//------------------------------//
// Round 2: Fighting Despair 
// Story: Luna's Adventure 
// by Zeck 
//------------------------------//

	Pain. Pain crawled everywhere. It hung in the air, thick as a fresh coating of snow. It clung to Luna’s coat like a tangled blanket. It sank into her bones and flowed through her bloodstream. Her ears heard nothing but throbbing and her own shallow breaths. Her eyes felt heavy, as though somepony had glued weights under them and then tried to sow them shut. The pain was everywhere, struggling to keep her mind in blackness but at the same time bringing it further into the light. 
The pain wrapped itself around her body, but as her mind found its way back to consciousness, she realized that the pain was not intense. There was no shooting agony, no pulsating pounding, and no sharp spiking. It was there, but it was not blindingly intense. It was not the type of pain the princess had expected to find herself in when she awoke. For that matter, she had not expected to awake at all.
Of course, the pain still hurt. It just didn’t hurt to the point where she could not function.
Luna groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked twice, trying to force them to focus. She found herself staring up at the night sky. Her beautiful night sky, filled with twinkling stars and her glorious moon. And that foul comet’s glow. 
She scowled and sat up, wincing as her body felt a new wave of pain gently wash over her. She looked around, trying to discover how she was still alive.
She looked up again and noticed a torn awning above her. The fabric had been ripped almost in half and now hung limply from its supports. That had apparently been what had slowed her descent. She looked down and found herself lying in a pile of trash bags. They were not the softest things she had ever been on, and their stench would certainly require a strong rinse to expunge from her coat, but at the moment she was happy that she had landed on them and not the street, or against the wall of the buildings that now towered over her. 
“Where in Equestria am I?” she asked as she gingerly pulled herself from the bags of refuse. She noticed that as she moved, several of the bags clung to her and she fell back into their embrace. She looked at herself and found that she was partly covered in a white sticky substance. She strained against it, trying not to think about what it could be, and finally managed to free herself from the trash and leave most of the sticky residue on the bags. 
Some of it still clung to her though, mostly around her wings. She tried to open them, but found that she could not. Whatever this substance was, it had matted her feathers so badly that she would need a proper preening before she could use her wings again to their full extent.  Also, judging by the quick jab of pain she felt as she tried to free her wings, she was probably in no shape to fly. 
“What am I doing here?” Luna closed her eyes and tried to force the fogginess from her mind.  As she concentrated, the pounding in her ears subsided and her hearing slowly returned. She heard…something, but she could not place it at first. It sounded like screaming. Countless ponies screaming. Why were her subjects screaming in such numbers?
A loud roar echoed through the night and Luna’s eyes snapped open. The last of the fogginess lifted from her mind and she recalled everything. The giant marshmallow pony, the fact that it was immune to every attack she had launched on it, its rampage through Manehattan, Silent Wing being—
“Silent Wing!” Luna tried to spread her wings but she was immediately reminded that they were covered in the white sticky stuff, which she now realized was nothing but marshmallow.  No doubt it would come off with a simple shower, but at the moment Luna had no access to one. She also doubted she had the time. She needed to stop this creature before any other ponies got hurt. As much as it pained her, she would have to postpone her search for her faithful guard. 
“Very well then,” Luna said as she walked out of the alley she had landed in. “I need to find the creature again and…do something about it.” She still did not have the slightest idea of how to stop it when nothing seemed to even slow it down. 
The Princess of the Night walked out into the street and quickly realized that she had a much more immediate problem on her hooves. Manehattan from the sky had been large and imposing, but she had been able to see where she needed to go. From the ground, the buildings towered over her. She looked up at them and they seemed to stretch and bend over her the further up they went. Countless windows lined them all, and each one seemed like an eye glaring down at her. She shuttered and unwillingly took a step back. She felt like the buildings were watching her in silent contempt, belittling her failed efforts to protect the city. Nightmares began to creep back into her mind. Fears about how the ponies in Ponyville had reacted to her appearance, and how other ponies would no doubt react when she appeared before them. She did not want to be alone again. She did not want ponies to shun her, but embrace her as they did her sister.
“No,” Luna said, stomping her hoof and banishing the creeping darkness from her mind. Her big sister was correct. If she wanted more ponies to accept her, she needed to show them that she was not Nightmare Moon and that she was here to help them. And she would start by saving Manehattan, no matter what the cost to herself. 
