//------------------------------// // The Maze // Story: Little Memories // by Skijarama //------------------------------// A few minutes passed before the majority of the crowd began to disperse back into the streets of Ponyville, although the foals and their parents remained behind so the little ones could gather around the newly arrived alicorn and ask her questions. Twilight stood off to one side along with Rainbow and Spike, giving Luna her time in the spotlight. It was a pleasing sight to behold. Luna’s face alight with a soft and warm smile as she answered one foal’s inquiry. The shimmering in her eyes reflected the relief and happiness she must have been feeling at that moment. Twilight’s eyes were drawn away from the Q&A when she felt Rainbow nudging her in the ribs. She turned to face the pegasus to see her wearing a grateful grin on her muzzle. “Hey, thanks for the help, Twi. We couldn’t have pulled that off without you.” Twilight’s heart swelled in her chest at the praise, and she couldn’t help but avert her eyes. “Oh, uh, I didn’t do all that much. I just talked a bit and overacted,” she tried to dismiss the compliment. After a few seconds, though, and with the very distinct feeling of Rainbow’s eyes boring into the back of her head, Twilight gave a quiet sigh and met her gaze again.  “But… you’re welcome.” Rainbow’s smile broadened, and she gave Twilight a hearty thump on the back with her hoof. “That’s more like it,” she said before looking back towards the stage. Her smile faded somewhat, and her overall expression became far more solemn. “...It’s good to see Luna smiling like that.” Twilight frowned, her own smile being replaced with a curious frown. She looked down for a second, quickly running through everything she knew about Princess Luna for some context. She recalled it soon enough, and her ears drooped slightly. “Right… she still harbors a lot of guilt over the whole Nightmare Moon thing, doesn’t she?” she asked. Rainbow slowly nodded. “That’s a big part of it, yeah. But at the same time, well… think about it. She’s a thousand years out of time. The world’s changed a lot and she’s still trying to catch up. I still remember this one time when I gave her a smack on the shoulder, and she legit thought I had attacked her or something,” she explained before shaking her head. “She keeps it under wraps alright, but I can tell that it bugs her. A lot.” Twilight hummed quietly and looked towards the Princess of the Night. If that was the case, then she knew all too well what Luna was going through. Seeing something that everypony else took for granted and having no idea what it was? If anything, Twilight knew better because she was already supposed to know, but she didn’t. She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath to quiet down the embers of frustration that had come to life in her soul. “Don’t think about what was,” she reminded herself for what must have been the millionth time. “Focus on the future.” “I must say,” Luna’s voice cut through Twilight’s thoughts, drawing her attention. The blue alicorn had seemingly answered the last of the questions, as she was approaching the group and the foals were departing. “The youth of the modern era are much the same as they were a thousand years ago. They were only all too eager to shower me with questions both naive and adorable.” “Was it a good shower, at least?” Spike asked curiously, stretching out his arms. “I mean, kids sometimes don’t know how to ask sensitive questions, so…” “They were remarkably well behaved,” Luna replied with a tender smile and nod. “I can only assume that their parents raised them well.” “Eh, we’ve got one or two snots here in Ponyville,” Rainbow replied with a shrug of her shoulders before turning and gesturing widely at the rest of the town. “Speaking of, what do ya say? Wanna get the grand tour, Rainbow Dash style? Maybe go to some of the festival activities?” Luna hummed at the idea and eventually nodded. “That sounds like a fine idea. Very well, my niece, lead the way!” she agreed while thrusting a hoof into the air. “I would see all that your home has to offer on this night!” Twilight smiled widely, stepping to one side to face Luna more directly. “I did some reading up on it all over the days while we were waiting for you! Applejack has an apple bobbing contest, and she’s also helping to manage a spider toss! Rarity’s running a competition to see who has the most fabulous costume, and… uh…” Her eager voice slowly trailed off when Luna looked at her with a cold, unreadable expression. A lump formed in her throat, and she reflexively swallowed to try and force it down. A chill began to creep into her veins, and she found