//------------------------------//
// Round 3: Ultimate KO 
// Story: Luna's Adventure 
// by Zeck 
//------------------------------//

	Princess Luna froze. Everything had gone strangely silent except for her heartbeat, which was beating so loud in her ears that she was certain her head was about to explode. It was not possible. The voice was simply not possible.
Slowly, she began to turn to face the speaker, her heart rising further up her throat with every centimeter that she moved. The turn seemed to last forever, as though she was stuck in a dream or struggling against a wall of syrup. 
She had managed to turn her head almost enough to see who was standing behind her when a grey flash whipped past her.
“Hey, Octy, what’s—umph!” Luna turned around completely and saw Vinyl collapsed on her back and Octavia laying on top of her. The cellist had the D.J. in a silent hug and, while Luna could not be certain, she appeared to be crying softly as she buried her face into Vinyl’s chest. 
Silent Wing stood beside them, glancing quickly down at the two entangled mares before returning her gaze to Luna. She bowed deeply.
“I am glad to see you are unharmed, Your—” Silent Wing stopped as Luna wrapped her front leg around the guard pony.
“We are overjoyed to see you safe, Silent Wing,” Luna said, barely holding her emotions in check. “I am overjoyed to see you safe.” She pulled out of the hug and smiled at the blush that was glowing on her faithful servant’s cheeks. 
“Um, hey, Octy? I…I’m having—”
“Shut up.”
“But…you’re kind of choking the life out of me…” Vinyl whined.
“I will not save her again, Miss Melody,” Silent Wing said, glad to have a distraction that allowed her regain her composure.
“Yes,” Luna said as Octavia finally released Vinyl. She stood and dusted herself off, avoiding Luna’s eyes as she did. “Tell me, Silent Wing. How are you and Vinyl both here? And unharmed?”
“I would not say ‘unharmed,’ Your Majesty,” Silent Wing said. “I ache nearly everywhere and I am covered in bruises and cuts. However, it is nothing that cannot be healed. Bat ponies are notoriously tough skinned, and our wings aren’t nearly as delicate as a pegasus’s.”
“But I saw you get thrown,” Luna said, reliving the moment in her mind. She shuttered as she saw her servant flying limp through the air in her mind.
“And it hurt when I broke through that window, but that also slowed me down. I was knocked unconscious for a bit, but when I came to I immediately set out of find you. It was not hard.”
“No kidding,” Vinyl said. Luna looked over and noticed that Octavia was standing much closer to the white mare than she had been earlier that night when Luna had first met them. Much closer. “That monster is hard to miss from the sky.”
“I was coming to help when I saw you trip. I…” Silent Wing hung her head and looked at Vinyl with a guilty expression. “I…went into a dive to save you from the falling newsstand, or at least push you out of its way.”
“What about Vinyl?” Octavia demanded, a fire burning in her eyes that Luna had not seen before.
“I am sorry, but my duty is to protect Princess Luna first. If I had to make a choice between her and a citizen, well, it isn’t even a choice really.” Silent Wing locked eyes with the cellist and Luna could feel the tension reaching its breaking point.
Apparently, so could Vinyl. “Hey, it’s cool, Octy. She saved me instead, and here I am.”
“Yes,” Silent Wing said, returning her gaze to Luna. “After Miss Scratch pushed you out of harm’s way, I did not have time to adjust my decent. So I dove in and grabbed her instead. I managed to clear most of the falling cart, but a piece of it clipped my wing and—”
“And we ended up crashing down an alley,” Vinyl said excitedly. “Oh boy, flying was so awesome, Octy! Whipping through the air like that! Levitation doesn’t have the same effect! Feeling the wind against your mane is just incredible.” 
“Anyway,” Silent Wing continued, “we crashed in an alley and I am afraid I blacked out again.”
“You did hit that wall pretty hard,” Vinyl said.
“When I came to, you were gone, but Miss Scratch was still with me.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you out cold in a back alley with a monster running loose in the city!”
“She said that she knew where you would be heading if you were still with Miss Melody and offered to take me there.”
“And that’s how we ended up here,” Vinyl said with a grin on her face. “Miss us?”
Octavia answered by stepping even closer to Vinyl and wrapping her tail around the D.J.’s. 
“I am overjoyed to see you are both alive,” Luna said. A great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Now she just needed to find a way to stop this creature, and her night would be complete. She turned to make her way into the science building when she stopped.
“Wait,” she said. “What did you say first, Silent Wing?”
“These friends who are studying the monster are the very ones who created it. One of them is, anyway.”
“Vinyl, how could you?” Octavia asked.
“Hey, I’m sorry!” Vinyl took one look at Silent Wing and shuddered. “She can be really scary when she wants to.”
“Is this the truth?” Luna asked as she turned her eyes on Octavia. 
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Octavia said, bowing her head as she spoke. “It is why I did not wish to tell you. They are some of my closest friends. After I thought I had lost Vinyl, I…”
“And what of now?” Luna said, her voice getting darker with each word. “Now that thou has thy marefriend back, would thou protest if I took thy friends away? Possibly forever?”
“I…I would not want that. I do not want to choose between Vinyl and them.” Octavia hung her head.
“Friendship is a powerful thing, Octavia Melody,” Luna said, her voice becoming quiet again. “I know what its power and magic can do. I respect your friendship with your friends, but you must be prepared for what I may have to do.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Octavia whispered, still looking at the ground.
“Very well then,” the Princess of the Night said as she turned once again to face the entrance to the science building. “We must go. I would very much like to meet these friends of yours and hear what they have to say.”
As Luna and the other ponies walked into the building, Luna sighed with relief. The creature was pony made, not some new monster that she and her sister had never encountered before. And if it was pony made, that meant that it could be unmade. Hopefully these two ponies, whoever they were, had found a way to stop this beast by now, and with Luna’s help they would be able to put their plan into action. 
The inside of the science building was disturbingly silent. Only a few lights were turned on, allowing shadows to creep and twist into dark forms down the hallway. Even though Luna spent much of her time in the night, she still found the atmosphere unnerving. Light reflected off of objects like door handles or panes of glass, making it appear as though creatures with glowing eyes were lurking just out of view. Several times her eyes darted to one side, expecting to see something jump out at her and her companions, but it always turned out to be nothing. Still, she and the other ponies remained quiet, the sound of their hooves clicking down the hall being the only noise they made. 
“This way,” Octavia said into the silence, startling everypony. Vinyl let out a small yelp and Luna silently chastised herself for jumping at Octavia’s sudden words. She was apparently more high-strung than she had realized. 
The ponies turned down a side hall and noticed that a door was open at the far end. Light spilled from it, illuminating the far end of the hall so that it appeared to be a doorway to another realm.  Luna relaxed slightly at the sight and lead the way toward the room. As she approached, she heard voices.
“Okay, now carefully mix those two together.”
“You mean these ones?”
“Yes, first put the blue one in and then add the—”
“Got it!”
“No, stop! Don’t cross the streams!”
Just as Luna was about to enter the room, there was a muffled boom followed by a wave of smoke. It flew into Luna’s face before she had a chance to react and she immediately began coughing. She waved her hoof in front of her face to clear the air and when she could finally see again, she saw a rather amusing sight.
Silent Wing was standing in front of her, crouched low with her wings spread wide, glaring into the room. Her yellow eyes were nothing but slits and she was blinking them constantly, trying to clear the smoke from them. 
In front of her stood a unicorn whose face had been covered in black soot. Her mane had been blasted back and was fanned out around her head. She coughed once and opened her eyes, revealing them to be a yellowish orange color. They were the same shade as when Celestia set the sun for the evening. The eyes met Luna’s and the unicorn smiled sheepishly.
