God, what am I doing.
Those were the words that kept going through my head, as I slammed it repeatedly into the wall of my shower.
The girls have kept themselves locked up tight in their room for the past several days, only coming out on occasion. We've all forgiven each other over and over, time after time, but there's still a sort of rampant depression taking over our household. It's like a small, personal raincloud has been hanging over all of our heads, following us around wherever we go.
The shower, strangely enough, is where I do some of my best thinking. As well as some of my worst.
I cried into the drain, not differentiating between the water coming from the shower head and that of my own eyes. My recent experiences have left me thinking, thinking about all those memories I had locked away. But now, they awoke in all their terrifying vividness, and haunted my days and nights.
It was all amplified this morning, when I received a letter reporting my brother's death. He had caught some sort of virus while on parole. With my his passing, I lost my last tie to reality. The only person I knew and loved that wasn't a miniature equine was gone.
Soap suds seeped into my eyes, making them sting like little pinpricks. But did I care? No. I had more pressing problems to worry about. Like the suited men.
Men, dressed to kill had been popping up from time to time. For the past few days, they'd appeared in small groups of three, and circled the theatre like hungry sharks. I haven't let the girls out since. But it's not like they want to go outside anyways. They're just as scared as I am.
So now I was back to my old self, climbing out of bed with the thought, "I can survive one more day."
It was one of those days that I woke up, and saw we were almost out of food in the fridge. I had refrained from going out for any reason since the suited men had appeared, but it seemed I didn't really have a choice anymore.
Later that day, I was looking through the cracks in the blinds of the upstairs windows. I had temporarily closed the theatre down. The neon 'OPEN' sign was deprived of it's usual shine, but someone had been inspired to pay us a visit anyways.
While I was scouting out the parking lot for any suspicious activity, I heard a loud thud downstairs.
Oh God, they must have broken down the doors! I panicked, and rushed to the girls' room.
"Girls! Lock the door, stay quiet, and don't come out until I say so!" I whispered just loud enough for them to hear.
I didn't wait for them to respond, but instead ran down the stairs to block the doorway. I kept my back pressed up to the door, waiting for it to be toppled on top of me.
I heard steps coming towards the door. I prepared myself for their owners. And then…
"Ah, hello?" A rather formal, hushed whisper was accompanied by a light knocking.
That voice…it couldn't be. I hadn't heard it in ages.
I opened the door slowly, peeking through the small crack before opening it fully.
"Hello. My name is Princess Luna."
I remembered where I heard the voice. The last episode of Friendship is Magic I had seen.
I admitted the Princess into my living room, letting her trot through the hall in all her splendor.
"Thank you human. Inter-dimensional travel can get to be quite exhausting sometimes." She yawned, and took her place across from me on the sofa. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but there was one thing I was certain of.
"You're not taking them."
Luna shook her head. "I was afraid you would react like this. I haven't even told you why I'm here yet."
"Well, why are you here? Shouldn't Twilight and Celestia and the girls' sisters be here?"
Luna rolled her eyes at my mentioning of her fellow princess. "Oh no, my sister and her apprentice were much too busy to be bothered with the task…so they sent me instead."
I grimaced at her word choice. Was returning my girls really just another menial "task?"
Luna sighed, and began to speak again. "So, you know why I'm here. I traced the Crusaders location back to this particular spot, in this particular dimension. And I would like to inquire as to what they are doing here.”
I looked at her with a sullen face. "You should know what happened to them. You were on the other side after all."
Luna turned her head away, seeming;y embarrassed. "Yes. Well, ah, about that…"
"What?"
"Well, it just so happens, that I sent them here." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"You sent them here?"
"Yes. An accident, of course. You see, back in Equestria, Queen Chrysalis came back, with an even greater army of changelings than before, and, well...
"She and her changelings had infiltrated the masses, kidnapping and impersonating ponies everywhere. We've taken care of it now of course, but there were some unfortunate pieces of aftermath.
"You see, I had perfected a spell that could banish any changelings that got too close for comfort to a dimension of nothingness. Cheerilee's class had taken another field trip to Canterlot, and they came to meet my sister and I. But as it turned out, Queen Chrysalis was disguised as Cheerilee, and I managed to get rid of her once and for all. I suspected more intruders to have come along with her, including Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle."
"How could you."
I was barely suppressing my rage.
"You sent them here, of all places. To this horrible, horrible world."
"I had no control over which dimension they were sent to-"
"HOW COULD YOU!!" My whole body shook with the short, rasping breaths that rattled through my chest. Tears spilled out of my eyes uncontrollably.
"Do you realize what could have happened if I hadn't found them?"
"I am fully aware of the risks. And I take full responsibility for my actions."
"There are sick people in this world. They could've been dissected, or sold as pets, or…" I trailed off, shuddering at the possibilities.
"And now, after I've cared for them for so long, they'll just be sent back and have to deal with the pain of two separate lives."
"I know how it feels." Princess Luna looked at me sadly.
"Surely you know of the time when I tried to overthrow my sister. Please listen to me when I say it was out of love.
"Celestia…she was always my big sister, someone I looked up to. But she never had time for me. Busy busy busy, raising the sun and attending to her royal affairs…while I studied the night away under the moon I so faithfully summoned."
I stood there flabbergasted for a moment. Here was the great and powerful Princess Luna, sitting on my couch, talking to me about her past like we'd known each other since we were young.
