//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: The Sorrow and the Temptation // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// It was dark; so dark, even for her vision. She couldn’t see a thing, not even her own horn light when she tried to cast a spell. Total darkness enveloped her, until she saw it in the distance. It was the galloping form of a black horse, its wing helping to propel it through the darkness. Its mane and tail trailed thick purple smoke, and its eyes were glowing teal and turquoise. She felt herself being pulled towards the horse, which she now saw was a full grown alicorn mare. Faster and faster she was propelled toward the obsidian colored pony, until it seemed she was going to collide with her. The black mare opened its mouth, and it had razor sharp incisors and teeth, ready to rip into any form of flesh it met. It grew to a massive height until it was fifty feet tall. It lunged for her, and it swallowed her whole. Princess Luna gasped and lurched forward in her bed as she returned to the real world. Her most recent memories returned to her as she continued to awaken; the screaming crowds, the fury and pain. She could still hear the ringing of the crowd in her ear; ‘Faux Princess. Faux Princess.’ Orpheus glided slowly to the floor from where he had posted himself above, and he came to a pinpoint landing by the Princess’ bedside. “Your Majesty, how are you this late afternoon?” The Princess looked to her guard with mild frustration, “Orpheus, in spite of the fact that you are a member of the Royal Guard, you are allowed to call me Luna.” Mischief momentarily filled her eyes, “Although, if you really desire it, you may still call me ‘Purple Lady’ like you used to when you were a young colt.” A full on blush pervaded Orpheus’ face, but he modulated his voice to that of a serious tone, “Luna, do you remember what happened when you were last awake?” She paused momentarily before she finally spoke, “A little.” “I was seized after the unicorns began attacking the three Antrozi. From what Storm-Eye has told me, you collapsed soon afterwards.” “What happened to those three,” Princess Luna inquired. “Ma’am?” “What happened to the three Antrozi?” Orpheus’ ears drooped and he placed his right hoof over his chest, “They were killed. They were trampled by the crowd.” The Princess froze. How? How could it be that even after proving them innocent she had still lost them? “No. Nononono, oh noo,” she slammed her hooves against her head repeatedly, eventually cracking the glass shoes she wore, “Damn it all!” She hyperventilated for several minutes while trying to calm herself down. How could she have failed them? They trusted her and now they were dead. She didn’t even know their names, or if they had family who were waiting for them. The Princess felt utterly useless, and the words kept repeating in her head; Faux Princess. Faux Princess. “What about the rest of the crowd,” she asked after several minutes of silence, “Where are they?” “Most of them were locals who we rounded up on charges of racketeering and unlawful assembly, but the others were simply passersby from other surrounding villages.” “What of the ones who vilified me? Where are those treasonous lepers,” her voice growled as she continued to speak. Orpheus shook his head, “We never found them, and even if we did they wouldn’t have confessed to it.” “Then you should have searched harder, and made them confess,” Princess Luna’s voice had become cold and sharp, while her face had darkened an extra shade of purple. Her eyes were glazed over as she stared off into the distance. Her pupils began to dilate to small slits. Orpheus’ neckhairs stood on end upon hearing those chilling words, “Luna?” The Princess shook her head; she was now alert and her face and voice were returned to normal, “Pardon? What is it?” Warily, the bat pony continued, “You said we should have found the ponies and forced them to confess treason.” “I never said such a thing.” “I’m sorry, your highness, but you did.” “Orpheus, you know me, and you know beyond a doubt that I would never say such a thing. Are you sure you are all right? I know you had a seizure during the ordeal yesterday. Is it possible that your mind is still idled by it?” The bat pony sighed as he continued his report, “That is another pressing matter that needs to be discussed. Princess, it wasn’t yesterday. It was five days ago.” The Princess gasped in alarm and leapt out of her bed, “Five days?! You mean to say that the sun has not set and the moon has not risen for five days?!” Before Orpheus could reply, Princess Luna burst out of her quarters and barreled down the hall toward her sister’s chambers. How could she have possibly let everypony down like this? It was a literal astronomical dereliction of her duty to have allowed such weakness to affect her and not raise the moon at its proper time. Faux Princess. Faux Princess. She almost ran over a servant passing into the corridor, but she was fortunate enough to teleport around him, and she continued on. In a short amount of time she found herself in front of the two doors leading into her sister’s chambers, each emblazoned with Princess Celestia’s Destiny Brand. She knocked heavily on the large wooden doors and in the process accidentally shattered one of her two cracked glass shoes. “SISTER?! ARE YOU IN THERE? WE’VE COME TO PERFORM OUR DUTIES,” she bellowed in the Royal Voice of Declaration. There was the sound of hoofsteps from within the room, and Princess Celestia poked her head out of the door. She was greeted by her elder sister with a solemn smile, “Good afternoon, Princess Luna. Did you sleep well?” “The jesting can wait for later, I need to raise the moon immediately! At five days exposure to your sun the fields and crops must be..singed.” As she had been talking, Princess Luna had only just noticed that the castle had gotten much darker from when she had awoken. She whirled to one of the windows, and she was alarmed beyond all comprehension by what she saw; the moon was rising, but without her command and not under her control. She quickly turned back around to her sister in panic to ask if Discord had somehow broken free of his prison to tamper with Nature itself, only to notice that Princess Celestia, now fully out of her chambers, had her horn aglow with golden energy. Her sister coolly answered her unspoken questioned, “Without your guidance to raise the moon, our mages had to think very carefully to find a solution before the entire planet and our heavenly vessels were tossed out of alignment. The easiest solution was the most obvious; the moon needed an alicorn to raise it, and so an alicorn did raise it. I must admit, it was difficult at first; your moon wields like a two ton hammer compared to the finesse required for my sun, but I’ve done very well with the job if I do say so myself!” Princess Luna turned again to the window, and she examined the sky with an eye that was now more aware of the situation, “There are no stars out. It’s too cloudy. Everything is wrong.” The Regent of the Sun huffed, and she flicked her wings and tail irritably, “Give me some credit! I only had to cover the essentials while you deigned to frolic through dreamland for five days.” Princess Luna turned around so fast that her sister didn’t even see her physically do it. The azure Princess’ face was only a couple inches from her sister’s; her eyes flared serpentine, her visage became dark once more and her voice was like icicles, “I would not have been in such a position if your populace had not deigned to murder three innocents and some of their own, the traitorous scum!” Princess Luna’s appearance returned to normal in the blink of an eye, but her face was still lodged near her sister’s, “You will leave my moon be from this day forward, dear sister.” Princess Luna picked up the fragments of her glass shoes that were left on the floor with her telekinesis, and she stormed back to her chambers for the night. She didn’t care whether she had hurt her sister’s feelings or not; the moon was her property, and the night was hers to command; now and forever more.