Okay, Luna, you need to discover where you are. She looked around the street until she spied an abandoned newsstand. Hoping that it had what she needed, she walked over to it, trying to ignore the distant sounds of terrified ponies and a rampaging marshmallow. She looked over the scattered products of the newsstand, searching for what she needed. There were dozens of newspapers, each one with a headline somehow related to the Secretariat’s Comet. There were also many magazines, from business to gardening tips.
“What is this one?” Luna asked as she picked up a magazine with a black dust cover. She pulled the black cover off and saw a mare in a rather suggestive pose on the front. Luna made a face and flipped to the first page, trying to figure out why a mare would take such an…odd photograph. She found her answer on the first page and quickly put the magazine back, her cheeks burning from embarrassment. Things had certainly changed in the last thousand years. Many things. 
Struggling to get the image out of her mind, Luna continued to look over the newsstand until she saw what she was looking for.
“Ah, here we are.” Luna pulled out a map of Manehattan with the printing ‘I love Manehattan’ on it, only ‘love’ had been replaced by a heart. Smiling, she unfolded it once and looked at the paper. Only, she found that she needed to unfold it again. Well, Manehattan was bigger than, say, Ponyville. It would make sense if the map was bigger too. She unfolded it again. And again. And again. Luna’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped slightly as the map unfolded completely and ended up being nearly half her size. 
“This is no challenge for a royal princess,” Luna said to herself, trying to fight back the panic that was slowly building within her. “Tis just a map. A large one, but still a map. And I can read a map. Now, let me see…” 
She began to scan the map, looking for street names. There were hundreds of them! That was fine. She just needed to find the street she was on. She looked up from the map and scanned the abandoned street. No street signs were visible on the massive road. That was no concern. Perhaps she could find a building on the map that was close to where she was. Only, none of the buildings she could see seemed to have names on them.
I am sooo lost…
Luna decided that what she needed was a pony who was familiar with Manehattan. She had been gone far too long, and her short time back she had spent mostly locked away in Canterlot, dreading seeing her subjects again. She was not familiar with modern times, and Manehattan was far too large for her to attempt to understand the city on her own.
It was just highly unfortunate that not a single pony was anywhere near her at the moment. They were all most likely fleeing the city, or hiding somewhere that they thought was safe.  She would need to find them, and that meant wandering the streets until she did.That was time she doubted she could spare, but she had no other choice. 
Sighing and seeing if her wings were working yet—they were not—the Princess of the Night started to head in the general direction of the screams and roars.
She took two steps before she heard voices.
“It was over here, I’m telling you.”
“If you had just managed to use your magic more  efficiently, we would not be roaming the streets while a giant monster threatened our city.”
“Hey, give me a break! She was going way too fast for me to get a good grip.”
Two ponies rounded the corner of a building and continued arguing as they walked down the street toward Luna. Overjoyed at her luck finally turning around, she galloped toward them, the soreness from her limbs fading with each step. 
“Excuse us, dear citizens, but we require your assistance,” Luna said as she ran. Both ponies turned to look and her and froze. Luna skidded to a stop as well as she felt the fears welling up in her again. These two ponies were terrified of her. She knew they were. That was why they had stopped and were now staring at her in silence. Luna felt a tear begin to form in her eye. Was this how every pony would greet her from now on? With frozen silence and fear?
“Yo, Princess, what’s up?” one of the ponies said as she raised a hoof and waved.
The other pony immediately smacked the white mare behind her head and then forced her to bow as she bowed as well. “My deepest apologies, Your Majesty. She means no disrespect.”
Luna’s heart sored. These two ponies were not frightened of her, or at least the white one did not appear to be. The grey one was a bit harder to read. “You may rise, my subjects. We are in need of—”
The white mare snorted and quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. Her grey companion glared at her with a look so hard that Luna believed it would make Celestia think twice, and the white mare winced. 
“Uh, sorry Princess—ouch! I mean, Your Majesty,” the white mare said.
“Is something amusing you, my subject?” Luna asked as she cocked her head to the side.
“Er, well…you talk kind of funny.”
“Vinyl!” the grey mare hissed.
