. “Yes, you’re allowed to laugh. I still don’t know what my folks were thinkin’, but they sure as hay got it right: I made this inn from some trees in the forest. Mind, it did take a while to cut them down in the first place.” I congratulated him on this feat, as the establishment looked like it took a lot of horsepower and professional architecture to design and build.

We moved up to our rooms. Fluttershy was once again with Rarity, Pinkie Pie with Applejack, Twilight with me, and finally Dietrich and Rainbow Dash in the same room. I sighed: I really needed to get around to telling Dash that she was going to get hurt. I removed my cloak and lay on one of the beds in the room. It was very comfortable, I noted, and the design was sturdy but elegant. Twilight nudged me, and I budged across the bed so we both had room to lie down. I conveyed my worried about Rainbow Dash to her, and she nodded understandingly. I rolled onto my side and we looked at each other.

A hoof rapped the door smartly, and Twilight rolled off the bed to answer it. It was Rarity advising us that dinner was ready, so we left the room and proceeded downstairs. As we descended into the common room, I remembered Woodcutter; more precisely, Woodcutter not knowing who I was. This was shown when his mouth dropped open and he stared at me openly. Before he had time to process my arrival, I simply gave him some commands.

“Don’t bow, don’t grovel, and treat me like any other customer,” I told him, and he nodded dumbly. “Also, don’t call me ‘Your Majesty’: I much prefer Luna.” Another nod and he finally shook himself awake.

“Sorry, yes,” Woodcutter started thinking. “Hmm… Dinner! That’s what you need.” He turned away into the kitchen and I finally surveyed the common room. Twilight and I were the first ones there, except a couple in the shadowed corner that was clearly enjoying their time together. It didn’t take long for me to notice the polychromatic mane of a familiar cyan mare.

“Dash!” I exclaimed, and the couple broke apart, both of them blushing. “Dietrich! What on Equestria are you doing?” Dash mumbled something inaudible. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, ‘I thought that should’ve been obvious’,” Dash replied.

I was a bit flustered by this. “Yes, but…” I stammered. “Well… why?”

“That is even more so,” Dash told me. “Anyway, what business is it of yours?” The cyan mare had turned defensive.

“Dietrich,” I addressed the brown stallion. “Step outside for a minute.”

“Sorry, Luna,” he told me, “but I’d rather stay here.”

“Your loss,” I didn’t press the matter; he would undoubtedly learn what I was about to say eventually. “Dash, I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you earlier. You’re going to get hurt.”

“Do you doubt my honour?” Dietrich cut in, clearly offended by the remark.

“Not at all,” I allayed his fears, but he ended up confused. “In fact, it’s because of your honour that you’re going to hurt Dash.” This caused him a lot more confusion than my last comment. Dash simply looked furious.

“What do you want, Dash?” I asked her aggressively. “Grow old together, have kids, be happy, die, and get buried in the same grave? Well, we both know there’s a problem with that. You’re not going to grow old, Dash, and it will hurt you when he moves on. You can’t do anything about it, and don’t even consider asking me to change either you or him.”

Tears were forming in Dash’s eyes, but she didn’t want to shed them. Dietrich had slumped into one of the chairs, realising what I had just said. “That is what I want, and you can’t do shit about it!” She was shouting at me in frustration now. Woodcutter had walked in with our dinners in hoof and saw the scene playing out in front of him. He quickly thought up an excuse to get him out of the room politely.

“I’m going to get the cider,” he announced to everypony in the room.

“We’re going to need something stronger,” I told him, before he could leave, not breaking eye contact with Rainbow Dash. He obviously thought it was a bad idea, and hesitated. “What have you got?”

Woodcutter clawed feebly for any excuse, but couldn’t find one. “Um… we have scotch?”

“Perfect,” Dietrich and I both told him in unison. Woodcutter scurried out of the room without delay, trying to leave before it got out of hand.

“It’s not as if it affects you,” Dash continued. “And don’t you think you might be being hypocritical? You get to live forever, both you and Twilight. You don’t have to wor-” Dash broke off and her face drained of colour.

“What did you say,” I heard my voice as if from another pony, very soft and icy cold. How does she know?

“I- uh… well…” Rainbow Dash tried to stammer a response, and only was saved by Applejack stepping in to defuse the situation.

“Well, Luna, sugarcube…” she paused, phrasing her next words carefully. “Ya haven’t been too subtle about it. Ah have to admit, it was rather obvious.”

This caused me to splutter slightly. “B- but… how?”

