Paint The Moon Red

by AuroraDawn


Bloodshot Moon

There were many things that ran through Luna’s head when the stray beam of sunlight cracked through heavy curtains to rest upon her eyelids. 

The first was pain, and the immense stabbing headache pulsed and jiggled her brain. Her horn throbbed while her stomach twisted and turned, the room feeling a bit like it was spinning specifically in whatever direction her ears most hated. She tried to crack open an eye and immediately regretted it, the searing sunlight heighting every ache and intensifying her queasiness. For a brief moment, she resented the fact that she hadn’t killed Celestia last night, and then giggled shortly before she had to suck in a breath in agony.

A few minutes later, after the beam had slipped off her forehead and settled onto her neck, she tried again. It took a long moment to stabilize herself from this jarring change, but after she had adjusted to actually seeing, she felt brave enough to attempt a movement.

She yawned and stretched a foreleg, the exhalation quickly reminding her of one of her initial complaints. She gagged on her own skunky breath, and when she clamped her muzzle shut and swallowed, the inescapable feeling of her tongue having grown a mane harangued her.

The next thing that ran through her mind was just how desperately she needed to eat something greasy. 

With a fresh mission in mind she started to free herself from the luscious comforter and bed sheets. It took a moment for her to recognize that this was not her bed. She was in one of the guest quarters, a rather similar-looking room albeit, but different all the same. One particular difference she noticed with immediacy was that there was somepony clung to her, a grey foreleg under a wing and over her belly, a matching hindleg resting upon hers, a few stray locks of a long golden mane tickling her nose. She risked turning her head to view her apparent consort and laid eyes upon a uniformly grey mare she absolutely did not recognize.

She shrugged and chuckled, only gasping once in pain as she did so, and then began to peel herself away from the mare as gently as possible to not interrupt her sleep and bring upon her the same, terrible fate that had befallen herself.

A thought that she was in her normal body drifted by but didn’t seem to register long enough for her to care. The body she was in clearly hated her right now, based off of how every joint and every muscle complained and cried with her slow, purposefully quiet movements. She stepped softly not only to avoid waking up the pegasus in her bed, but also all the other ponies that were strewn about the room.

Reality caught up with Luna and she blinked, stunned, at the apparent massacre that had taken place.

Above her, tangled in a chandelier and snoring loudly, was Rainbow Dash. Directly below that pegasus was another: Fluttershy, also asleep, though she was resting on a pillow of a half-eaten cheese pizza. For a moment Luna considered snagging a slice to ease the discontent of her stomach but in a fit of rationality decided it was probably worth getting something fresh instead. She stepped around the dozens of empty fast-food containers, taking care not to crinkle any cardboard or wax paper, and slipped into the adjacent restroom to get a better look at herself.

The scene in here was just as deadly as the bedroom. Luna took one long look at Applejack, her legs splayed out flat on the cold tile, her head resting in the shower, obscured by the curtain, and ultimately decided to cede the bathroom’s territory to the unconscious earth pony. 

The living room quarters were a little better, though the tangle of Twilight and Pinkie Pie on the couch took up several minutes of Luna’s time as she struggled to figure out just how they were both resting on each other’s laps. Eventually writing it off as some bastard combination of a deep knowledge of physics and a complete disregard for them, she stumbled outside, her starry mane somehow stuck slick to her forehead and dishevelled. She paused briefly in the doorway for only a second, glanced behind her and, finding no sign of Rarity anywhere, shrugged and carried on to the kitchens.

There, in the cavernously large back room of the castle, usually bustling with cooks and servants but now quiet and dark, Celestia sat at the table, perking up curiously at the sight of Luna shambling into the room. She watched her sister drop unceremoniously onto the hard wooden bench across from her, and then, without a word, silently levitated a small plate of pancakes and a huge mug of water across to her.

Luna drained the entire mug in one go, dropped the cup onto the table, and then snickered.

“Good evening,” Celestia said, smirking.

“You must be so jealous of me,” Luna said.