“What? She does, Octy! Ow! Let go!” The grey mare was biting down on the other’s ear, rather hard too. “Look, I know you like it rough but—OUCH! Octy, I think you’re drawing blood! Come on, let go!”
Luna blushed, but she found herself giggling despite the situation.  Even in the midst of a citywide catastrophe, she found this sight strangely calming. These two ponies knew who she was, what she was, and they did not seem to mind. They did not cower in fear from her or wear smiles that barely masked their terror of her presence. They were treating her as just another pony, or at least she was fairly certain they were.
The grey mare—Octy, if Luna understood correctly—finally released the other mare and then bowed deeply. “I apologize for my…friend’s behavior.”
“Friend?! Ah, come on. I thought after that night we were back—”
“Fine. Please forgive my—”
“Marefriend!” the other pony, Vinyl, said as she wrapped one of her hooves around Octy’s neck.
“Correct. Please forgive her rude behavior.” Octy sighed as she spoke and then turned her head to glare at Vinyl. The pony quickly withdrew her hoof. “She can be a bit…difficult to deal with.”
Vinyl grinned. “But you love me anyway.”
“We find you both rather charming,” Luna said with a smile. She suddenly recalled what Twilight Sparkle had told her about her speech. “I mean, I find you both rather charming, Octy and…Vinyl, was it?”
“Yeah, Vinyl Scratch,” Vinyl said, trying hard not to laugh as she kept looking at Octy’s face. “But you might know me as DJ Pon—”
“You are D.J. Pon-3?” Luna asked as a light went on in her mind. She immediately rushed forward and pressed her forehead against the white unicorn’s. Of course! How could she have not recognized the famous D.J.? The electric blue mane, the musical cutie mark, and…there they were! Her trademark sunglasses sitting on top of her head. This mare lived in Luna’s beautiful night. She celebrated it, threw wild parties during it, and was something of a legend among the ‘nightlife’ of all of Equestria. Luna had always wanted to meet her, this pony that played in the glorious night, but had been too frightened of how the mare would react.
“Er, I see you’ve heard of me,” Vinyl said, her eyes darting back and forth as she took a step back. Luna followed, keeping her forehead pressed against Vinyl’s as a smile spread across her face. She was so excited that she could not help herself.
“Actually, Your Highness, it is pronounced Pon three,” Octy said politely from the side.
“Not really,” Vinyl said as she and Luna both looked over at the mare, their foreheads still touching. “She said it right.”
“But…I have been calling you that for, well, a long time. Why did you not tell me?”
“Because it’s cute the way you say it,” Vinyl said with a grin. “Plus, I don’t really care. Either way is fine by me.” Octy made a face and Vinyl laughed.
A distant roar tore through the night and Luna suddenly remembered why she was here and why she had been so excited to stumble across these two ponies.
“Forgive me,” she said as she backed away from Vinyl, “but I need your assistance.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Octy said with a slight nod. “We were actually trying to find you. Somepony failed to catch you with their magic, so we have been looking around this part of the city for you. We are glad you are unharmed.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Vinyl said as she scratched the back of her neck.
So that was the magic Luna had felt briefly when she had been thrown through the air. “Your effort is appreciated, Vinyl. But now, I need yours and Miss Octy’s assistance.” Vinly burst into laughter and started rolling on her back. Luna looked to the other pony with a confused look. “Did I…miss something?”
“Well, my name is not Octy. It is Octavia. Octavia—”
“Octavia Melody,” Luna finished. Yes, now that she looked at the pony, and she was no longer acting like a silly little filly girl around Vinyl, she recognized the famous cellist. She had released a song a while back that had been the talk of Canterlot and other cities, but that was not why Luna was familiar with her. 
The princess looked the mare over carefully. Yes, she had a grey coat and a black mane. Two things that should have been instant clues as to this pony’s identity. Still, just to be certain, Luna closed her eyes and focused. She could sense the magical energy flowing from Vinyl because of the comet. She tried harder, pushing aside the unicorn’s magic and her own increased magical energy as she searched for what she suspected was…
There it was.
Luna opened her eyes and stared at the cellist. “You…come from a very notable bloodline, Octavia Melody.”
“You know it,” Vinyl said as she picked herself up off the street and threw her hoof around Octavia’s neck again. “Music runs in her blood. It’s like magic.”
