//------------------------------// // Don't drink Manticore, Tia! // Story: Little loony Luna and crazy caffeinated Celestia's life in Canterlot // by Vidhwansak //------------------------------// Don't drink Manticore, Tia! Ah! That just about wraps it up for the night court, finally! I can now retreat to my room and engage in FUN! Luna was ecstatic about her coming-soon break, as it meant she was able to leave the boring night court behind and allow herself a chance to relax in her room, with nothing bothering her except her need for food, drink, bathroom necessities, and her eventual duty of moving her moon to make way for her sister's sun. Soon, however, maybe even food and drink would be replaced, allowing her to play even more. I'm glad I found out about energy drinks! A four pack of Manticore awaits! They say that with one can you have enough energy to do anything, and with four cans, I'm sure to do four times as well when playing my games! Best idea ever! Luna hummed happily to herself as she made her way to her room, even grabbing one of her guards (who had learned to just accept whatever was sent hurtling her way, since she was powerless to do anything else) and engaged in a few twirls and dance moves that should not have been physically have been possible to have been done in armor and with an alicorn that was thinking about something else entirely and not focusing on the dancing. At the end of her sudden enthusiasm to dance, she bowed, and smiled at the guard. "Thank you for the dance, madame Elhaym!" The batpony nodded with a slight smile, having enjoyed the sudden dance. "No, thank you, Princess. Will that be all, Princess Luna?" "Indeed! You may return to your post now, Elhaym!" Luna cheerfully walked off, leaving the guard behind. The batpony returned to her post, which was located next to one of the libraries in the royal hallway. Her partner, a unicorn mare, nudged her gently with a smirk on her face. "Nice dance moves, Elly." "Oh, shut up, Avy." A faint raspberry was on the edge of Luna's hearing before she turned the corner. Here I am! Luna unlocked her mini fridge, and pulled out her chilled four-pack of Manticore. This should work! These energy drinks will keep me full of energy! After ripping the packaging slightly and pulling out one of the cold cans of Manticore, Luna gently eased a little magic on the pull-tab, careful not to force it open; she'd seen what happened to ponies when they opened up these cans the wrong way, and she didn't want that happening to her. Burning eyes caused by rupturing carbonated drinks was not a pleasant way to experience the drink. Fortunately, all was well, as she opened up the can without a massive explosion of Manticore erupting from the can. She lifted the can up to her mouth, and began the first can. Her first reaction to the taste was that it kind of a fruity Parasprite that left a really weird aftertaste in her mouth. She smacked her lips together, confused as to how a weirdly tasting drink could give her energy; she didn't feel any more energetic. Maybe I just need to drink the whole can, Luna mused as she suddenly tilted the can up and began to chug it. It took Luna roughly twelve seconds for her to finishing draining the can, after which she immediately regretted as the aftertaste kicked in full force. "What the heck do ponies put in this stuff?! It tastes like battery acid mixed with Tia's dirty socks, and then mixed with lots of artificial sweeteners! ...That's some good stuff! I must drink more!" Luna levitated another can over to her, popped the pull-tab, and began to chug on it. The process repeated itself twice, and upon the last one, Luna swore she was ready for anything. Literally anything. She even felt like she could take on her sister in a game of Twister and win! As the can slipped from her magical grasp and fell down to the floor, she could feel the magically concentrated drink work, spiking her normal energy levels colossally and causing her to shake uncontrollably. Eager to begin her game night of epic proportions, she took a step forward... ...And promptly crashed onto the floor as the surge of magic from the energy drink Manticore ran its course through her, experiencing an energy 'crash'. The last can rolled on over towards the container it was formally in, and all was silent. Unfortunately, perhaps she should have read the disclaimer on the box before she bought it due to a commercial she saw on TV. Underneath the box, a brief warning was given to those of alicorn status (stating that there was no information about what might happen if an alicorn drank one), which Luna had neglected to read. "Hey. Wake up!" "D-Don't wanna..." The voice was annoyed and insistent. "Get up you sorry, lazy excuse for an alicorn!" "Can't..." "For the love of..." The voice trailed off, and Luna groaned as she rolled over, wondering what happened after she drank her fourth Manticore; her world was full of confusion and pain, and she didn't like that. Her head felt like it was splitting itself into two, and she didn't get to play any games