herself unable to stare back at the alicorn anymore. “Luna,” Rainbow suddenly called in a low, gentle voice, drawing the alicorn’s eyes away. Twilight briefly glanced at the pegasus to see a firm look on her face, one which carried a meaning that she could not decipher. Luna flinched under that look before looking back down at Twilight. There was still something cold in her eyes, but at least she was smiling now. “Forgive me, I did not intend to intimidate you,” she apologized with a hoof held up to her chest. It sounded earnest enough, but somehow, for some reason, Twilight found herself unable to really think it was genuine. She cleared her throat and smiled in return nevertheless. “O-oh, it’s fine! Everything intimidates me these days,” she tried to dismiss, rolling her hoof for emphasis. “New spells, so much history, Rainbow when she doesn’t get enough sleep-” “Hey!” “-I was even scared by the toaster once,” Twilight concluded with a curt nod of her head. Luna did not react in any way to that story, save for one of her eyebrows very slowly crawling up to disappear beneath her mane. Even Rainbow’s indignation suddenly gave away to curious confusion. “Say wha?” she questioned with grace and intelligence. It was at that moment that Twilight knew she had messed up, and a red tint began to spread across her cheeks. “I m-mean, uh… well, it’s just that… I didn’t know… There was no toaster! Sh-shut up!” “You were sleeping in that morning, Dash,” Spike elaborated with a cheeky grin, drawing a scandalized gasp from Twilight. “I was trying to make some toast for breakfast, and Twi came walking in to see what I was doing. She wound up wandering over to look at the toaster just in time for it to pop the toast out and hit her on the nose. She yelped and ran away.” “Why?!” Twilight asked with her ears going flat and her hooves held up to her chest. “Why would you tell them that?! I asked you not to!” “Well, yeah, I know,” Spike nodded along slowly. His grin returned, a fang poking out. “But you started it. And besides, I know how much Rainbow loves it when you squirm.” Now resembling a tomato, Twilight covered her face with her wings and let out a long, miserable groan of embarrassment. She could just hear Rainbow tittering through the veil of feathers before a hoof lightly tapped against them. “Heh, hey, Twi? You gonna come out of there?” “No.” “Aw, come on.” “You’re laughing at me.” “I’m laughing at how adorable you’re being right now.” Spike’s voice chimed in, quite amused. “She isn’t wrong, this is pretty adorable.” Twilight groaned again, wishing she could just disappear at that moment. But, in the end, she relented and peeled back her shelter of feathers just enough to poke her eyes out, doing her best to look as displeased as possible. Rainbow wasn’t able to keep it in. The moment she saw that pout, she cracked up again. She giggled merrily to herself and stomped her hoof against the ground a few times to let some of that amusement out. Spike, meanwhile, had his arms crossed over his chest and a victorious smirk on his face.  And, lastly, Luna was looking on with an entertained look of her own, her muzzle hidden behind a hoof in a desperate attempt to contain her own amusement. If nothing else, the coldness in her eyes was gone. At least for the moment. “Well, ain’t this a classic sight,” A new voice suddenly called from the side, serving as the metaphorical bell to save Twilight from further teasing. Thankful, she turned and caught sight of Applejack approaching with an amused grin shot her way. “Are they gettin’ all up on your case, sugarcube?” “More than a little,” Twilight huffed indignantly before folding her wings away. “Oh, hey AJ,” Rainbow greeted casually. “Did ya like the show?” Applejack adjusted her hat for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, it was mighty impressive. Although, Ah gotta admit, Ah was more than a little confused when it all started. Put two and two together quickly enough.” “I am glad the performance was to your liking,” Luna replied with a measure of relief. “Without any written script, we essentially improvised the whole thing.” “Well, color me impressed by y’all. Ah think ya did just swell, Princess,” Applejack praised before glancing over her shoulder. “Anywho, Ah’d love to stick around and chat some more, but Ah gotta get back to runnin’ a few activities deeper in town. Why don’t y’all head on over to mah family’s corn maze later?” Spike perked up at the suggestion, smiling. “Oh! Is it as scary as last year?” A more devilish look appeared on Applejack’s muzzle, and Twilight felt a tiny tingle running down her spine. “Oh-ho, it sure is! If anythin’, it’s scarier. Thanks to RD’s contributions