Vinyl did not notice Octavia hang her head and Luna felt guilty. She had not meant to cause the mare pain.
“Yes,” she said. “Her music is very famous among Canterlot. Perhaps, when this crisis is over, she would like to come play for my sister and I? I know Celestia loves your music and I myself find it very relaxing.”
Octavia looked up and Luna made sure to catch her eye. She winked, hoping that was enough to calm the mare. Apparently it was, as Octavia smiled back. There would be time to talk to Octavia, in private, later. Right now, Luna needed to focus on the immediate problem. 
“So, I take it you’re here to save our city from this giant marshmallow pony?” Vinyl asked. “Because you were certainly giving it your all earlier.”
“Yes,” Luna replied, “although I fear my magic did not affect it. And now, I am unable to take flight and I find myself lost in this city. I was hoping you two might be able to assist me.”
“Forgive my boldness, Your Majesty, but we both saw your battle,” Octavia said. “You fought amazingly, but how do you plan to defeat that creature? Your magic did not work against it, as you said.”
“True, but I cannot simply abandon my subjects and their city in a time of need. I will think of something, but right now I must return to face the creature. At the very least, I can delay it so that more ponies can evacuate the city.”
The ground suddenly started to shake. All three ponies froze for a moment, each one not sure what was happening. The shaking stopped for a second, but then it returned, fiercer this time. As it started to die, a new shaking overtook it, stronger. Luna’s teeth chattered and she found her legs going wobbly. This was not a good sign.
“Uh, ladies…” Vinyl said as she looked down the street behind Luna.
A loud roar tore through the night and Luna spun around, digging her hooves into the street as she prepared for battle. She watched as the towering pony slowly walked around the edge of distant building. It turned down the street and looked straight at her, then roared again. The sound was so loud that several windows shook from the vibrations.
“Go!” Luna shouted. “I will deal with this creature!” 
“But Princess Luna—” Octavia said, but the Princess of the Night was already charging down the street toward the monster. She did not know what she would do, as Octavia had been quite correct. Magic seemed to have no impact on this creature and only seemed to enrage it. Still, she was not about to allow it to harm Vinyl or Octavia. If she could at least stall the thing long enough for them to escape, then perhaps she could slip down a side street and figure out a plan on how to deal with this problem. 
Her wings were still fairly useless, covered in sticky marshmallow as they were. But her strength had returned and, most likely thanks to Vinyl’s attempted magical catch, her soreness had completely faded. She focused her magic and fired a blast down the street, aiming at the creature’s front leg. 
The blast lit up the street as it flew, it’s light reflecting off of countless windows and scattering the light until it appeared as though dozens of gems were flying through the air. Under other circumstances, Luna would have thought the sight was rather pretty, almost like a miniature replica of her beautiful starry sky, but now she had no time to appreciate its beauty. She fired another magical blast as she continued charging down the street. The first blast impacted and, just as before, barely seemed to register. Her second shot hit moments later, this one aimed higher, and its results were the same. There was simply no damage. 
I cannot give up, Luna thought. There must be a way to stop this thing! She fired again and again as she charged the creature, but all the magical attacks had no effect. They were simply absorbed, and the few that did seem to harm the creature healed far too quickly. 
Before Luna realized it, she was well within the creature’s striking range. She skidded to stop and looked up at the beast that towered over her. It looked down at her and growled, then raised one of its front hooves and tried to step on her. She quickly fired another magical blast at the base of its hoof, then jumped out of the way before she was smashed against the street. 
The impact from the marshmallow hoof slamming down caused Luna to shake so badly that she nearly lost her balance. She staggered around for a moment, struggling to stay on all fours, until her wobbling made her crash into yet another newspaper stand on the street. She looked at it and an idea sprang into her head. She wrapped her magic around the display cart and yanked it front the ground. Magazines, maps, newspapers, and other pieces of paper fluttered through the air as the princess lifted the stand. The creature turned its head to look at her and she aimed right where she figured its eyes would have been.  
Closing her eyes, Luna heaved the display stand as hard as she could up at the monster’s face. The thing smashed against the left cheek of the marshmallow pony, sending countless articles of parchment scattering. Luna saw parts of the stand crack and a few pieces of it broke away, but it remained mostly intact. She had expected as much, given how soft the creature was. She watched the stand fall and then shatter as it hit the street below.
