//------------------------------// // A Consequence // Story: The Skies Above Canterlot // by Juvenal //------------------------------// The Setting Room opened, and a royal guard and Celestia came into the Rising Room. He still sat there, motionless. Celestia saw the look in his eyes, and shook her head and knew. “I hope she’ll be well…” She lamented. “Knowing her, she’ll flee to the Celestial Retreat to the south...” She rested her hoof on his shoulder. His head rose up to meet her face. That horse face, so very foreign despite being familiar to him. But it didn’t matter. Celestia escorted him out, and had him return home to his quiet Hill. There, he might recover. He could harden himself again, so that he might be more ready for the world. But the road south to the Hill was long, and his mind was fixed on his problem. It kept ticking, as his legs moved slowly. She was wonderful to me, gave me all I had. But no, she’s still not like me. Not a human. I couldn’t feel that way for someone else… His eyes fell to his feet, and another wave of shame fell on him. I can’t, I just can’t. He stopped, and let a few tears out. When he could again walk, he got back on the path. But still, I’m so far from home. Humans are gone, and I’ll never see one again. The slow sorrow dawned on him again; it had been gone since he’d been with Luna. She was the thing that kept him happy, every other Sunday when she’d visited. It kept him from worrying about the past, and gave him something to see in the future. He got closer to his home, and he thought with a bit more focus than he had before; less dark thoughts and more about what to do. Well, if I can’t be with her, I should at least tell her properly. He feared that might hurt her more, but it was proper. I must, then. He resolved, and took the path east off the road to his Hill. It led to the Celestial Retreat, instead; a dark and poorly kept road leading into a dark forest. It was probably all but abandoned. He continued onwards, and his mind ticked still. But…what was it? That feeling, the one I felt when I saw her…when I saw her eyes and they looked so gently at me. Maybe… he thought, and shook it off. There was no way he fell in love with a horse. Eight months, twenty months, forty years…he was a human, and humans did not go with horses. Birds didn’t mate with fish, and bunnies don’t mate with bears. There was no way that it could work, it was impossible. Soon, he made it through the jungle. The dark jungle, it loomed over him and felt so hidden. It seemed like the land itself obscured his sight, and would not relent from confusing his senses. The Retreat was in sight, royal but still much darker. It looked a bit unkempt, some small cracks and poor lighting. The walls screamed of grandness, but the dark corners of the room took it back and made it feel tomb-like. But as he walked through the halls, he heard a faint noise. A sad noise, and as it came closer…it became a lament. A sob. A saddest, most heart wrenching sort of sob. He felt it, and it pained his chest. His muscles hardened, and his pace slowed. He couldn’t stand this sob. Not from her. He’d heard children cry, fillies and colts cry, men and women cry, mares and stallions cry. But not her. He had to stop it. And he felt it, in his bones and in his being. I cannot let her cry, not her. My sweetest friend… He proceeded into the main chamber, a dark room with a single beam of moonlight letting into the center. Luna sat, situated just half way in the beam, back to the door. He walked in, and his footfall made a loud clack on the tile. Luna looked up, away from him. “LEAVE ME BE!” She howled. He stepped closer, until he was close. “I SAID LEAVE ME BE!” Screaming, she grabbed loose tiles from the floor and threw them at him. He ducked, but she missed by a wide margin. They both shattered; the sound resonated in the silence. The only other noise was Luna’s sobs. He sat up to the platform, and tried to gather his voice. “I-I…I c-can’t… I can’t be…” He stopped, speechless. “YOU CAN’T BE WITH ME?” She yelled. “Why, because I’m not a bug-eating monkey like you!?” He ignored the insult. “No…I just…” “NO, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. YOU THINK I’M TOO RUDE, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES.” She pronounced. “No, not that at all. I thought about it. I thought about that very thing, so long and hard. I walked down here, long and hard, so I could tell you that I didn’t love you. “ He prepared his thoughts. I should say ”But I think I do like you, I just can’t get over the difference between you and me…”. No, I should say “I like you, but I’m having trouble getting over you being different…”. No, not that, I should say… He readied his throat. “But…but…But…” “ENOUGH!” She screamed, and raised herself into the air. She raised more tiles, and flung them at him. So many more than before, they rose up and spun themselves about, aiming to hurt. “But I love you anyways—“ A great crack sounded. These tiles were true, and hit him. They smashed into his head, and broke it most certainly. He crumpled, and a pool of crimson blood pooled about him. Luna turned around, and wimpered: “M-my love?” No response. The pool grew, and finally grew into the light from the moon above. Her eyes constricted again, when she saw the red touch her moonlight. If Luna could’ve survived this before, it was most certainly gone now. Her willing lover laid motionless, his soul no longer with the living. And by her own action. Her mind quaked, her body shook, and her eyes wide and whiter than the full moon. Her head jerked to and fro, and her body shivering from the unnatural cold of a hurt mind. She was so very much like a mad animal. She didn’t make a sound, but instead levitated the body up and into the moonlit section of the floor, onto a raised block. It brought into view the full extent of her crimes. The moon did not set that night. Her mind was no longer hers, she sought love from the only people left in her world: her subjects. But they didn’t love her night, how could they? Only twelve hours of night, and even less of the pure black of the night? They’d never appreciate it like he did, so they must be given more time to see it - even if that meant an eternity of black. An imperishable night, that’d teach those that never loved her. They’d love her, even if he wouldn’t. And no one, not even her sister would stop her.