"So I wanted to try something big, to catch her attention. I mean, at the time, reigning a world of eternal night seemed like the perfect way to get noticed."
Her story was both touching, and strangely familiar. I had trouble restraining emotion.
"And I know how it feels to be cast out. Like nobody loves you anymore. Like your father did to you."
I cringed at the mentioning of my father.
"Celestia exiled me to a life of pain on the moon for a thousand years, with only my magic to keep me sustained. But alone on the moon, I continued to delve deeper into my studies, but this time practical studying. I found a new type of power, a power that corrupted me and my very essence."
"But you, you had something to save you from corruption." She smiled at me warmly. "Those three little fillies who changed your lives. Their love."
"I hate to do what I have been sent to do here tonight. But it must be done."
"Your majesty." I wiped my eyes of any trace of salty-sweet sadness that still lingered there.
"Please, call me Luna."
"Luna. I appreciate how you're trying to make me feel better, but…”
"Yes?"
"How did you know? About my father, and the girls, and, well, everything?"
Luna's face flushed ever so slightly red, behind the dark blue mask of her coat.
"Well.. I, er.. when I found out that the girls had not, in fact, been changelings, I naturally went after them right away. But when I found them, I saw them here, with you.
"They just looked so happy.
"So, I obviously took an interest in their caretaker, you. Using my magic, I skirted in out of the timeline of your life, tracking your progress."
She continued on with her explanation.
"You're perseverance in the face of adversity was astounding. And regarding your care of the girls, your actions were quite…valiant."
"Um. Thank you, Luna."
After a few moments of awkward silence, Luna coughed loudly.
"Ahem. Yes. Well, I guess we'd best get to it then. If you have anything to say to them, now would be the time."
I nodded. I knew. The girls' time in my world had come. And now it was gone. I walked over to there door.
"Girls, it's time to come out now."
Scootaloo opened the door. She had a terrible mixture of fear and sadness in her eyes.
"We were listening."
"Do we…do we really have to go?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Where's she going to take us?"
I sighed. I realized I had no energy left for crying.
"Listen," I said to them, kissing each of them on the forehead individually. "I want you to always remember something for me. I know that after this, you'll all go back home. To the place you saw in the show."
Scootaloo cringed.
"Things won't always be easy for you. But you have to stay strong. I'm sad that you have to leave now, but I'll always be glad you came into my life. And I'm glad I was the one that found you instead of some other creep. You girls had something I could never find as a child. A family. A father. A chance at life. And I can’t keep giving you those things here.”
They looked down at the ground. They were all letting their tears drip down onto the floor, and drooped their heads, accepting my words.
"But you have to promise me one thing. Promise me, that-"
BANG!
"AUGH! THY WORTHLESS WASTE OF SPACE, UNHAND ME!!" Luna screeched from the other room, exhibiting her Royal Canterlot Voice she had kept under tabs until now.
I rushed into the other room. A group of three suited men were wrestling Luna to the floor. In a flash of brilliant white-blue light, the men were blasted off of her in all different directions, only to be replaced by three more running up the stairs. The girls had rushed to Luna's aid, and one of the men made the terrible mistake of picking up Sweetie Belle by the tail.
"GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF HER!" I rushed in, joining the fray as Luna blasted more and more men down the stairs. I gave the man holding Sweetie Belle a square uppercut to the jaw, loosening his grip on her. He toppled behind the kitchen counter, taking Sweetie Belle and himself out of sight. Before I could come to the rescue, I saw her scamper off to join her sisters behind Luna.
More and more men filled the apartment, coming in endlessly. I kept them back, brandishing and waving my crumby old skateboard at them manically. Soon, I was completely encircled, as were Luna and the girls, who had climbed up on her back. She gave me a sharp look. I’m not sure how, but she shot me a single telepathic thought across the room.
"I'm so sorry. Goodbye."
And in another flash of light, they were gone.
Just like that.
My arms hung limp at my side, and my skateboard fell to the ground. They were gone.
At my moment of weakness, the horde of men jumped me and brought me to the floor. On my knees, two men held my arms keeping me restrained. Then I heard the distinct sound of heels, coming up my stairs. The sea of generic suits parted in their owner's wake.
"You." I put as much contempt into the word as possible.
There she was. The woman responsible for ruining the hopes and dreams of my little girls, the woman I had flirted with so casually just a week ago, re-entered my home to cause even more damage.
"Me." A malicious grin spread across her face. "Did you miss me?"
I spat on her shiny new heels.
"I'll take that as a no." She looked down at her shoes, disgusted. She waved a hand at one of her lackeys, who promptly kneed me in the face his associates chuckled at my pain.
"Bet you're sorry that you stood me up now, huh? And I bet you didn't expect me to have my very own army at my fingertips…" She trailed off, smiling at her henchmen.
"But I have something much more surprising for you. Yes, much, much, more."
She closed her eyes and lifted her head in the air, letting her hair fall back. She started to float above the ground. I was shocked. Then, she began to emanate a sickly green light, her hair flying around her face like it was flowing in the wind. Her features began to distort, changing with the light. As I began to recognize what was happening before me, I drew in a sharp intake of breath.
She drifted down to the ground, her rotten-looking, black skin glowing with the same eerie green color.
She cackled with evil laughter.
"How do I look?" Queen Chrysalis asked smugly, in her true, horribly magnificent form.
***