But the beast’s reaction was much better than anything else Luna had tried so far tonight.
The creature threw its head back and roared at the sky. It reached up and rubbed its cheek with one of its hooves. So, magical energy and attacks did not phase it, but it still felt pain from impacts. Now Luna just needed to find something big enough to throw at it. Sadly, the only thing she could think of was a building, and not even when she had been Nightmare Moon would she be powerful enough to lift something of that caliber. 
But at least I have a plan, Luna thought. She grinned as she picked up the pieces of the shattered newspaper stand that lay in the street. Several pieces had broken into rather sharp objects. She picked up as much as she could with her magic and then surrounded herself with the debris. If she could not hit the creature with one big object, perhaps she could convince it to leave by hitting it with several small, sharp objects.
“A bee sting hurts,” Luna said to herself as she prepared to launch the debris around her, “but many of them will kill you.” She flung one of the longer pieces of wood at the creature’s front leg. She smiled as it shank about a forth of the way into the marshmallow skin and the monster roared. She launched another piece of splintered wood, this one aimed at the monster’s chest. It plunged into the marshmallow body and the creature howled in pain. It staggered back down the street a few steps, trying to use its uninjured hoof to scrape out the wood in its chest. 
“Nice one, Princess!” a voice said from beside her.
Luna’s eyes went wide and she looked to her right. Vinyl was standing in the middle of the street, levitating her own piece of the broken newsstand. She flung it through the air and cheered as it sank into the marshmallow pony’s upper leg. 
“What doth thou think thou is doing?!” Luna shouted, horrified that Vinyl had not used the opportunity to escape. She looked over her shoulder and saw Octavia standing further back, watching with a worried look on her face. Why were they still here? Luna had told them to run. If they stayed, they would end up like Silent Wing.
“Look out!” Octavia shouted as she pointed. Luna turned back to face the creature and immediately ducked as a piece of wood came flying at her head. She felt it skim her flowing starry mane and then slam into the street behind her. Several pieces of it hit her flank as it broke apart just a few feet from her tail. 
“How—” Luna started, but then she had to jump to the left as another piece of wood came flying at her.
“Oh come on! How is that fair?” Vinyl shouted. Luna watched the stake that Vinyl had just lodged in the monster’s front leg sink further in for a moment, then it came flying back out like a pegasus going into a nose dive. The unicorn ran and dove to the side as the piece of the newsstand crashed into the ground and broke into wooden shrapnel. “She didn’t say it could do this!”
“What doth thou mean?” Luna asked as she ran over to make sure the unicorn was alright. Vinyl was picking herself up off the ground and groaning, but she seemed unharmed. 
“Vinyl! Princess Luna! Run!” Octavia shouted. Both ponies looked at the grey mare, then turned to look at the marshmallow pony. It was charging down the street at them, roaring furiously and causing the street to crack and the ground to shake with every hooffall. 
“Oh buck!” Vinyl said as she scrambled to her hooves and took off running after Octavia. Luna followed close behind, but she could feel the creature drawing closer with every passing moment. She needed to slow it down if she, Octavia, and Vinyl were to have any chance of escape. 
Luna’s eyes fell on the newsstand she had first discovered when she had come out of the alley. She used her magic and picked it up, struggling to maintain her grip as she continued to run. If she could hit the monster in the face with it again, perhaps she and the others could manage to put a little distance between them and the beast and find someplace to hide. She pulled the stand toward her, sending its paper contents spilling into the air. 
“What they hay?” Vinyl said as a magazine hit her in the face while the newsstand flew over her head. She stumbled and tripped just as Luna looked back to line up her throw. The princess raised the newsstand high into he air, aiming at the beast’s face yet again, but her front hoof tripped over Vinyl’s body. Luna tumbled to the ground, her face smacking the street so hard that she lost her grip on the newsstand. She immediately jumped back up and looked up in horror as the newsstand plummeted toward them. She would not have enough time to grab it with her magic. It was going to crush both her and Vinyl.
Luna felt two hooves dig into her rib cage and shove her, hard. She staggered away from the plummeting newsstand and lost her balance, falling again. She looked up just in time to see Vinyl smile. There was a flash of shadow and then the newsstand came crashing down. It broke into pieces, the sound of cracking wood echoing in Luna’s mind as she watched the unicorn disappear beneath the rubble. First Silent Wing, and now Vinyl Scratch. How many more ponies were going to die because she could not protect her subjects?