at all! Some game night this turned out to be. Luna's confused, sleepy state was soon turned into a world of pain and even more confusion as she felt something nip her rump. Hard. She didn't take kindly to something nipping her rump, so she yelled out, more in confusion than pain. "OW! WHAT IN TH-" Luna's voiced trailed off as she saw just who it was that bit her, and she didn't like what she saw. After all that happened to her, she really didn't want to see her of all alicorns. A part of her hoped that it was simply Chrysalis in disguise, but by the fact that she wasn't immediately grinning and crowing about how she surprised her made her think that perhaps this really was her former, dark self. "...Hello, Nightmare Moon." Surprisingly, the words were said a lot calmer than what Luna was feeling right now, which was panic, pain, and utter confusion. The fearsome looking alicorn nodded curtly before tapping the base of Luna's horn gently, which hurt. "I don't know what you did, Luna, but put me back in your head!" Huh. I thought your goal was to take over the world and make it eternal night, not getting back inside my head. A perplexed Luna tilted her head slightly, and in doing so caused her headache to increase tenfold. "Ow! Nnngh, I don't think you want back in here, Nightmare. My head hurts like an Ursa Major just played tennis with it." An annoyed Nightmare Moon groaned, and sat herself down next to Luna. "That's just great! I was safe and sound in your head, watching late night pony comedy stand-up when suddenly I'm ejected from your head!" "...I thought you wanted eternal night, not being cooped up in my head...?" Nightmare Moon's gaze softened slightly at the mentioning of eternal night. "While the night is a beautiful thing, it's no longer my goal to bring it eternally. Things...Change, Luna. You'll know what I mean if you ever get shoved in the back of somepony's mind and have nothing to do but watch bad stand-up comedians on TV." "...There's a TV in my head?" "It's too hard to explain. Don't ask." How does a TV inside my head even manage to get reception? It's thick enough to withstand getting hit by one of Tia's stop signs. "Very well then, Nightmare. However...May I ask you a different question?" Nightmare Moon hesitated before answering. "That depends on the question." "How exactly are you...Well, your own sentient being? Ow, dumb headache..." "I'm not entirely sure; I was hoping you had the answer. There I was, minding my own business, when suddenly, I felt a massive surge of energy. I, of course, thinking that you were containing energy for a quick zap on Celestia's rump or some other prank you were deciding to pull on her, decided to ignore it. However, more energy began to course within your body; so much, in fact, that it could have destroyed Canterlot if all that unfocused energy imploded on itself. I did the only thing I could, which was to absorb some of the energy within myself; after all, I certainly didn't want to be sent back to the moon for another thousand years because of you blowing up an entire city. I had contained most of the energy when you suddenly shot out a massive blast of energy; since I had most of the energy within me, I, too, was shot out from your horn in the massive blast. At least, that's my theory. That is why I am here, as well as that giant hole in your ceiling. Hey, it could have been worse, you know!" At that last part, Luna looked up at her ceiling, and sure enough, there was a gigantic hole in her ceiling, and the fact that she was the one to have caused made her very, very annoyed. "For the love of my mother, my room was just repaired after getting blasted by the laser cannon known as the Elements of Harmony! The heck was in those cans of Manticore, anyway?!" Luna grabbed one of the cans of Manticore, and looked over its contents. To her horror, the can was filled with magic sugar, which was specially processed sugar that was designed to increase a pony's innate magical power; unicorns had more powerful spells, pegasai could fly better, and earth ponies had more strength, in basic terms. That wasn't the bad part, though; it was the fact that there was so much packed into a single can! Manticore was practically liquid magic sugar! "I'm...Going to count off everything in my aching head, Nightmare. I just drank four cans worth of magic sugar, there's a hole in my ceiling, I have an intense headache and now you're your own pony, Nightmare! That's everything, right?" Nightmare Moon nodded once. "It would seem so." "What else could go wrong?!" A very poor choice of words indeed, as Celestia burst through Luna's door, shattering it into many pieces. "Sister, I heard the explosion and I...I..." Celestia trailed off as she realized that Luna was not alone, and was staring at Nightmare Moon. Her gaze flickered between the two, her confusion growing with every passing second. "Lulu...What did you do?!" "Don't drink Manticore, Tia! This might happen to you, and I have no wish to see the alicorn in the back of your head have a body of its own!" "...What?"