Luna shifted her weight back, eyes narrowed. She had come in peace; but if these strange ponies wanted to fight, then a fight they'd get. And it would be one they would never forget.
But something was wrong. They weren’t pawing at the ground, no ears were pinned, no teeth bared. If anything, they looked… defeated.
Pitying.
Luna hated being pitied. It was the only thing she hated more than being ignored. She turned to the one who had spoken. “Explain yourself,” she ordered.
“You cannot leave,” he emphasized.
“And why can I not?”
He shook his head and gestured with a sweeping hoof towards the camp. “This is all there is in the world.”
Then the world is very miserable, indeed. “Then whence came I?” Luna challenged.
“Perhaps Snowy Dusk dreamed you into existence,” he said, gesturing at the mare who had recognized Luna earlier.
Luna snorted, finding this offensive. She was the mistress of dreams. And in her extensive study, there was no way to bring something dreamed into the real world. Not that she knew of, anyway.
And she wasn’t about to test that theory.
A shrill whistle pierced through the air. Arctic Night’s ears pricked. “It is time for lunch. I believe you’re welcome to join us.”
Luna chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. It would be rude to refuse. And, really, as nice as travel food was, it would be nice for a change.
Even if it did beg a question. “Would you feed a dream, then?” Luna asked playfully. “Or might there be another explanation to my presence?”
“For generations upon generations we have lived here. Many brave ponies have departed, only to return. This is all there is.”
“I can assure you, there is much more to this world than this cold rock of ice and snow,” Luna insisted.
Arctic expelled a sharp burst of air from his nostrils.
“You think me mad,” Luna said, a hint of accusation in her voice.
“I am seeing a pony twice my size, with strangely-shaped wings, and a stick coming out of her forehead,” he replied wryly. “At least one of us must be mad.”
Luna cracked a smile against her will.
* * *
Standing beside Arctic Night, Luna stood in line for their food. As a leader, he took his place in the back, something Luna found admirable (if a bit militaristic).
She looked around. The ponies—she’d decided that ‘bat ponies’ would do for an appellation for now—were huddled together as best they could in this cave. Small fires dotted the ground, their sole source of heat. There was usually one pony, younger, who had eaten first, and stood, tending it. They were of the few wearing anything; and what clothing they had was worn and threadbare. Luna watched as one’s time was up; he passed the cloak onto his replacement and returned.
Eventually, she got to the front of the line. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but it certainly had been more than this. In the basket in front of her was something that looked like a small, blackened pear. Arctic Night held it out for Luna, who picked it up in her hooves (as a princess, she had to be considerate and not use magic around non-magic users) and sniffed it. It certainly didn’t look appealing; but being a princess was not all cake, all the time; no matter what Celestia may have believed. She shook her head and bit.
Her first bite attempt didn’t even pierce the skin.
Luna scowled and tried again, bringing to full bear her earth pony strength on this stubborn fruit.
She regretted it as soon as she did. The skin was hard and thick, and the mealy flesh of the fruit was the most bitter thing she had ever tasted. She gagged. Unable to restrain herself, Luna spat it out, coughing, not even caring how unroyal she looked right then. Surely they weren't living on this, right?
But she noticed the baleful, wishful, a few almost bitter glances. She'd wasted their food. A feeling of guilt washed over her. They were starving, and wasting their food—if it could even be called that—would be a profound insult. And a simple glance at the basket told her what she’d already suspected: Arctic Night had given her his portion. She had to make up for this.
Luna reached a hoof into her saddlebag. She rummaged for a bit before finding an apple, slightly bruised from the trip, one she'd intended on eating last and only if she were really hungry and would most likely end up discarded at the end of her journey. She held it out in offering. Why didn’t she think of this before?
Arctic Night leaned forward, curious, nostrils flared. “It’s like no fruit I’ve ever seen,” he said cautiously.
“Try it,” Luna said. “Consider it restitution.”
Arctic Night licked his fangs, and then, he leaned forward and sank his fangs inside. Juice from the apple spurted out of the indents of his fangs, and he tore the flesh off much harder than necessary, spreading more apple juice. It was soft and sweet, unlike anything else he’d ever tasted. He chewed slowly, savoring every bite, and it was an uncomfortably long time before he actually swallowed.
“If this is a dream, I wish to never wake up.” Arctic Night nearly moaned as he took another bite. As he did, he glanced around. Luna did, too.
The bat ponies were staring, longingly. Arctic Night looked down at the apple, sighed, and then passed it to the nearest bat pony. She took a bite, and passed it on. Luna could only stare as the entire colony took increasingly small bites as the apple was passed around. She had been planning on discarding this apple, and here they were nearly worshiping it. The last pony got maybe a little scrap of the skin, and he still chewed as thoughtfully and pleasantly as if he had been given a slice of the most succulent cake.
Again with the cake! Luna shook her head. She climbed up onto the table. “There is more in the place where I come from,” she announced. “Come, my little ponies, I’ll take you there.” She turned and leapt off the table and strode forward, heading outside.
The lack of hoofsteps behind her made her slow. She peeked back over her shoulder, and then slowed to a stop.