to festival funds an’ all that.” Twilight glanced over at Rainbow, who tried to dismiss the grateful comment with a wave of her hoof and a snort. “Oh, please, Applejack. I’m just putting some of the excess money I got lyin’ around in my section of the vault to good use, you know?” “Still mighty nice of ya,” Applejack insisted before turning and starting down the path. “Ah gotta go, now, but y’all have fun, ya hear? Happy Nightmare Night!” “Happy Nightmare Night, Applejack!” Twilight called after her with a smile and a wave before turning back to face the others, a thought coming to mind. “The corn maze is pretty far from here. Maybe we can hit a few spots on the way?” “I like the sound of that!” Spike agreed with a bounce. “I kinda wanted to try out the spider toss! And maybe go to Rarity’s costume contest!” “You just wanna swoon over her,” Rainbow teased before hopping up to hover a few feet in the air. “But hey, that’s fine!” she then spun to face Luna. “What about you, Aunt Luna? What do you think?” The princess of the night gave a genuine smile and an eager nod of her head. “Did I not say before that I wished to see all that your home holds this night?” she asked rhetorically before pointing a hoof dramatically down the road. “Come, lead the way, my niece! Show me the nightmares this night was named for!” Rainbow’s grin only grew. “Ha! That’s what I’m talkin’ about! Right this way!” And with that, the group began to head down the street, traveling deeper into the festival and all it had to offer. As they went, Twilight took chances where she could to look sideways at Luna, finding that the coldness in her gaze had thankfully been replaced with an exciting warmth. She just hoped that that warmth would last for the whole night. They spent the better part of an hour exploring the festival and having a good time. By Spike’s suggestion, they played the Spider Toss, which Luna was surprisingly adept at once she grasped the concept. They took a trip through a modular and quick-assembly haunted house, where all of them had a few good spooks and jumpscares. Except for Spike. He insisted that he was brave and strong and not scared at all, Rainbow Dash! But, eventually, they went through the bulk of the activities the main festival had to offer, and so finally set off for the Corn Maze. The road they took to get there saw them departing the central bulk of Ponyville and arriving in the outskirts. The Apple Family Farm was visible in the distance to their right, little more than a silhouette against the night sky. Framed as it was by the now-leafless branches of the orchard’s many apple trees, it was quite an eye-catching sight, of that Twilight harbored no doubts. What stood out to her more, though, was the corn maze ahead of them. An ornate decorative arch had been arranged at the entrance, designed to look like some morbid hybrid between tree bark and jagged scales. The way they reached up and met in the middle looked almost like either two trees intertwining or two arms clasping their sharp-clawed hands together. Faint candles sat to either side of the archway, while the maze within was shrouded in a dense fog, complete with yet more eerie ambiance. At the entrance of the maze, an elderly green mare with a gray mane, tail tied in a bun, and dressed in the dark robes and pointed hat of a stereotypical witch could be seen speaking to a group of huddled-together foals in a spooky voice. She was warning them about the dangers and ominous creatures within the twists and turns, and how ‘very few ponies’ had managed to make it back out alive. Her aged and croaking voice led credence to her words, solidifying the impression of a wizened old witch who had seen more than her fair share of macabre things. “Granny Smith, Applejack’s grandmother,” Twilight identified the mare as soon as she saw her, then turned to look at her companions. Rainbow and Spike looked excited at the prospect of entering the hazy locale ahead of them, though, now that she was looking, Twilight didn’t miss that Spike also looked just a little apprehensive, sticking a little closer to the pegasus than he had been up until the maze came into sight. Luna, in contrast, appeared more intrigued than anything. Her eyes swept across the front of the maze, taking in every little detail. After a moment, she gave a hum and smile of approval. Twilight then returned her gaze to the maze and felt a spark of excitement in her chest. Yet another piece of Ponyville culture and tradition was waiting for her to rediscover, and all it would take was passing through that entrance and wandering the maze. Unable to keep an excited grin from spreading on her face, she picked up her pace