On the far side of the room stood an earth pony, her head turned to the side as she coughed into her hoof. She was a cream color, with a pink and blue mane. She appeared to be a mess, but not because of the explosion. As she raised her head and opened her eyes, Luna saw how tired she looked. Her face looked hollow and her blue eyes were far too bloodshot from just simple smoke. Her mane was unruly, with strands of it sticking out in random directions and the rest of it laying flat against her coat, which looked liked it hadn’t been brushed in days. Her body looked as though it was too heavy for her legs to carry and she appeared to be ready to collapse.
When the earth pony’s eyes met Luna’s, they went wide and then the pony seemed to become even heavier. She hung her head and Luna wondered if the pony would ever be able to raise it again.
“Celestia, Lyra,” Vinyl said as she walked past Luna and Silent Wing. “What did you do?”
“Oh, uh, hey Vinyl,” the unicorn said, taking her eyes off of Luna for a moment and then immediately returning to staring at the princess. “Is Octavia with you too?”
“I am here,” Octavia said quietly from behind Luna. Luna walked into the room, gently tapping Silent Wing to tell her to stand down, and then Octavia walked in. She refused to look the unicorn in the eye.
“Are these the friends you spoke of?” Luna asked. Octavia nodded and Luna turned to the two new ponies. “Your names.”
“I’m Lyra Heartstrings, Your Majesty,” the unicorn said. She grabbed a towel with her magic and wiped her muzzle, revealing her coat to be a minty green. “And this is Bon Bon.”
“Your Majesty,” Bon Bon whispered, still not lifting her head.
“Octavia and Vinyl have stated that you two may know of a way to defeat this creature,” Luna said, being sure to keep her voice as free of emotion as she could. “Is this true?”
“Well, uh, not yet…exactly,” Lyra said, smiling and scratching the back of her neck. “I was getting pretty close to coming up with something, but, ah…Bon Bon accidently messed up the project.”
Luna raised and eyebrow. Lyra was the one covered in soot, not Bon Bon. “I see.” She looked over at Octavia and found the cellist staring stoically ahead. Vinyl however was looking between Lyra and Bon Bon frantically, trying hard not to be obvious about it.
“But, uh, now that you’re here, you can help us,” Lyra said quickly, looking over her shoulder at Bon Bon and then looking back up at Luna.
Luna narrowed her eyes slightly. She was beginning to suspect that she was not getting the entire truth. “Very well, I shall help.” She walked over and examined the area where Lyra had been standing. A cracked beaker was sitting on a table with smoke still rising from within. Luna smelled the smoke and nearly started coughing, but she fought back the urge and instead raised her head.
“I see you were mixing together rainbow gleam and…” She sniffed again, making sure she did not inhale too much smoke. “I believe that is a hint of poison joke as well as several spices. Pumpkin, perhaps? And ginger.”
“Yeah,” Lyra said, her eyes darting nervously around the room. “Yeah, but I-I mean, Bon Bon, added a bit too much and it sort of blew up.”
“I see,” Luna said. She looked at Bon Bon and noticed that the earth pony had raised her head slightly, but quickly lowered it again when she saw Luna looking at her. Luna returned her gaze to Lyra and picked up another beaker with her magic. She brought it to her nose and sniffed once. There was no smell from the liquid inside, but just to be certain she checked the bottom for the label and then poured a small amount on a nearby desk. The liquid was exactly what she had expected it to be.
“I believe you may be on to something,” Luna said as she walked over with the beaker. “You simply need to add this hydrochloric liquid, and then this mixture should be strong enough to melt that—oops.” Luna pretended to trip and sent the beaker flying through the air. Its contents spilled on Lyra’s head and Luna waited. Bon Bon gasped and Octavia took two steps forward before they both realized what should have been happening was not.
Lyra simply stood in the same place, water dripping from her mane and washing away more of the black soot that clung to her muzzle. The fact that she was not panicking or screaming in imaginary pain was all the proof Luna required.
“Lyra Heartstrings, what would you say if I told you that I had merely guessed all of those things?”
Lyra’s face fell. “What?”
“I could not tell what was in that mixture, and I believe you could not tell me either.”
“No! I was making it, I swear!”
“And why should we believe such a statement? If thou was truly involved in such a process, thou should been much more concerned when we spilled acid on thy mane.” Luna pressed forward, raising her voice slightly with each word. 
“What?” Lyra said, her eyes going wide as she began to quickly rub her mane.
“And thou would also know that the liquid was not but water.” Luna stood up to her full height. “So tell us again. Why should we believe thou has any idea on how to create anything that may prove useful in stopping this beast?
“Because, uh…” Lyra stammered and Luna took a step forward.
“Because thou is the one that created that beast? Thou is the one that let it loose on this fair city and endangered the lives of our subjects?”
“Uh, yes?” Lyra said, taking a step back every time Luna took a step forward. The unicorn suddenly appeared very small as she backed into a desk and huddled there, shaking. 
Luna looked at Bon Bon quickly. She had raised her head fully, but had not moved from her spot. Very well then.
“So thou admits to the charges against thee?” Luna said, her voice booming now in the lab. 
“Yes,” Lyra said in a small voice.
“Very well.” Luna turned to Silent Wing. “You will take this pony into custody. She shall be thrown into the dungeon until we decide her fate. We see no need for a trial, as she has confessed.”
“What?” Vinyl shouted.
“Your Majesty, you cannot—” Octavia began.
“Silence!” Luna shouted, turning on the two musicians. “We could have thou arrested as well for aiding this criminal by keeping her crimes to thyselves. Be grateful that we have decided not to do so. Yet.” Luna returned her stare to the unicorn cowering beneath her. She felt horrible doing this, but she did not have time for games anymore. This creature needed to be stopped. “Good-bye, Lyra Heartstrings. We doubt thou shall ever see the sun again after what thou hath done. Silent Wing, take the prisoner away.” 
Silent Wing stepped forward and pulled Lyra up. Luna caught the hopeless glance the unicorn gave Bon Bon before she was shoved toward the door. Luna looked at Bon Bon as well and saw tears welling up in her eyes.
Was I wrong? Luna thought as she turned her back on the earth pony and began to follow Silent Wing and Lyra toward the door.
“But…but, Princess Luna!” Vinyl pleaded. “What about stopping the creature? Lyra and Bon Bon can help!”
“It is clear that this fool,” Luna tilted her head toward Lyra as she spoke, “knows nothing about the creature. The fact that she made it at all baffles us. She will be of no help here, and if we cannot stop this raging beast, then we can at least bring justice to the one who let it loose. And it is clear to us that Bon Bon is also of no use in this matter if she was following Lyra’s instructions. No, we have decided that these two ponies cannot aid us. So unless thou knows of another pony who can help, we must go and delay the creature until our sister is able to—”
“Stop!” Bon Bon shouted.
Finally.
“What for?” Luna demanded. “Lyra will be locked away and we must—”
“Lyra didn’t make the creature, Your Majesty.”
“Bon Bon, don’t,” Lyra said, but Luna silenced her with a glare.
“Then who did?” the princess asked coldly.
“Me,” the earth pony said, hanging her head again. “I did it. All of it. Lyra had nothing to do with it.”
“She’s lying!” Lyra shouted, trying to get past Silent Wing. “It was me! I swear.”
“And why should I believe you instead of her?” Luna asked. Her voice was still firm, but she was no longer shouting.
Bon Bon didn’t answer. Instead, she walked over to another desk and lit a burner. She stared at it for a few moments, then walked over and carefully picked up another beaker that was filled with a blue liquid. She placed it on top of the burner for a few seconds, then grabbed a towel and removed the liquid from the heat. She allowed it to cool, then dipped the towel in the liquid. She pulled it out, carrying it with her mouth as she walked over to Luna. She raised one of her hooves and placed the towel on it, then looked up at Luna.
