//------------------------------// // Everly // Story: Princess Luna’s Anthology of Final Wishes: Little Angels // by Drunk Luna //------------------------------// The outskirts of Ponyville consisted of ramshackle cabins and tiny houses that reminded Luna of shoe boxes. The princess magically broke the window of the house to which she was summoned, guided by the weak, hoarse cries that echoed from a bedroom in the back. The entire house was freezing. Roaches and rats scattered around Luna's hooves as she walked through their droppings, which had caked so much that the wooden floor was barely visible, though it creaked with every step she took. The stenches of death, feces, urine, and rotten food saturated the thick air. Luna forced herself to breathe through her mouth, but it was nearly impossible for her to keep herself from retching. Finally, Luna reached the back bedroom, where she audibly gagged at the revolting odor that greeted her as she crossed the threshold. In the far corner of the room, a small Pegasus filly lay curled up in a fluffy ball, though her emaciated body and paper-thin wings did little to protect her from the merciless cold. The foal's labored breathing confirmed Luna's worst fears; she was all too familiar with the death rattle, a sound that kept her awake and haunted her dreams. This filly was clearly around eighteen months old. Luna leaned down next to her. "I am so sorry, little one," she whispered, blinking back tears. She steeled herself with a determined breath, then entered the moonlit meadow in the dream realm, where all incoming foals waited for Luna. A herd of at least forty little ones frolicked together in the flowery green field. The salmon-colored foal was laughing as she rolled in the soft grass. "Everly," Luna called. The filly stood and waddled awkwardly up to the princess, still smiling. Her midnight blue eyes sparkled as brightly as the stars that adorned Luna's mane. "Hewwo," the foal said. "What your name?" Luna smiled softly; she never introduced herself as a princess when she met with foals as young as this one. "My name is Luna," the alicorn replied gently as she gave Everly a soft nuzzle. "Wooo-na. Woona! Dat a pwetty name. It pwetty wike your mane." She gasped. "Moon!" She pointed at Luna's flank, then up at the crescent moon in the sky. "Moon!" The filly smiled proudly, and Luna would have done anything at that moment to take her place. "That's right, Everly," Luna said, keeping her tone light and cheerful. "The moon is in the sky, and it's my cutie mark! You're so smart!" Luna chuckled and tickled Everly's side. "Everly, since you're such a clever filly, I think you deserve three wishes. What do you think?" She smiled at the foal. "Yes!" Everly squealed, jumping up and down. "Pwincess! Castle! Ice tweam! One, twoooo, fweeee!" She giggled, tapping her tiny hoof on the ground three times as she counted. "Woona and Everwee fwens?" She cocked her head inquisitively. Luna's heart shattered. Her throat closed, but she composed herself again and summoned every last ounce of strength she had. "Of course, Everly," Luna replied. "We will always be friends. You get to be a princess, just like me! Are you ready?" Everly nodded eagerly, and Luna transformed the foal into a magnificent alicorn with a diamond and pink sapphire crown and matching necklace. "All right, Princess Everly," Luna said, fighting back tears, "are you ready to see your castle?" The filly nodded rapidly, and Luna created a gigantic pink castle with a large room that was filled with nothing but ice cream. Everly ate every bit of the frozen dessert, finishing just as the dream began to lapse. The familiar golden gates appeared, and Everly charged through them. Luna wiped a tear from her eye, then returned to the waking world. Countless stained glass windows adorned both sides of the long hallway that led to Luna's wing of the castle. Each window, like the ones of the princesses in the throne room, depicted a different alicorn taking flight. Each window in this hallway, however, represented a different filly who had wished to become a princess before entering Heaven. Millions of these windows lined the hall, reminding Luna of the weight of her role. Each little filly would forever be remembered as royalty. Luna liked to think that they were laughing down from Heaven whenever sunlight streamed through all the windows and painted the walls with magnificent dapples of color. She wept for a few minutes, then dried her eyes, took a deep breath, and returned to her duties.