to move ahead of the group. “Well, we’re here! Shall we head in?” Luna was quiet for a second before deigning to speak. “Indeed we shall.” “Ladies first,” Spike suggested, tapping his claws together at about the same time that a collection of echoing screams of terror emerged from the depths of the maze. “Cause, y’know, it’s the polite thing to do!” “Aw, come on, Spike. Are you sure you wanna be in the back?” Rainbow asked in a slow, taunting way, making the dragon squirm. “I mean, if it’s ladies first, you gotta hang back. What if something dark, and scary, and quiet, suddenly reaches out and gets ya because none of us were back there to see it or stop it?” Spike visibly paled, a nervous shiver working its way down his spine. “O-oh… uh, good point,” he stammered out, the tapping of his claws becoming fast enough that they were audible. Twilight rolled her eyes, unfolded her wing, and nudged Spike forward. “Don’t worry, I’ll take the back,” she assured him with a smile and a quick nuzzle. “Now go on. I’m right behind you.” Luna shifted to look at Twilight again, a small smile on her face. “That is… very kind of you, Twilight Sparkle,” she noted in a quiet voice before turning and nodding at Rainbow. The pegasus beamed and puffed up with an ‘I told you so’ look on her face.  Before Twilight could question them about the strangeness of that interaction, Luna turned and began the trek into the maze, following closely behind Rainbow Dash. Swallowing heavily, Twilight shook herself, adjusted the graduate hat she was still wearing and set off after them. She briefly glanced back over her shoulder at the group of foals that Granny Smith was still talking to, watching as they faded from view amidst the heavy fog that obscured the way. She could hear Granny letting out a wicked cackle, and the foals crying out in alarm before all fell silent. With a deep breath, Twilight turned her eyes forward and followed the group. “The fog is dense,” Luna noted cautiously, her horn sparking to life to light the way with a soothing blue glow. “I can barely see ten feet in front of us.” “Part of the charm,” Rainbow explained over her shoulder. “Who knows what kinds of scary stuff might be moving around? With all this fog, we’d never get to see it until it was right on top of us.” “What kinds of things do you think are here?” Spike asked, trembling slightly. Twilight had to resist the urge to roll her eyes and chuckle. Those two were already giving themselves up entirely to the illusion of some haunted scenario, asking the right questions to build their own tension. Evidently, they had this down to a science. So she might as well join in. “Who knows?” she replied in a low voice, her eyes darting back and forth. “Could be Maybe snakes? Spiders?” “Or a giant pony-eating moth,” Rainbow followed up while turning around to look at Luna’s horn. “Just imagine it! A wingspan of ten feet, body covered in thick brown hairs, giant compound eyes that stare into your soul!” she lifted a few feet off the ground and began wringing her hooves together. “And massive fangs that could break through rock like it was nothin’!” “That is quite an intimidating mental image,” Luna admitted, looking thoughtfully up at the moonlit sky. “And creative,” Twilight added. Spike groaned, a quiet and trembling sound of anxiety and apprehension.  The group fell back into a relative state of silence as their wandering continued. They took several turns, and soon enough were well and truly lost amid the stalks of corn. Screams echoed around them as scares were pulled off, and the tension was building as they all wondered exactly when it would be their turn. Their wonderings were answered when the aged voice of Granny Smith humming an ominous tune to herself broke through the fog ahead of them, and the golden glow of a lantern became visible. With uneven steps and the metal hinges of her light creaking with rust and age, the elder emerged before the group with a narrow-eyed grin. “Well, lookit what we have here,” she cackled, sizing up the group. “Little ponies wanderin’ the maze. How fare ye, mah pretties?” “Well enough so far, thank you,” Luna replied with a polite nod of her head. “No frightening monsters have emerged to frighten us. I can only surmise that they recognize me as being far scarier than they are.” Granny’s grin grew wider. “Ooh, is that so, dearie?” she asked in a way that suggested she knew something they didn’t. A chill ran down Twilight’s spine, and she swallowed the lump that had just formed in her throat. “I mean, it seems like a safe bet…” “Oh dear, oh dear,” Granny shook her head in disappointment. “Don’t ya know? Nothin’ is scarier in this maze than the ol’ Grootslang!” “Grootslang?” Rainbow questioned with a raised eyebrow. “The heck is that?” “Do we wanna know?” Spike asked in a jittering voice. Granny cackled again, swinging her lantern back and forth in front of her. “Oh, the Grootslang is just the biggest snake y’all ever did see. It’s got these big ol’ fangs, big as a pony leg, and could crush the life out of an elephant and swallow ‘em whole in seconds! Fearsome little devils and one of ‘em prowls this here maze.” Rainbow settled onto her hooves at the front of the group, her eyes narrowing. “Oh yeah? Then why haven’t we seen him yet?” she questioned in a clearly exaggerated way, trying to goad Granny into unveiling the big scare. The elderly mare played along, building the tension. With a series of quiet chuckles, she knelt down and swept her hoof along the dirt path, clearing away the top layer. A collection of long white objects were revealed, looking eerily like bones. Additionally, now that she was looking, Twilight realized that the ground beneath them had been disturbed by something large dragging along the ground and creating a shallow, albeit wide, trench. Just like a giant snake trail. “He’s already been here,” Granny concluded slowly, lifting her head and lowering her lantern so the light shone from below. “Got some poor suckers already, by the looks of it. Y’all wanna skedaddle before he comes back and gets y’all too.” “I’m not scared of a big snake!” Rainbow shot back confidently, giving her still cardboard-covered wings a flap. “Bring ‘em on! I’ll show ‘em!” “Rainbow, that’s a bad idea!” Spike protested, scampering up to her and latching onto her foreleg. “We’re gonna be eaten alive!” “So ye are,” Granny cackled ominously, starting to back away into the fog again, her lantern creaking with every step. “Good luck, my little ponies… heeheehee…” And then Granny Smith was gone, leaving the group standing in silence. Luna coughed into a hoof. “Well, that wasn’t unsettling at all,” she stated sarcastically. “Meh, coulda been worse,” Rainbow dismissed casually. “Now come on, let’s keep moving- WOAH!” Twilight watched as something lurched down at Rainbow from the fog overhead, making the startled pegasus trip and fall back onto the ground. The shape loomed over them, revealing itself to be a colossal snake that, true to Granny’s word, could easily eat any one of them in a single bite if it were so inclined. In response to the threat before her, her heart twisted in her chest, and a spike of adrenaline coursed through her veins, urging her to turn and run. Spike beat her to it. “IT’S THE GROOTSLANG!” he screamed at the top of his lungs before turning and fleeing for his life the way they had come. “RUUUUN!” Snapped out of her own fears, Twilight turned as he went and reached out to stop him, but he had already vanished into the fog. “Spike! Hey, come back!” she called after him, and was about to give chase when another sound reached her ears.  Laughing.  Turning around, she saw Rainbow Dash back on her hooves and grinning up at the wooden recreation of a Grootslang with no small amount of appreciation. “Wow! Look at this thing! Where did they get it? It’s AWESOME!” she cheered before flying up to give it a thunk with her hoof.  Luna, whose wings had snapped open in alarm at the sight, slowly folded them back up at her sides. “Yes, it is quite lifelike. Mayhap it would have fooled ponies of lesser perception into believing it to be real.” Twilight gave her a sideways glance, briefly wondering if Luna was saying that in earnest or if she was trying to cover up the possibility that she had thought it was real. Of course, it wasn’t like Twilight was in any place to judge her for that, as she had been much the same until Spike went running. Speaking of which… “Spike ran off,” she announced to the two remaining ponies, drawing an exasperated groan from Rainbow and a bewildered shake of Luna’s head. “Of course he did,” Rainbow grumbled, dropping back to her hooves. “Meh. Nothing else for it but to go get him, I guess.” Luna nodded and turned to look after where Spike had retreated to. “I’ll find him. You two remain here, and I shall rejoin you with Spike in short order,” she stated before glancing back over her shoulder at her niece. “Besides, this gives me a chance to pull a scare or two of my own while I look.” Twilight tilted her head. “A scare or two of your own…?” “Luna and Mom liked to prank each other when they were little,” Rainbow explained with a small smirk. “It just so happens that my aunt preferred to scare her victims, as opposed to mom’s good-natured practical jokes.” “I see my sweet sister told you more than I had thought,” Luna mused before shaking her head and starting down the path at a brisk trot. “I shall have words with her about that another time.” And with that, the Princess of the Night vanished into the fog, leaving Rainbow and Twilight to their own devices.  