“May I?” she asked.
“What do you intend to do?” Luna asked. She was not afraid that Bon Bon would harm her, but she had asked for the sake of Silent Wing, who was standing off to the side watching Bon Bon very intently.
“This is what we were working on,” Bon Bon said. “It dissolves the marshmallow completely but doesn’t damage anything else. It will get the stuff off of your wings at least.”
Luna nodded and the earth pony placed the rag against the princess’s wing. It was cool to the touch, despite having just been held over a fire. Bon Bon gently rubbed the cloth over one of Luna’s wings and then the other one. The liquid caused Luna’s wings to tingle slightly for a moment and then she had the sudden urge to open them and shake them off. Without thinking, she stretched her wings and flapped them several times. It felt so good to be able to move them again and she closed her eyes as she did, relishing the sensation.
She stopped in mid stretch and her eyes popped back open. Her wings! She could open them again with no trouble. She looked back at them and saw that there was not a single trace of the sticky marshmallow substance. Bon Bon clearly was the expert on this creature.
Luna folded her wings back down and looked and the earth pony. “You will tell me everything. From the beginning.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Bon Bon said. “I’m a candy maker back in Ponyville.”
“I thought the Cakes were the main creators of sweets,” Luna said, remembering the two earth ponies from when she had visited the small town.
“No, they make baked goods. I make candy and sweets.”
“She’s the best,” Lyra added quickly. “I love her sweets.”
“I’ll bet you do,” Vinyl snickered. Octavia slapped her behind the head and she fell silent.
“Anyway, when I heard about the comet passing over Equestria, I wanted to see if I could harness its magic for something I’ve been working on for a while.”
Luna raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You have been trying to make a giant marshmallow monster for a while?” Was this pony some sort of mad scientist or something?
“No, of course not! But…I was trying to make the perfect marshmallow.” Bon Bon turned her head slightly and looked at Lyra. “Lyra tends to burn them pretty bad whenever we go camping. To the point where they aren’t edible. She always uses her magic to help them cook, even though I tell her that the best way is to stick them on a stick and slowly cook them over a fire.”
Lyra blushed. “But that takes so long.”
“So how does a desire to make a marshmallow that your marefriend—” Luna started to ask.
“Wife,” Lyra said instantly.
“Forgive me. How does a desire to make a marshmallow that your wife cannot burn turn into a giant rampaging monster?”
“Well,” Bon Bon scrapped the floor with her hoof. “The equipment I needed to harness the comet’s magic wasn’t available in Ponyville, and Octavia and Vinyl were heading back to Manehattan and suggested I come.”
“Yeah, after that Changeling attack, I figured we could all use some time away from that place,” Vinyl said.
“Changeling attack?” Luna asked, startled. She had heard nothing about a Changeling attack on Ponyville! This was bad. If Twilight Sparkle and her friends had fallen and the Elements of Harmony had been lost, then all of Equestria was in grave peril.
“It is okay, Your Majesty,” Octavia interrupted. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved us and the town.”
“I see,” Luna said, feeling a bit embarrassed. Of course the small town was safe. These ponies would not be standing before her if it was in any danger. “Please continue, Bon Bon.”
“Well, we came to Manehattan and I was granted access to this university’s science lab. I studied everything I could find about the comet and tried to find ways to harness its magic, even though I’m not a unicorn. That’s why Lyra came along. She said that she could help with the magic aspect at least. When the comet finally appeared earlier tonight, I had everything ready. Or at least, I thought I did.”
“I take it things did not work out the way you wanted them to.”
“No,” Bon Bon said. “I thought I had everything right. I was going to make a marshmallow that couldn’t be affected by magic. One than would stay soft and fluffy even if it was ripped apart. I had a marshmallow outside, sitting in a safe spot, and when Lyra said she could feel enough magic energy, I started the experiment. I focused some of the light from the comet onto the marshmallow and added all the mixtures I had come up with. But something must have gone wrong. For a moment, it looked liked it worked.”
“It sure tasted delicious,” Lyra said as she licked her lips.
“You took a bite of it?” Octavia asked, startled that she had done something so dangerous.
“Well, yeah. I try all of Bon Bon’s stuff.”
“And…I think that might have been part of it,” Bon Bon said. “When Lyra took a bite, the marshmallow regenerated the part that Lyra had bitten off. Only, it didn’t stop there. It kept growing. First it was as big as my hoof, then as big as a pony, and then…well, you saw what it turned into.”
“So the reason magic does not affect it is because you made it so?” Luna asked. Bon Bon nodded. “I understand. But Bon Bon, the comet’s magic is an ancient type of magic, older than even my sister or myself. There are types of magic out there that not even we understand, much less can control.” Luna’s eyes drifted over to Octavia as she spoke. “There is a reason that my sister and I place protection around our subjects whenever the comet passes. You should not have tried to use such dangerous things without consulting us first.”
“Am I the only one who thinks Lyra should be the one getting that speech?” Vinyl asked.
“Be quiet,” Octavia hissed.
“I know, Your Majesty. And I am prepared to face whatever punishment you deem fit,” the earth pony said as she hung her head again.
Luna saw Lyra about to protest, but stopped her with a raised hoof. “Punishment will be decided later. Right now, I need your help to stop this beast.”
Bon Bon lifted her head and Luna saw a smile grace her lips for the first time. “Of course. Lyra and I were trying to produce more of that liquid that I used on your wings before you showed up.”
“Yes, that seemed quite effective,” the Princess of the Night said as she stretched her wings again. “How much of that do you have?”
“Sadly, all I have left is a single bottle’s worth. Its ingredients are hard to come by. Besides, I fear we would need hundreds of gallons of the stuff for it to work,” Bon Bon said.
“Excuse me,” Vinyl said, stepping forward, “but couldn’t we just wait for the comet to pass? The night’s almost over, and when the comet leaves, won’t the magic that created the creature leave with it? And then it just turns back into a marshmallow.”
“We cannot wait that long,” Luna said. “Every moment that beast wanders this city is another moment that my subjects are placed in danger. Besides, there is no guarantee that it will cease being…alive, when the comet passes. This is not like the creatures of Equestria. This thing was made by a pony. The comet’s magical effects are completely unknown in regards to a matter such as this one.”
“So magic is out,” Octavia said. “Waiting for it the comet to leave is out. What about when you shredded it with that attack, Your Majesty?”
Luna shook her head. “That took a great deal of effort, and I am not certain I can do it again. Perhaps if I had several dozen unicorns helping me, but that is beside the point. It is also far too dangerous. As you saw, the creature threw back the objects that Vinyl and I attacked it with. If it were to do the same when several unicorns did that, the death toll would be…staggering. I will not allow it.”
“Great,” Lyra said, throwing one of her hooves into the air. “So how do we stop a giant marshmallow pony rampaging through the city?”
“Well,” Bon Bon said, rubbing her chin as she thought, “we could always roast it. I designed the marshmallow to only be able to be cooked by fire, not magic. But I have no idea how we could get a fire that big without burning down several blocks of the city. Even then, we would need to encircle the creature so it couldn’t escape.”
Everypony fell silent. Luna searched her mind, trying to find a way to stop the creature. Fire did seem to be the best option, but Bon Bon was correct in stating that a fire of such size would most likely do more harm to Manehattan than the monster itself. There had to be another way…
“I have it!” Luna said as an idea sprang into her mind. She turned to Silent Wing. “Silent Wing, I need you to go gather all of my guard that is available. Bring them to Manehattan and tell them this.” 