“Vinyl?” Octavia screamed. “VINYL!” Luna looked toward the mare and saw that she was frozen in place. Her amethyst eyes had gone wide and her mouth was open in a piercing scream. Her face was twisted into a look that Luna knew she would never be able to forget, especially since Vinyl’s death was on her own hooves. She was not sure if Octavia would ever want to speak to her again.
Steeling herself, Luna brushed the crushing thought aside. It did not matter. She still needed to at least get Octavia to safety and that monster was still tearing down the street toward them. She would not allow another pony to die on her watch.
Luna sprinted down the street toward the paralyzed cellist. Octavia was still standing in the same spot, tears streaming from her eyes as she stared at the wreckage that had buried her love. Luna grabbed her with magic and placed the mare on her back without slowing down. To Luna’s relief, the mare did not protest or even try to get down. She simply draped her body over Luna’s, crying while the monster closed in behind them. 
Luna frantically looked around for something, anything that she could use to aid in hers and Octavia’s escape. With each step, with each ground shake beneath her hooves, with each roar, she knew her time was running out. She had to do something, but with magic not working and nothing large enough to throw that would stun the creature, she was fast running out of options.
The monster’s hoof came down fiercely behind her and shattered several windows. The street buckled and several cracks spread around Luna’s hooves. She tripped and she and Octavia fumbled to the ground. Luna struggled to pick herself up. Octavia was already standing, rushing to Luna’s side. Her eyes were red and her face looked sunken, but at least she had not given up completely. She stepped on a shard of glass as she came forward and Luna’s mind came up with an idea as she watched the glass break beneath the cellist’s hoof.
Luna looked right and then left, gathering as much of the broken glass and other debris as she could with her magic. Either this idea would save them, or she was only hastening their deaths by a few moments, and changing it from being smashed to being shredded. There was only one way to find out. She looked up just as the marshmallow pony raised its front hoof to step on her. She noticed the same small black spot where she had bit down early that night and aimed for it. With all her strength, she hurled every scrap of glass, mortar, brick, and stone she could at the bottom of the creature’s hoof. 
Luna decided that what she was witnessing was as close to a front row seat to a meteor shower as she would ever be. The shards of glass sparkled as her deep blue magic surrounded them, making them look like countless shining stars. The chucks of stone looked like meteors sailing among the endless stars, knocking smaller pieces of glass aside as they all sailed upward, as though they were being drawn into a black hole. If her life was not in immediate danger, she would have thought of holding everything in place, just so she could see what she thought looked like a miniature galaxy.
And then the maelstrom hit the giant marshmallow. The results were instantaneous. Luna heard the sound of countless impact strikes and watched as the bottom of the creature’s hoof was shredded. First tiny pieces, then larger chunks began to fall away from the creature, but she did not let up. She continued to fire as much glass as she could into the beast, struggling to keep the attack up. Had she used this on another pony, or perhaps any other living thing except a dragon, the results would have been bloody and deadly, of that she had no doubt. 
After what felt like a lifetime, the last of her debris was spent and the marshmallow monster tumbled backward, howling with a level of pain Luna had not heard before. It staggered back down the street with several steps, crashing into buildings and whipping its tail in frustration. It finally slammed into a one-story building and sat down, holding its wounded hoof and hollering into the night sky as liquid marshmallow dripped from it. 
“Well done, Your Majesty,” Octavia said as she helped Luna to stand up. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but sorrow rang through it like a bell.
“Thank…thank you, Octavia,” Luna panted as she tried to catch her breath. She had not used her magic this much or with such power for many centuries. It was starting to take its toll on her. “I…I apologize about…” The rest of the words caught in her throat as Octavia hung her head.
“We must get going,” the mare said after a long silence. “It is already beginning to heal, though you did seem to slow it down some.”
“Indeed,” Luna said. She looked down the street at the monster. Sure enough, its hoof appeared to be repairing itself, though not nearly as quickly as before. Perhaps she had finally found a way to defeat the creature, although she was not sure she had enough strength to launch another attack like that. She needed to rest and recover, but every moment she rested was another moment that more ponies could end up like Silent Wing and Vinyl. 