And so they waited. Time began to pass, the two mares occasionally jumping at some distant shriek or bellowing roar before giggling to themselves and falling quiet again. Rainbow busied herself by examining the Grootslang, while Twilight sat herself down by the wall, giving her hooves a rest and letting her mind wander. “So, how are ya liking Nightmare Night?” Rainbow suddenly asked after several minutes, touching down next to Twilight and smiling. “Fun, right?” She nodded in response. “Yes, very fun. A little macabre, but I can see the appeal in it,” she said before leaning back and looking up into the heavens. She caught sight of the full moon just past the Grootslang that hovered almost directly above her, and her smile became strained. “...Although…” Rainbow tilted her head. “What? What is it?” Twilight bit her lip, unsure of how to voice her question. She rolled it around in her head for a few seconds before finally giving a quiet sigh and affixing Rainbow with a quizzical look. “Rainbow… does Luna not like me, or something?” Silence. Somewhere in the distance, a few foals screamed before bursting into a fit of elated giggles, their voices joined by the sound of their hooves pummeling the earth before fading once again into quiet. Slowly, a crooked and all-too-fake grin spread on Rainbow’s face. “Er, Twi? Whaddya talking about?” she asked casually. Twilight’s expression flattened. “Rainbow, please, I’m not stupid or oblivious. The first time we met she kept glaring at me, and she glared at me a few times today, too. And then when she complimented me for looking after Spike, she looked at you and you practically glowed with pride. Did…” her ears drooped and she looked down at the ground, her eyes finding one of the dirt-covered ‘bones’ particularly interesting. “...Did I do something to hurt her?” There was another moment of silence before Rainbow grimaced and sat down by Twilight’s side. The Grootslang sculpture looming over them cast an ominous shadow over them, faint rays of moonlight creating a luminous curtain on all sides.  Once Rainbow was comfy, she gazed up at the moon high in the sky over their heads. All the while, Twilight watched her, wondering what the pegasus had to say. “I wouldn’t say she dislikes you,” Rainbow finally began, picking her words with extreme care. “But… she does have her doubts about you. As much as I disagree with her, I can still say I understand why she feels the way she does.” “Doubts?” Twilight echoed, her ears drooping while her gaze wandered up to the moon as well. What had she done to Luna to warrant something like that? “What kinds of doubts?” “...I don’t think I should-” A loud snap suddenly cut her off, and both pairs of eyes darted to look at the Grootslang. Twilight’s heart rate spiked when she saw the colossal figure lurching towards them from above, swinging back and forth. “What the-?!” Whatever was holding the Grootslang up above their heads came undone with a loud and spine-chilling snap, and the giant wooden snake began to plummet towards them. Twilight’s mind blanked, her eyes going wide. That thing was enormous! If it fell on them, it would surely carry enough weight to crush both of them into the dirt! Acting purely on instinct, Twilight turned and hurled herself off to one side with a kick of her legs and a powerful flap of her wings. She sailed several feet through the air before crashing into the ground. The dirt and a few loose stoned scraped and burned her face, causing her to let out a pained hiss. After a second of sliding, she came to a total stop and held still, expecting there to be a loud crash and a cloud of dust. She expected to hear Rainbow screaming in pain, trapped beneath an incredibly heavy carving of wood, and her heart sank with guilt when she realized that she had completely forgotten about her. Lifting her head, Twilight’s eyes were not met with the morbid scene she had been imagining, but instead saw something far less frightening. Rainbow was on the ground, yes, looking to have tripped on a particularly large ‘bone’ as she tried to flee. Thankfully, though, the Grootslang statue was suspended a few inches above her, encased in the deep blue glow of Luna’s magic. “What happened?!” The alicorn bellowed as she thundered back towards the group, Spike clinging onto her back and looking on with wide eyes. Luna skidded to a stop by Rainbow and dragged her out from under the snake. “I don’t know!” Rainbow replied once she was safe, her breath heavier than