Silent Wing listened to Luna’s plan without saying a word, and when the princess finished, she flew out the door and vanished. Luna noticed that she did not seem to be flying as quickly as she normally did and wondered if it was due to her injuries. She would have to make certain that Silent Wing took some time off from her duties to heal. 
“What about us?” Vinyl asked after Silent Wing had left. 
“Unfortunately, I fear there is no way for any of you to help,” Luna said. It pained her to say it because she could see how dearly these four ponies wanted to aid her, but there was nothing they could do.
“We understand, Your Majesty,” Octavia said before Vinyl could protest. 
Luna turned to Bon Bon. “Tell me, is there a way for me to lure the creature to me?”
“Um…I think it’s already following you,” Bon Bon said. “When I made it immune to magic, I think it took that step further. When you attacked it with that magical blast, it registered you as a threat. It’s probably still looking for you now. I think it can sense your specific magic.”
“That would explain how it was able to find you so quickly earlier this evening,” Vinyl said. “I mean, it threw you pretty far, yet someone managed to still find you pretty fast.”
A faint roar echoed through the night and everypony froze. Moments later, they all began to feel the gentle shaking in the ground as the marshmallow pony drew closer. 
“And…it found you again,” Vinyl said with a weak smile. “I think that proves Bon Bon’s theory.”
“You all must seek shelter. If it is I the creature seeks, then that is what is shall find. But I cannot worry about all of you while I battle it.”
“But—” Vinyl said.
“Vinyl, you saw what happened last time,” Octavia whispered. “Please, we must listen to Princess Luna this time. Please.” Vinyl grumbled but nodded when she looked at Octavia. Lyra and Bon Bon nodded as well and the four of them began to leave the room. 
“Your Majesty,” Bon Bon said as she stopped in the doorway.
“Yes, Bon Bon?”
“I’m sorry about all of this. I wish I could do more to help you.”
Luna smiled and nodded. She felt bad for the earth pony. Making treats really was Bon Bon’s passion, and to have it misfire so badly must have been heartbreaking. She could relate to that feeling as memories of Nightmare Moon flowed into her mind. All she had wanted was for ponies to like her and her night like they did her sister and her day, and that simple desire had turned into a literal nightmare.
“It is all right, Bon Bon,” Luna said. “I will stop this creature and Manehattan will be saved.” Bon Bon smiled weakly and turned to leave, but Luna suddenly had an idea. “Wait. There is one thing you perhaps can aid me with.”
“Yes?” she asked hopefully, her ears perking slightly.
“I need you to make sure the area where I intend to lure the creature is clear of ponies. Take the others with you and be certain that I am the only pony present when the time comes. Be warned. Should you, Octavia, Vinyl, or even Lyra,” Bon Bon blinked at the name, a subconscious reaction no doubt, “still be present when I arrive, I fear I cannot promise your safety.”
The earth pony swallowed, nodded, and then left. Luna turned to look out the window in the science lab.
The shaking was growing stronger. Another roar echoed through the night, this time much louder. The creature was coming. Luna walked up and opened then window, spread her wings, and flew into the night sky. 
It felt great to be able to fly again. Beyond great.  Luna knew of many pegasus ponies that liked to fly, or at least hover, every chance they got. Standing on the ground just did not feel right for them. Luna had never been that way, preferring to walk with her hooves on the ground just as often as she flew through the sky. But now, after having her flight denied to her for even a short time, she believed she understood why so many pegasus ponies constantly flew.
The Princess of the Night sailed into the sky, stretching her wings to their fullest and closing her eyes as the wind howled in her ears. She flew higher and higher, twisting and looping through her beautiful night. She just wanted to fly forever at the moment and forget all her worries. She opened her eyes and was greeted by her stunning moon. It was so white, so big, and so close. She felt as though she could reach out and touch it with her hoof. She just needed to fly a bit further…
The now familiar sound of the marshmallow pony’s roar tore Luna’s daydreaming apart. She sighed and turned around in the air. The creature was standing at the far end of the university’s campus. Luna had no doubts now that it was looking straight at her, even if it did not have eyes. It took a step forward and Luna saw it limp as it did. She noticed that the creature was dragging one of its front hooves slightly as it walked. Apparently she had hurt it more than she had first realized. Too bad she doubted she had the strength to launch another attack like that.
But if this plan works, I shall not need to worry about that.
“Thou hath returned, foul beast!” Luna bellowed, though she was not certain why she wasted her time speaking. This monster, if Bon Bon was correct, was driven by the basest of instincts. It had no conscious thought of its own. Still, she felt the need to continue.
“We know about thou now. This encounter shall be our last, and thou will not survive it. Thy reign of terror and destruction shall end here!”
Well, not here here, Luna thought. There were too many buildings around, even though the university’s campus was filled with its fair share of open areas and grassy quads. No, she needed a place that was free from building because she was not sure what would happen when her plan went into effect. It was possible that the creature would simply fall over, and if it fell on a building, the damage would be massive. It was also possible that something very different might happen and the damage would be even worse.
There was also the fact that Luna did not want to risk burning down any structures with her plan. So all she had to do was lure it to where she had her plan ready and wait for Silent Wing and the others. And with the monster’s limp, Luna was confident that she would be able to easily stay ahead of the creature and out of danger.
The monster roared at her and charged. It began to gallop, though at an awkward pace because of its limp. It crossed the open quad of the university and swung out its wounded hoof. It extended, just as Luna had expected it would, and she gracefully flew out of its way. 
What happened next was something she did not expect.
Luna heard a whistling sound for half a second and then she felt something tear through her mane. She blinked in surprise and looked at her dark blue hair. Several strands had been severed from it at the tip. She could still see a few of them falling to the ground. She did not understand how such a thing was possible. She had been well out of range of the creature’s hoof, so what had hit her?
Luna looked down at the marshmallow pony with a confused look. A moment later she raised a protective barrier around herself as several shards of glass flew at her. They shattered into even smaller fragments against her shield and then fell to the ground. 
Horrified, Luna looked at the marshmallow beast. It brought its wounded hoof back down and stomped on what appeared to be a bench on the university’s grounds. The bench splintered and the Princess of the Night watched as the monster absorbed the wooden pieces into its body, then raised its hoof and swung at her again. She was still out of range of the hoof, even at its stretched length, but this time she kept an eye on it.
Sure enough, she saw several piece of wood come flying at her as they were shot out of the hoof. She dodged them all, twisting and twirling among the flying debris until it had all flown past her. She spun in the air and caught as much of the wood with her magic as she could, then allowed it to drop to the ground. She did not want the stray shots to fly off and injury a random pony.
This will be more of a challenge than I believed. Luna gritted her teeth and fired a magical blast at the monster’s face out of sheer frustration. This thing might be nothing more than instincts given form, but it was learning. It had remembered what Luna and Vinyl had done to it, and worse, it had remembered that it could counter the attack. Now, it appeared to be willingly smashing things into itself in order to launch projectiles at the princess.
The magical attack impacted against the beast’s cheek and had little effect, but Luna did not linger to see the thing heal itself. She immediately turned and bolted through the night air, taking one final look over her should to make sure no other debris was flying toward her.
She was shocked to see that the beast was keeping up with her despite its limp. It tore across the campus, snapping small trees and leaving several giant hoofprints in the area. It dodged around buildings most of the time, but twice it crashed against some and caused minimum damage to the structures. Both times it barely slowed its pace, pausing just long enough to regain its balance and roar again before it took off after the alicorn. 
How is such a thing possible? Luna thought as she frantically flew toward her destination. Despite being wounded, the creature seemed to be becoming even fiercer. A tickle ran down her spine as she tried to think, and suddenly she had her answer.