Not a single bat pony had moved.
“Why?” she demanded.
“We cannot leave. There is nothing else.”
Luna scowled; but before she could say anything else, there was a shriek from outside. It sounded vaguely like ‘treewalker!’.
The bat ponies mobilized, almost faster than Luna could react. Suddenly, the presence of fires everywhere made sense as Arctic Night scooped up a burning branch and rushed outside. Luna followed, curious to know what would cause such a panic.
She got her answer quickly as familiar howls split the cold afternoon air, and she sprinted outside.
Timberwolves!
They lived in the forests surrounding Everfree City, but these were much smaller. Probably much hungrier and more vicious, too. The pony who had originally raised the alarm had made it back safe, but the timberwolves were already surrounding the area.
And then Luna gasped. There was a younger bat pony, hiding up in a tree. His hooves scrabbled for purchase; he had jumped and tried to climb up but the branches were too close for him to use his wings properly. They were going for that little pony, and the rest of the pack was intent on holding off the rest of the bat ponies in time for their hunt.
In all fairness, this was a decent plan. It was working; one timberwolf was leaping up and catching little chunks of his tail in his jaws.
They just hadn’t counted on Luna being there.
Instinctively, she powered up her horn and fired a blast of magic. It impacted the timberwolf right as it jumped. It obliterated the timberwolf’s head, and its body had only enough residual magical energy to maintain cohesion for a brief moment before falling apart.
The ponies gasped and stared. They pointed at Luna’s horn, they cowered, they whispered behind their burning sticks. This was new.
It was new for the timberwolves, too. This new development quickly made her the center of attention. They turned, their appetite staved for now in the face of such a threat.
And Luna was quite the threat. She strode forwards, the bat ponies still whispering.
They circled around her, snarling, hissing. Even this far away, and probably being a different class of timberwolf entirely, they still had such bad breath.
Luna kept her horn lit. The stick slowly floated out of Arctic Night’s grasp, and twirled in midair, now glowing with that same blue light. The timberwolves hesitated, their heads swiveling to follow it as it spun.
The little pony up in the tree had gotten distracted; his attention drawn to Luna’s light meant that he was not paying attention to the timberwolves beneath him; nor was he actively trying to climb on top of the branch.
And, of course, this made him an easy target for the timberwolf beneath him. It looked up, and it almost seemed to smile as it crouched to jump.
The bat ponies cried out and moved forward; but Luna was faster. In a quick motion, she threw the stick, impaling the nearest timberwolf through the head; and then disappeared in a burst of light. She reappeared, about a pace behind it.
Luna scowled. She had aimed for appearing right in front of him; her rear hoof was still raised. Missing your mark was such an amateur teleportation mistake, and she silently vowed to leave this little detail out if Celestia ever asked about her journey.
Thankfully, a pony (especially one as large as Luna) appearing out of nowhere is an adequate distraction. Made even more so when Luna scuffed a hoof, lowered her head, lit her horn and spread her wings; making herself look like quite the formidable opponent.
One timberwolf circled around back and jumped; but the bat ponies had crossed the distance. They fell on it as one, beating it apart with their burning sticks. Though many had gone out in the wind, their combined efforts managed to disintegrate it. While that was happening, Luna fired another blast, taking out the timberwolf under the tree.
There were now four timberwolves down, and they had lost all element of surprise and momentum. One timberwolf made a vague attempt to remain defiant; but with every other wolf running away, his courage, too, quickly failed him, and he sprinted away with the rest of them.
The bat ponies cheered and waved their sticks as the pack fled. Luna snorted once for good measure, and then turned back to the bat ponies. And it was then that something occurred to her.
They cheered her.
Luna hesitated. This was a new sensation. She was so used to ponies applauding both her sister and her (or just her sister), and this all on her own was… new. It was quite nice, actually.
It was a bit sad, though. Finally, some ponies were recognizing her efforts, and they were freezing, starving, and living in constant fear for their lives.
And then it hit Luna. They needed a savior. And Luna could be that savior. She stepped forward. “Citizens!” Luna said, before realizing that technically, they might not have been. Still, she continued. “I can deliver you from the timberwolves. I can deliver you from here. Come with me.”
“Nopony will go with you,” Arctic Night said simply. He picked up the stick Luna had thrown and placed it over his shoulder, and picked up a few others nearby.
“Must I go and show you?” Luna demanded.
“Go if you wish,” Arctic Night said, dumping the branches on the fire. “You will be back. This is all there is.”
Luna looked forward again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the little filly she’d seen at the very beginning. She leaned down and extended a hoof. “Wilt thou go with me?” she offered.
The filly gasped and grinned excitedly, baring her fangs once more. She quickly scrambled up, getting on Luna’s back.
Luna hesitated, feeling her little charge crawl on. She’d heard the phrase ‘bag of bones’ before to describe a skinny pony; but she’d never actually met a pony for whom was more of an accurate description than a playful exaggeration. “And when we arrive at the Castle of the Two Sisters,” she promised quietly, “you shall have a whole bushel of apples.”