“Let’s just say that Ah haven’t been sleepin’ in this gone month,” Applejack told me uneasily. Oh… that’s why, I thought to myself. She had obviously woken to find Twilight and I sleeping next to each other in the mornings, and only ‘slept in’, so she could let us continue our relationship without worrying about the others.

“Okay…” I let that go; she couldn’t well help it. “Anypony else known?” I asked to the crowd of my friends, and every one of them nodded. “You told them?” I inquired of Applejack, who shook her head.

“Luna, dear,” Rarity spoke up. “I think we all found out for ourselves. I, for one, found out because, quite frankly, I’m good at identifying the signs.”

“And… you don’t hate us?” Twilight finally spoke up, slightly worried.

“Of course not,” Rainbow Dash answered the question, despite my glare at her. “Nopony in this room cared when I told them I was bi; I can’t see why they wouldn’t do the same for you.” She gave a small giggle. “It’s gonna be a good conversation starter, I bet you: ‘I knew the princess when she became a fillyfooler’.” I simply glared at Dash all the harder when she said this.

“And the rest of you?” I asked.

Dietrich answered first. “I’m an insomniac: it’s not as if I didn’t notice at one point or another. For the record, I really couldn’t give less of a damn.” I nodded towards him, understanding.

Dash answered for the party pony. “I think you also made the false assumption that Pinkie Pie actually sleeps.”

“Well of course I sleep,” Pinkie Pie reprimanded Dash happily. “Everypony needs to sleep, silly filly.” I shook my head at Pinkie Pie, giggling despite everything.

Fluttershy mumbled something about seeing it all the time in rabbit families, and I figured that she, like Rarity, had seen the signs all too well. Well, what can I do? I thought with resignation. They had all found out for themselves, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

I sighed and walked towards the bar, sitting on one of the stools. “Can I have that scotch now, Woodcutter?” He poured me a glass, and another one for Dietrich. The atmosphere had quickly quietened.

Dietrich drained his glass in one gulp, motioned for another, and brought a plate over to eat. “That idea is going to take some time getting used to,” he told me. I grunted in question. “Well, getting it through my head that my marefriend’s not going to die is a bit difficult. How did you find that out, anyway?”

I drained my own glass and started eating the dinner, not even wondering what it was. “A griffin slashed her across the face six weeks ago.”

“Really?” Dietrich was astounded. “Not a scar on her.”

“Thank you,” I told him, and he sighed. I hesitated before I continued. “Take care of her, Dietrich, or I will haunt you for the rest of your life.” He smiled and grunted with the affirmative. I drained another glass of scotch and walked across the room to Twilight.

“I’m going to go to bed now, dear,” I said, nuzzling her lovingly. “It’s been a bit of a long month.” As I walked upstairs, I wondered idly how long we had been travelling for. Doing some rough calculations (which I nevertheless knew to be correct), I figured that we had been on the road for the past two months. It was just after midwinter now, and the days were warming up either to the season or travelling closer to the tropics.

I lay down on my bed and let sleep take me for the night. Realising how much scotch I had drunk also made me realise how I would feel in the morning.

Comments

[Nugt2018]

I hope this story is still on.

[Centauri]

I am really sorry: I've had writers' block for a number of weeks now and I'm not sure I'm going to pull through. I've written 2.7k words of CH14, but I just can't finish it. Along with the fact that I got a review from ponychan, so I need to virtually rewrite the first five chapters and drop the prologue.

So to be honest, don't get your hopes up that this story will be updated anytime in the next month, and maybe even after.

[Nugt2018]

36408 I just wanted to say that i think your story is awesome. I hope you still finish it for us who are reading it here.

[Nova007]

I also hope you eventually finish this story since I enjoy it immensely

[yayme]

480460

Same here.

[justwannaread]

Hmm this seems to my interest around 50k Words long, Luna is in it and she seems to have a major play in this also it helps that this appeared in my TwiLuna Group.

Cancelled why cancelled?

will read anyway.

[Xaldon Ajide]

well twas a good read while it lasted.

[Ehrlichkeit]

Such a shame, I would have loved to see this finished

[justwannaread]

Such a shame that was a really well done first Person Luna Story.

[Centauri]

I've passed on all responsibility of this story to Frostwyrm. He's free to do whatever he wants with it including finishing it; however, I know that he's busy with exams and writing his own stories, so there is not much chance of it being done.

Thank you all, so so much for reading this. It warms me to know I'm appreciated.

Now, have some big hugs while I think about what to do next. I don't know if I'll write another fanfic, or move onto standalone novels (someday, I delude myself), but until then, love you all