Luna looked up at her night sky, already positive of what she would see but wanting to visually confirm it. The Secretariat Comet blazed overhead. That had to be it. The comet was at its peak, and while magical attacks did not phase the monster, it still drew strength from the comet that had given it life. 
Of course, that worked both ways. 
Luna closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. She felt the comet’s magic surge through her body as she channeled it. Her wings tingled and her skin crawled, but it still was not enough. She inhaled again, taking a deeper breath and focusing the energy within herself until it was almost painful. She flung her eyes open, their color changing to solid white as energy coursed through her blood. She flapped her wings and the air boomed with the vibration. She shot through sky, faster than she had ever gone before. 
The wind stung her face and her eyes watered, but the magic flowing through her did not allow her to slow. She flapped her wings again, sending another shockwave through the night air as she continued in a straight line toward the eastern edge of Manehattan. 
Luna felt the air drop in temperature before she saw her final destination. She tried to slow down for fear of overshooting her mark, but she was going too fast. She threw all four of her hooves out in front of herself and kicked at the air, trying desperately to slow herself. Her scolding of Bon Bon echoed through her mind, now chiding herself for using magic beyond her understanding. 
She looked forward and down and saw that the coastline was fast approaching. Hoping that Bon Bon had indeed made sure the beach was clear, Luna flared her wings like a sail and flapped them once. There was no loud boom this time, but the gust of wind she sent ahead of herself kicked up countless particles of sand and sent them spinning into the air. The princess closed her eyes and mouth as she flew into the sandstorm. It raked her skin and bit her muzzle, but she had managed to slow herself down. She hovered in the whirling sand, coughing as it tried to enter her mouth and lungs, and waited for the sandstorm to die down.
When it had, Luna found that she was covered in a layer of sand. She shook herself vigorously, trying to dislodge as much of it as she could from her coat and mane, but she knew that she would be brushing it out for days. She blew once to clear her mouth, then rubbed her eyes and opened them. She took a quick look at her surroundings to make sure she was where she wanted to be. 
The beach was below her, a deep swath in the ground from where her wings had blown the sand away. The waves lapped against the shoreline in a peaceful rhythm and the sound of countless sand particles falling into the water was soothing. There was no sign of any other ponies on the beach, and Luna smiled at that. It appeared that Bon Bon and the others had indeed managed to clear the beach. Now all Luna had to do was wait for the marshmallow pony to catch up and for Silent Wing and the rest of her guard to fulfill their part of the plan.
Luna looked around the sky. There was no sign of Silent Wing or any of her bat ponies. That worried her slightly, but she reminded herself that Silent Wing had been injured and thus could not fly as swiftly as she normally could. She and the others would be here, along with what Luna had told them to bring. 
Luna turned around, prepared to wait in the air for the marshmallow pony to catch up to her because there was no possible way it could have kept up with her increased speed. Only, she found that the monster had. It was already almost at the beachfront. Luna stared in disbelief as the beast closed on her and then swung its wounded hoof. She blinked and brought herself back to her senses, but it was too late. 
The hoof connected with her. Worse, the pony’s hoof appeared to not have healed completely. Instead of being hit by a soft but solid material, Luna found herself being smacked by something that felt more akin to bubble gum.  She felt inertia struggling to tear her free from the sticky substance as the hoof continued to swing through the air and she pulled as hard as she could, hoping to free herself.
With a loud tearing sound and a wave of pain, the princess freed herself from the mushy hoof. She felt like half of her mane, tail, coat, and even skin had been left behind, and as she turned around to look, she knew she was correct. She saw a matt of deep blue fur, and a few feathers, stuck to the bottom of the creature’s hoof. Then another realization hit her.
She was falling.
Luna tried to open her wings but found that they were once again covered in the marshmallow pony’s sticky residue. She plummeted toward the sand below like a rock. Even though she had not been more then three stories above the ground, the impact was still going to hurt and very possibly knock her unconscious. She closed her eyes and waited to feel herself smash into the sand, but the sensation never came. 
After a few seconds, Luna opened one of her eyes and looked around. She was hovering in the air about a foot above the beach, encased in a golden aura. She turned her head to the left and saw four ponies running toward her, one of them struggling to keep the magic around Luna. 
“See? I told you I could catch her better than you,” Lyra said.
“Whatever,” Vinyl responded. “Octy and I will try to keep that…thing distracted.  Bon Bon, how long do you need?”
“Two minutes, maybe three,” the sweet maker replied. With that, Vinyl and Octavia turned to charge the creature, much to Luna’s horror, while Lyra and Bon Bon continued running toward her.
“What doth thou think thou is doing?!” Luna shouted. She tried to raise her hoof and wave them away, but because of Lyra’s magic, all she managed to do was send herself spinning in a slow circle. How humiliating. 
“Hold on, Your Majesty,” Lyra said as she and Bon Bon ran up to her.
“Release us this instant!” Luna said. She frantically looked over at Vinyl and Octavia, fearing that they had already been smashed beneath the creature. To her relief, she saw that Vinyl was firing magical blast as fast as she was able at the creature’s face while Octavia ran around…filling up a bucket with sand? What was she doing?
“Can’t do that,” Lyra said. 
“If you touch the sand while you’re covered in that stuff, it’s going to stick everywhere,” Bon Bon added. “You won’t be able to fly and then this whole plan will fail.” With that, Bon Bon reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small bottle. She looked at Lyra and nodded. The unicorn diverted some of her magic to hold the bottle and Bon Bon again started digging through her saddlebag. A moment later she produced a candle and some matches. She lit a match, lit the candle, and then placed the candle on the sand.
“How’s it going?” Vinyl shouted from her battle. All she seemed to be doing was annoying the marshmallow monster, but at least the mare was keeping it distracted from Luna.
“Just a bit longer,” Bon Bon yelled back as she took the bottle Lyra was holding and held it over the candle. 
“Vinyl, it is ready,” Octavia said as she ran up with the sand bucket. Luna watched as the D.J. lifted the bucket with her magic while Octavia turned her back to it. She kicked her hind legs out and sent the bucket flying up toward the creature’s face. Just before it hit, Vinyl used her magic to grab the bucket in midair, causing it to stop suddenly.
The sand, however, continued forward and slammed into marshmallow pony’s face. It howled and stumbled backward, frantically wiping its good hoof across its would-be eyes to remove the sand. Vinyl let out a loud yelp and Octavia nodded fiercely. 
“Done,” Bon Bon said. She took the bottle and unceremoniously dumped its contents on Luna’s wings. It stung terribly against her raw skin from where her coat had been ripped away, but only for a moment. After that, the Princess of the Night felt the marshmallow substance melting away, freeing her wings once again. 
Lyra gently lowered Luna onto the sand and stood back with Bon Bon. 
“We thank thee for coming to our aid,” Luna said. She looked herself over and shuddered slightly. Several patches of her coat had been ripped away, her mane and tail both looked as though they had been cut by a filly, and her wings had several loose and bent feathers. But at least she was no longer covered in that sticky marshmallow. She was seriously considering banning the sweet from Equestria after tonight. “But why art thou here? When we told thee to evacuate the beachfront, we meant for all of you to be clear of the area as well.”
“We just arrived, Your Majesty,” Bon Bon said, bowing to hide her embarrassment.
“Yeah,” Lyra said. “We were going as fast as we could, but then you came rocketing down the street with that monster right behind you. There was no way we could keep up.”
Luna had not thought of that. She had just assumed that the beach being deserted meant that Bon Bon and the others had fulfilled their task. “Ah, I see. I suppose I am truly fortunate then that you all arrived when you did. A moment later and I would have been seriously injured. Or worse.”