“This way. I will take you to where you are needed.” Octavia took off galloping down the street. Luna began to follow, forcing her limbs to obey her commands.
“Vinyl spoke of something similar before she…” Luna trailed off. She had not meant to open such a fresh wound, but she had spoken without thinking.
“Yes,” Octavia said as she turned a street corner and took off down a side alley. “When were heard that Princess Luna had come, our friends sent us out to find you.  They said, with your help, they could put a stop to this…monster.”
Luna’s ears perked up at that. “They claim to know how to stop the creature? But how is this possible? I have never encountered anything like this in all my years, nor have I even heard of such a being.”
Octavia remained silent and Luna simply followed her as they ran down streets and crossed through alleys until Luna was truly lost. They seemed to run forever, occasionally passing groups of citizens dashing about or trying to help other injured ponies. It pained Luna to not stop and help them, but she understood that a ruler sometimes had to make sacrifices for the greater good, and if Octavia’s friends had a way to end this creature, that was for the greater good.
Luna shuttered as she recalled how she had learned that lesson so many centuries ago. It had been a harsh lesson, and one she had been far too young to learn so soon.
Finally, when Luna’s legs felt as though they could carry her no more, Octavia stopped at the bottom of some steps. Luna walked up beside her and looked at the building in front of her.
“The University of Manehattan?” the princess asked.
“Yes. My friends are in the science building. Specifically, the lab. They are attempting to find a way to stop the creature, or at least stop it from healing so quickly.”  Octavia began to walk up the steps and Luna followed, a smile gracing her lips. If these friends of Octavia could manage to find some way to stop, or even perhaps slow down the monster’s healing ability, then perhaps she could finally put an end to its rampage through the city.
“How do they plan on doing such a thing?” she asked. “Studying the creature seems…rather difficult.”
“They do not need to study it,” Octavia said as she and Luna turned the corner of another building on the campus and found themselves staring at the science building. “They need to only study how the creature was made.”
Luna stopped at the statement. Something Vinyl had said right before she had…right before Luna had last seen her played back in her mind. It had seemed as though the D.J. had known things about the monster. “Octavia Melody, I feel that thou and Vinyl know more about this current crisis than thou has allowed us to believe. Please, thou must enlighten us if we are to stop this creature.”
“I…” Octavia hung her head. “I cannot. I have already lost somepony dear to me.”
Luna felt her temper begin to boil. “And thou may lose more if thou doth not help us!” 
To her credit, the cellist did not even wince when Luna raised her voice at her. “I cannot tell you. I apologize, Your Majesty.”
Luna’s eyes went white and she unconsciously summoned a small whirlwind around herself. If her wings were not still stuck together, she would have risen into the air. “And why doth thou refuse a request from thy Princess of the Night? We are trying to save thy city! We are trying to prevent any more harm from coming to it, or any more of our subjects suffering the same fate as Vinyl Scratch. Yet thou refuses to share information with us that could prove useful in achieving all of these things. We no longer ask for an explanation. We demand one! Speak, or we shall have thee arrested for treason, and once again thy family will know shame!”
The moment the words left Luna’s mouth she felt horrible. All the anger and fear she had felt vanished, along with the windstorm that had been raging around her. Her eyes returned to their normal color and she felt nothing but complete shame. She had not meant to threaten her subject like that.  That threat had not only been meant to intimidate, but also to wound. To cut so deep that Octavia would have no choice but to surrender and tell Luna everything. That was the type of threat Nightmare Moon made, not Princess Luna. She hung her head and tried not to cry. Her sister would be so disappointed in her if she had seen what had just transpired. 
“I…I apologize, Miss Melody,” Luna whispered. “I…I did not mean to…”
“It is okay, Your Majesty,” Octavia said, although her face said otherwise. “But, I truly cannot tell you how my friends know about this creature. I do not want you to take them away. I cannot lose them too. If they wish to tell you, then that is their decision.”
“Why in Equestria would I take them away?” Luna asked, baffled by the cellist’s statement. “If they know of a way to stop this beast, or they can discover one, I would not take them away from such a task. If anything, I would thank them.”
“But—” Octavia started to say.
“Because, Your Majesty,” said a voice from behind the two ponies. “Her friends made the creature in the first place.”