before. “We were just talking and suddenly the thing tried to fall on us!” Twilight sighed with relief before forcing herself to her hooves and galloping over to join them, her eyes scanning over Rainbow’s form for any injuries. Thankfully, she was unharmed, although the cardboard on her wings had become mangled and her fake paper mane had fallen off when she fell. Spike hopped down from Luna’s back and joined them, his claws latching onto Rainbow’s foreleg while his eyes bored into hers. “Are you okay? Did Luna catch it in time?!” he asked, his voice shaking. Rainbow nodded. “Y-yeah, I’m alright. My costume took a ding or two,  but I’m fine,” she assured him before sitting upright and brushing him away. She then turned to face Twilight, her face relaxing with relief. “Whew… you okay, Twi?” “I think so. But…” she turned her eyes back to the Grootslang, which Luna was now gently touching down on the ground a safe distance away. “What happened?” As if on cue, the shuffling of hooves became audible, and Granny Smith re-emerged onto the scene from the fog. Her eyes fell on the fallen statue, completely shocked. “What in tarnation?! Yer all okay, aren’t ye?” “We’re good,” Rainbow called over with a lazy wave of her hoof. “I beg to differ,” Luna rebuffed, rising back to her full height and taking a few threatening steps towards the old mare. There was an angry scowl on her face. “Granny Smith, correct?” she asked slowly. Granny Smith, on seeing that she was the target of a royal’s ire, immediately dropped into a low bow, her eyes closed. “Ah’m terribly sorry about this, yer majesty! Ah swear, Ah thought it was secure! Ah’d played that same trick a dozen times before y’all showed up, and it didn’t show no signs of fallin’ like that!” Luna was quiet for a moment, her eyes narrowing. Twilight watched the exchange unfolding, heart thumping in her chest. “What is she going to do?” she thought, anxiously looking between the bowing elder and the furious princess. Luna’s family had just been in danger, who knew how she would take it? The silence was growing to be suffocating when Luna closed her eyes and sucked in a long, deep breath. She then let it back out in a heavy sigh and stared down at Granny with an expression that was more scolding then vengeful. “Very well. Accidents happen. However, I insist that you not make any further use of such contraptions, and make a thorough sweep of the rest of the maze to ensure there are no other safety hazards.” The tension visibly lifted from everypony present at those words, and Granny Smith gave a shaky nod of her head. “R-right! Of course! Right away!” she stammered before standing upright, adjusting her witch’s hat, and scampering off back into the fog, as well as she could in her old age.  Twilight watched her go before turning to face Luna. The princess was staring at the statue as well, a bitter look on her face. Then, with no warning, Luna turned towards Twilight and looked directly into her eyes, the coldness having gotten even more intense. The smaller mare shrank away from those eyes, her blood running cold and anxiety welling up inside of her. Then Luna turned and unfurled her wings. “...Forgive me, but I do not wish to be in this maze any longer. Let us take our leave,” she stated with no room for argument before taking to the sky. Twilight watched her go, her heart withering in her chest and her ears drooping. The way Luna had looked at her burned itself into her mind, and she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what she had done wrong. Did she make some kind of mistake? If so, what was it? Finding no answers in the starry sky, Twilight turned to look at Rainbow, who was in the process of letting Spike climb up onto her back. And then it hit her. Twilight had completely forgotten that Rainbow was in danger, too, when the Grootslang fell. She had acted purely on instinct and made no effort to help the pony next to her. If Luna hadn’t come along when she did then Rainbow would have been crushed, and Twilight would only have herself to blame for not helping her. “I should have grabbed her,” she thought bitterly to herself, her face falling and hear ears folding back. “You coming, Twilight?” Rainbow asked quietly as she trotted up to her side, Spike riding on her back with a somber expression. Twilight was quiet for several seconds before offering a nod and a quiet hum. Her wings unfurled and, with Rainbow leading the way, they departed the corn maze. As the wind whipped at her face and filled her ears, a single thought entered her mind. “Next time, I’ll do better…” With that promise flickering in her heart, they left the corn maze far behind and made the return trip into Ponyville.