“What are friends for?” Bon Bon asked with a smile.
Friends…Luna liked the sound of that. Still, she would have to dwell on it later. Right now, she needed to put an end to this crisis.
Luna looked up at the sky and noticed that several patches had been blotted out. An inky darkness was spreading across her beautiful sky, covering stars by the dozens and slowly swallowing her beloved moon. She strained her eyes, and for a moment she thought she saw several shapes darting about above her, but the darkness was growing and she could not be certain. She did not worry though. In a few more minutes, this would all be over.
She flexed her wings wide and rose from the ground. It hurt to flap her damaged wings, but she pushed through the pain. As she rose, she looked down at Bon Bon and Lyra.
“You have earned the debt of a princess,” she said. “We shall not forget your bravery for coming to our aid in the face of such danger.” Luna raised her voice so that Vinyl and Octavia, who were still trying to keep the marshmallow pony distracted with magical blasts and buckets of sand, could hear her. “Now, leave this place! Clear the beach!”
Luna watched as the four ponies immediately stopped what they were doing and ran for the edge of the beach. They scrambled onto the street and turned to watch. Luna considered yelling at them to get further back, but the beast completely ignored them and came for her. As long as the four ponies did not come closure, they would most likely be fine. Besides, Luna had a more pressing matter to worry about. 
The marshmallow pony stepped onto the beach with its good hoof and roared at Luna again. She flew higher into the sky, forcing the monster to step on the beach with its wounded hoof. She smiled as the creature’s hoof sank into the sand and it struggled to free itself. After a moment it did and continued walking onto the beach, all the while keeping its gaze turned upward toward Luna.
Luna glared back down at the creature for a brief moment, then raised her head. Her beautiful night sky was completely dark now, covered in the inky blackness. She flew toward it without a second thought, not even slowing her ascent as she broke its threshold. For a few seconds, everything around her was dark and wet, then she broke through and was once again surround by her starry sky.
“Excellent work, Silent Wing,” Luna said as she looked around. Several of her guards were standing on top of the storm clouds they had all been packing into place over the beach. They all saluted the moment they saw Luna.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Silent Wing said. She bowed and Luna noticed that she had a bandage wrapped around her waist. “We gathered as many as we could on such short notice. We are ready to begin when you give the signal.”
“Very well,” Luna said. “Allow me to clear a path, and when I give the word you may attack.”
“As you say, Princess Luna. But…are you certain you can control this much?”
Luna paused for a moment. She had never done anything of this caliber before. But then, the comet’s magic gave her abilities beyond her normal caliber.
“Yes. Prepare yourselves, my loyal subjects.”
Luna flew back down through the storm clouds, parting them as she did so that a gaping hole opened up behind her. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled as the moon lined up perfectly through the hole, giving her a glorious background. She almost wished that there were ponies below to witness such a sight and what was to follow, but then her eyes found Bon Bon, Lyra, Vinyl, and Octavia all standing on the street, far away from the monster. She smiled at them, though she knew they would not see it. 
Directly below her, roaring up at the sky, was the source of so much of her troubles over the past few hours.
“This ends now, beast!” Luna bellowed in her Canterlot voice. “Thou has terrorized our citizens, damaged our kingdom, wounded our friends and repeatedly tried to end us as well. For that, we now pass final judgment!” The Princess of the Night looked up and saw Silent Wing peering down at her through the hole in the clouds. Luna nodded at her and then began to focus, drawing the comet’s magic into herself and amplifying her own abilities. It burned and her body felt as though it would rip apart a moment’s notice, but she held out. She just needed to last for a few more seconds. 
Luna felt the static in the air. Her coat bristled with electricity and her mane began to stand up on its own instead of flowing gently around her. Her limbs began to shake as the power built in the air around her. The marshmallow pony roared and tried to reach up to her, but the roar was drowned out almost immediately by a louder boom! Luna’s skull felt like it would split from the sudden noise, but she had no time to clutch her head. A millisecond later she felt the energy flood the air. She reached out with her own magic and directed the flow of electricity, focusing it as tightly as she could while is skipped through the clouds around her, wild and free. When she felt like she could contain no more, she forced it all down toward the giant beast.
A dozen lightning bolts stuck out at once, each one terrible and beautiful to behold.  They stretched forth like twisted limbs on a dead tree and clawed their way down to the world below. They twisted and bent at unnatural angles as their light flooded the night. For a glorious moment, time seemed to stand still and each bolt appeared to be its own glorious work of art, permanent and fleeting at the same time.
Then each bolt struck the marshmallow pony all at once. 
The sight was terrifying. Luna was not sure how much of the electricity she had managed to condense into each bolt of lightning, but she knew that it had to have been a massive amount because when they struck, they did not leave small black marks as Silent Wing’s first strike had. 
No, each bolt tore into the marshmallow flesh and blew it apart, sending massive amounts of hot marshmallow flying in every direction. Fires started at some of the impact areas on the beast, while other areas were completely obliterated. The beast staggered and screamed as parts of it were blasted away and others began to burn with an intense fire. It looked up at her, its face a mess of melted marshmallow and burning fire, and roared once last time, its howl defiant.
“AGAIN!” Luna bellowed, and there was another deafening crack of thunder as her bat ponies stomped on the clouds around her and kicked the lightning through them. She channeled it again and sent the bolts tearing down toward the abomination, striking it another half dozen times with raw power. 
One bolt connected squarely with the beast’s face.  Its head flew back as a hole opened up in it, and then the whole creature began to quiver. Luna watched, barely able to keep herself in the air because of the exhaustion she felt, and she felt a sense of relief flood her. The creature was defeated. Even its healing powers could not be powerful enough to recover from—
The creature suddenly exploded into a white mess. Marshmallow went everywhere, splattering the beach, splashing into the ocean, coating the street and buildings. Some of it came flying up at Luna, but she had had enough of being covered in the sticky substance and used the last of her magic to cast a protective shield around herself. The marshmallow smacked against the shield and clung there, then dropped to the beach below when Luna lowered the shield. Exhausted to the point of near collapse, she gently floated back down to the ground.
She landed in the sticky substance and had to struggle to remain standing. Everywhere she looked, all she saw was white. This was going to take quite some time to clean up, but at least the danger had passed. The cleanup would not be life threatening, just long.
“Uuuuhh,” something moaned. Lune looked to her left and felt her blood run cold. A miniature marshmallow pony was rising out of the goop that covered everything. Another rose with it, and then another. What was this? Was it possible that the creature had not been destroyed, but had simply been divided into countless smaller ones? Luna did not have the strength to battle any more, and since she was standing in the middle of the mess, it was very possible that she would soon find herself surrounded by countless marshmallow ponies.
“Your Majesty, get back!” Silent Wing and a dozen other bat ponies suddenly landed in front of her. Their dark fur and armor were a stark contrast to the white substance they all now stood in, but each one had his or her wings flared and heads lowered, ready to protect Luna with their lives.
The three marshmallow ponies stopped in their tracks. Luna watched as a forth one rose beside them, shaking its head. It staggered over to join the other three and then froze as well.
“Uh…is this the part where you arrest Bon Bon?” Luna recognized that voice! It was—
“Be quiet!” Octavia said as she slapped the back of Vinyl’s head. Her hoof stuck to her marefriend and Luna smiled as the cellist struggled to free herself. 
“Stand down, Silent Wing,” Luna said as she stepped forward. “Make sure no ponies were hurt in this area, then you and the others must return to Canterlot to inform my sister as to what has passed here. I will deal with these four. Oh, and if two of you would be kind enough to fetch my chariot. I fear I lack the energy to make the flight back to Canterlot on my own.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Silent Wing said. She and the other bat ponies turned and bowed, the lifted off. A few of them struggled to free themselves from the sticky ground, but within a minute each one had vanished from sight. 
“Mmm, Tavi, you taste delicious,” Vinyl said. Luna looked over at the four ponies—My friends, she reminded herself—and saw that Vinyl was licking the hoof that had stuck to her. “I guess that makes you…”
“I…I am…ugh.” Octavia freed her hoof and nearly feel down as she stumbled backward. “I am not saying it, Vinyl.”
“Aw, come on,” Vinyl pleaded, her red eyes blinking repeatedly through the marshmallow.
“No.”
Luna walked up to the four ponies, trying to maintain her regal grace but finding it nearly impossible when each step stuck to the ground. “What is Vinyl talking about?”
“See? Even the princess wants you to say it,” Vinyl said, raising a hoof and pointing at Luna.
Octavia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I am…Tavilious.” 
Vinyl burst into laughter and fell back into the sticky substance. She tried to roll around, but quickly realized she was stuck. Luna chuckled as the D.J. looked up at them and struggled to free herself.
“Serves you right,” Octavia said, wiping some of the marshmallow from her face.
“Um, Your Majest, about what Vinyl just said, I—”
“I won’t let you take Bon Bon!” Lyra suddenly stepped in front of Luna and placed herself firmly between Luna and the others. At least, Luna assumed it was Lyra. It was hard to tell with each of them covered from head to hoof in marshmallow goop. Still, Luna saw hints of green fur and there was no mistaking the burning eyes that glared up at her.
A tense silence suddenly fell over the entire area. Vinyl had stopped struggling to get up and was lying perfectly still. Octavia had stopped chuckling at her and had her head turned worriedly toward Luna. Bon Bon had her head hanging low and was simply staring at the ground. Lyra stood perfectly still, her golden eyes staring up into Luna’s face with determination and fear.
Luna cleared her throat. “Lyra Heartstrings, thou is aware that thy spouse is responsible for the creature.”
“Yes, but—”
“Then thou knows she must face the consequences of her actions.”
“I will not let you take her away.” Lyra gritted her teeth and Luna could not help but smile inside. She believed every word Lyra said, but she still needed to make a point. 
“And what doth thou plan to do to stop us? Thou must know that to defy us is to defy Equestria itself. Think carefully about thy actions, Lyra Heartstrings.” Luna leaned in close. “Thou walks on the edge of the abyss.”
To Lyra’s credit, she did not back down, though her eyes did falter. “I…I am just as responsible as she is. I helped her run the experiment!” Lyra stammered. “I will take her punishment. As well as my own.”
“Lyra, you can’t—”
“Sweetie Drops, I won’t let her take you away from me,” Lyra said coldly without taking her eyes away from Luna. “The thought of you being in a dungeon is something I can’t stand.”
Sweetie Drops? Luna pondered that, but she decided it was something to explore at a later date. 
“We apologize, Lyra Heartstrings,” Luna said. “While noble, thy suggestion cannot be allowed. Bon Bon must answer for her actions. Bon Bon, step forward.”
Lyra opened her mouth to protest, but fell silent when Bon Bon gently tapped her flank and shook her head. The candy maker stepped forward, her hoofs sticking to the ground with every step, and Luna had to struggle to keep a stern presence. The look on Bon Bon’s face would have probably been heartbreaking if she wasn’t covered in sticky marshmallow. 
“Bon Bon, for thy actions tonight, we, Princess Luna, are prepared to pass judgment,” Luna said. She paused for a moment, waiting for Bon Bon to look up. When she did, Luna finally allowed herself to smile. “For your bravery tonight in the face of overwhelming danger, and for saving my life and incurring a debt from me for that action, I hereby drop the charges against you.”
“Thank you very much, Your Majesty,” Bon Bon stammered. Luna saw a tear form in the pony’s eye. 
“On the condition that you, and Miss Heartstrings, help clean up this mess.” Luna waved her hoof around the area to indicate the white goo. “The royal treasury shall handle the damages to the buildings, but you must clean up all of this. I think that that liquid you made will prove very helpful. Would you agree?”
Bon Bon nodded. “If I can find more of the ingredients. Otherwise, we’ll think of something.”
“Oh, and just between us,” Luna whispered, lowering her head so she could speak into Bon Bon’s ear. “I would keep the fact that you made the creature a secret. I cannot promise what will happen should other ponies find out.” She winked and Bon Bon nodded.
“Uh, hello?” Vinyl said, still stuck on her back and wiggling fiercely. “Still stuck here.”
“Hm, yes, it appears you are,” Luna said as she glanced at the comical sight of the D.J. on her back with her hooves kicking the air. “Well, my friends, I must depart. My sister will want to hear about what transpired hear from my own mouth, not just my royal guard.” With that, Luna put her hoof to her mouth and made a high-pitched whistle that sounded like a small squeak of air, but she knew that the bat ponies could hear the call for miles. A few moments later, Silent Wing and another of her guards, Fade Eyes, descended with her chariot. 
“You chariot is ready, Your Highness,” Silent Wing said. She made sure the wheels did not touch the ground out of fear of them getting stuck. 
“Are you well enough to fly, Silent Wing?” Luna asked, looking at the bandage around her guard.
“I am, Your Highness. Fade Eyes assures me that it is just some bruising, not a broken bone. So long as we don’t face anything too drastic on the trip back, I will be okay.”
Luna looked up at the sky. The storm clouds had drifted apart—or perhaps her guards had cleared them—and she could see her sky again. The Secretariat Comet was slowly fading into the distances, its once bright glow now little more than a shimmer. She could also feel its magic slowly fading from existence.
“I believe we shall be fine. Let us depart.” Luna boarded her chariot and it rose into the air. She looked down at her four friends, all still covered in the marshmallow substance, and waved. “Take care.”
“I’m still stuck here! Will somepony help me already?” Vinyl shouted as Luna was carried away. The Princess of the Night chuckled to herself. 

*                                                            *                                                                 *

Luna collapsed on her bed. She buried her muzzle in her soft plush pillows and let the exhaustion bleed from her body and into her bed. Her soft sheets soaked up her aches and weariness and offered to wrap her in a blanket of warmth. It was all she could do to keep herself awake.
The comet had passed three days ago, but Luna had been running around nonstop for those three days, listening to reports, reassuring citizens that the danger had passed, and overseeing restoration projects—many which were taking place in Canterlot itself because of an attack by giant Cockatrice. 
Of course, Luna had also been keeping a close eye on Manehattan. The damage to the city had not been nearly as bad as she had first feared, and she had been pleased to learn that no ponies had been critically injured. And from what she had heard, a certain cream-colored pony had been extremely helpful in cleaning up the mess that the marshmallow pony had left once it had exploded.
Tonight had been the first night that Luna felt like she could actually relax, and even though she normally stayed awake until Celestia raised the sun, right now all she wanted to do was sleep. Her sister would raise the sun in three hours, and at the moment those three hours meant extra sleep to the Princess of the Night. 
Unfortunately, because she and her sister had been so busy over the past three days, they had not had a chance to talk, and that meant—
“Luna, may I enter?” 
Luna struggled not to groan. It was not that she did not want to speak with her sister, but she knew speaking was not all that was going to happen.
“Come in, big sister,” Luna said through her pillows. She heard the sound of her door opening and she struggled to roll over. Her limbs felt so heavy as she tangled herself in her silk bed cover. Her mane, which she had kept pulled back in a ponytail over the past few days because of the uneven look it had, filled her mouth as she rolled on top of it. She struggled to spit it out, and after the third try she pushed it away with her hoof. 
Celestia giggled. “I like your mane like that,” she said. “It looks cute.”
“You are just saying that because I look like a mess.” Luna looked over herself, and although most of her body was now comfortably wrapped up in her dark blue sheets, she could still sees patches of her coat where her fur had been ripped out or had needed to be shaved because of the sticky marshmallow and sand. So much sand. 
“Perhaps a little,” Celestia said with a kind smile, “but many ponies have been complimenting your new hairstyle. It makes you look more…approachable.”
“Oh.” Luna felt a warm glow come to her cheeks. Perhaps she would wear her hair this way more often when she went out.
“And I am hardly looking my best either,” Celestia said. It was true. She had several faded scuff marks and still wore some bandages from her battle in Canterlot. 
“Tis true, sister,” Luna said with a sly smile. “You look as though we have just finished having one of our pillow fights from when we were little.”
“I never lost this badly.”
“Yes you did.” Luna picked up a pillow with her hoof and chucked it at her sister. She laughed as it smacked her right in the face. “See?”
“Fine,” Celestia said with a happy grin and a roll of her eyes, but then her expression changed to the one Luna knew was coming. It grew serious and hidden, the face of a leader that had practiced the art of not giving anything way.
“So, you and I have not had a chance to talk.”
“No, we have not,” Luna said. “I suppose you want to know about the attack in Manehattan?” Luna had to be careful here. She did not want to reveal to her sister that the creature had been ponymade, and she certainly did not want to reveal that it had been Bon Bon, one of her new friends, who was responsible. 
“You mean the giant marshmallow pony?” Celestia asked and Luna nodded. “And the fact that it was made by a pony? A certain candy making mare from Ponyville?”
Luna’s mouth fell open. “How do you…I mean, I do not know what you are talking about.”
Celestia’s expression changed into the loving, older look that she always wore whenever she spoke as Luna’s older sister. “That is not important, but if you must know, I was able to piece it together. A few words from Silent Wing, some reports from Manehattan, a few requests from the university there. The clues are there, if one knows where to look.”
“Sister, please, she meant no harm. You cannot—” Celestia raised her hoof and Luna fell silent. While they ruled the kingdom together, Celestia was the elder sister, and sometimes that meant that her word overruled Luna’s.
“Why did you not arrest her?” Celestia asked. 
“I…I felt that the punishment of having to clean up the mess was enough,” Luna said, trying to avoid her sister’s eyes. She suddenly found her other pillows very fascinating. 
“That is not how you would normally behave,” Celestia said coolly. “And you know that that punishment is not a…normal punishment for such a transgression. You would have arrested her and brought her to Canterlot. So why did you not?”
“Because…” Luna forced herself to look at her sister. “Because…she and the others are my friends. At least, that is what they said.”
Luna closed her eyes and braced herself for the berating she knew was coming from her sister. To bend the law the way she had simply for a friend was a terrible abuse of power and something that could easily bring shame to her and all of Canterlot. If word ever got out that she had been so lenient on a pony simply because she considered that pony a friend, then—
“Others?” Celestia asked. Luna opened her eyes, expecting to see her sister glaring down at her with stern disappointment. 
Instead, Celestia had a smile on her lips.
“Um…yes,” Luna said, not sure what was happening anymore. “The other ponies I met.”
“I see.” Celestia walked over and sat down next to Luna on her bed. Luna suddenly felt very awkward. They had not sat this close together on a bed since they had been little fillies and Celestia would be trying to wake Luna up for the raising of the moon. 
“And these other ponies, they are your friends as well?”
“I believe so,” Luna said, wishing she was no longer tangled up in her sheets. Celestia was uncomfortably close, and the fact that Luna could not discern what her sister was trying to get at was making the moment even more uncomfortable.  “D.J. Pon—I mean, Vinyl Scratch seemed to really like me at least.”
Celestia smiled even more. “So you were able to meet the famous D.J. then? I’m glad to hear that. You always spoke of her with such happiness because she loves your night so dearly.”
Luna blushed and only nodded. She recalled how she had first reacted with Vinyl had revealed her alternate name. I was such a silly fanfilly. 
“And who are the other ponies that you met?”
“Well, I met Bon Bon’s wife, Lyra. She is…very protective of Bon Bon. Fiercely loyal to her, to the point where I would be hesitant to come between them, even being a princess. She has a good heart though and I can understand what Bon Bon sees in her. The other pony is—” Luna stopped, suddenly unsure if she should reveal the forth pony she had met that evening. 
But if Celestia was already aware of the secrets that surrounded the marshmallow pony’s existence, then she was certainly aware of other things as well.
“I met Octavia Melody,” she said.
For a moment, her sister was silent. Luna feared she had made a mistake in revealing the name of the cellist. But Celestia already knows of her! She listens to her music all the time. She invited her to come to the Grand Galloping Gala! 
Oh, but what if she fears the effect Octavia may have on me? What if she does not wish me to associate with her because of what may—
“And what do you have to say about her?” Celestia asked, still smiling. “Personally, I enjoy her music very much, though she seems a bit…tense.”
Luna sighed silently with relief. “She is a fine pony indeed. Very upstanding and polite, though I do see how you may see her as tense. Still, Vinyl brings out another side in her, and while she probably will never admit it, she would not be herself without that D.J.” Luna remembered Octavai’s heartbreaking screech when she had thought Vinyl dead. “I…I suggested that she come play at our castle one time. Just for us. No grand events or anything.”
“Excellent,” Celestia said. “After all that has passed over these few days, I would very much enjoy some relaxing music.  I’m very proud of you, by the way.”
“For wh—” But before Luna could finish her question, her sister had enveloped her in a deep hug. Luna stayed perfectly still for a moment, her mind struggling to understand what was happening, and then her sister’s flowing mane started to tickle her nose. She sneezed gently, Celestia giggled, and Luna hugged her back. 
“You made friends,” Celestia said as she pulled out of the hug and got off of Luna’s bed. “Ever since you returned to me, you have kept yourself locked away from our subjects, out of fear of how they would react to you. I had no doubt that Twilight and her friends would accept you, but I wanted you to go make your own friends, in your own way.”
Luna felt flustered. Her sister was treating her like a filly. “Well, I do not understand why it was so important to you that I make friends. I thought protecting our subjects was more important.” She had not meant to sound so harsh when she spoke, and she immediately wished she could take the words back.
“Protecting our people is important, but friendship is important too. If you do not value the ponies you are sent to protect, if you do think of them as nothing but subjects who are beneath you, you will find yourself alone, and you recall what happened last time. I do not want to lose my dear sister again.”
“I…I know,” Luna said. “I did not mean it that way.”
Celestia smiled that smile that reminded Luna so much of their mother. “I know, and I no longer fear losing you again to the Nightmare Forces. After all, I doubt you would bend the rules so fiercely for just any pony. Only a friend would warrant such special treatment.” 
Celestia winked and Luna threw another of her pillows at her sister. Celestia was never going to let her live that down, was she? “Please leave us alone,” Luna said in a mock up of her Canterlot voice. “We are very tired and wish to sleep.”
Celestia bowed deeply and waved her hoof in front of her. “Of course, Princess of the Night. I shall take my leave now. I fear I must go raise the sun soon anyway.”
Celestia left Luna’s bedroom and the Princess of the Night floated her two pillows off the floor and back onto her bed. She closed her eyes and began to drift off into blissful sleep. 
Before she faded completely, her thoughts shifted to the four ponies she had met a few days ago. She should probably invite them all to come to Canterlot sometime, not just Octavia. They would all be her special guests at the castle.
They were her friends after all.