Chapter 2 - The Mysterious Letters
Luna stretched as the morning sun shone through the glass of the balcony doors. She yawned, then fanned her wings.
"'Tis time to rise, sister"
Celestia groaned from beneath the covers.
Luna hopped off of the bed and arched her back, then went to the window- checking to make sure the statue was in its proper place. To her relief, it was.
Luna trotted to the table, noticing the quill out of place, she used her magic to set it back in the inkpot. As her eyes scanned the table, she noticed a piece of parchment, she picked it up to read it.
Dear little horse
Dear blue horse
Dear little blue pegacorn,
I am very sorry for scaring you- could you please forgive me?
-Signed, X
Luna read the note three more times, and found herself growing more confused each time.
'This is not Tia's hoofwriting, or mother's- then who's is it? Surely 'tis not...no! Ridiculous!'
She tore the message in half, and threw it into the waste-basket.
X X X X X X X
"Luna, please, pay attention"
"Hmmm? Oh, yes, sorry mother..."
"You seem a bit distracted, is something troubling you, dear?"
"Just...that strange statue..."
"Yes, what about it?"
"...do statues come to life, mother?"
"No, they don't Lulu, they are figures of stone"
Luna's ears slapped against her head
"Oh..."
A large wing draped over Luna
"If it will cheer thee up, I shall move the statue to the gardens"
Luna repositioned herself beneath the wing, and laid against her side
"That's okay...I'll be brave"
"If you are sure. Now, as I was saying-"
X X X X X X X
Luna tossed and turned in the bed, trying in vain to drift off to dreamland
'This is not working' she thought, tossing off the sheets
She quietly hopped off of the bed, careful not to disturb her sister- the statue's movements and the appearance of the mysterious letter had been troubling her
'Mayhaps the note was from a shy pony? Surely that makes more sense- the statue may be charmed...surely that is the explanation!' she thought, staring into the wastebasket containing the remains of the message.
But just to be sure...
She grasped the quill in her magic, dipped it into the ink, and quickly scribbled out a message- she then turned, and found the statue facing her from the confines of the balcony. She felt a wave of fear wash over her as she never broke eye contact with it
'It is- it is just a charm, nothing more, nothing less' she thought, steeling herself
She blinked- and the winged-statue disappeared
"I really must get more sleep...I'm seeing things..." she muttered to herself
X X X X X X X
I blew some stray hair out of my face as I heard Blue crawl back into the bed
'At least she didn't flip out this time...' I thought, peering around the corner.
She was laying in the bed, facing the opposite wall.
I walked to the railing like I had the night before, and stared up at the moon; partially covered by a blanket of clouds
'Well...no other humans yet...just talking horses...'
There's got to be at least a few humans around
I sighed and attempted moving my wings, the first few tries were failures- only because of the muscles in my back twitching every so often with the movement. I stretched both of them as far as I could, a rush of air caught my wings, and I felt my feet leave the ground, I
panicked as I tried to get down again. I felt my bare feet touch the cold, stone floor of the balcony and sighed in relief
'Maybe I can watch Blue and White when they fly...they've got wings'
Filing that away for later, I heard a crash of thunder overhead
'Why are they hopping on the clouds?' I thought, seeing the winged-horses bouncing on the
clouds
My question was soon answered as bolts of lightning blasted out from the undersides of the
clouds, cutting through the dark sky
'Note to self; don't tick them off'
I folded my wings as more rain began to fall
X X X X X X X
Luna's eyes popped open as the rumble of thunder and lightning continued outside. She ducked under the covers as a bolt of lightning lit up the room, revealing a fearsome shadow on the wall- its large wings spread wide
She squeaked as the shadow disappeared, she looked over her shoulder to the window, and saw
nothing
'This is madness- I am losing sleep over a stupid statue!' she thought, getting out of the
bed
She trotted to the window, and pushed the doors open- the smell of wet concrete filled her nose as raindrops fell from the clouds overhead, the cool night air mixed with the rain bit through her coat.
She found the statue itself in a sitting position, its back to the wall.
"Why dost thou haunt me? Be you spirit or mortal? How dost thee move when thee is nothing but stone? What sinful act hath I performed to deserve thy torment?!"
Luna stood only inches from the statue- half expecting a response from it.
"What is thy qualm with me?! Ist thou a messenger from the heavens? Or mayhaps escaped from
the pits of Tatarus?"
X X X X X X X
I sat against the wall of the castle, the rain somewhat soothing as most of the thunder and lightning died down.
I tried to lift my arm to scratch my nose- and couldn't, I took that to mean someone was watching me.
'What's she doing out here?' I thought, finding myself staring into Blue's large eyes.
"Why dost thou haunt me? Be you spirit or mortal? How dost thee move, when thee is nothing but stone? What sinful act hath I performed to deserve thy torment?!"
'What in the world is she talking about? I'm not made of...what is....they think I'm...a statue...but...that- that doesn't make any sense! How did- how does that even work? I can move just fine... I know I scared her pretty bad- but this- this is something else entirely ...no wonder she's so terrified of me...'
She took a few hesitant steps towards me.
"What is thy qualm with me?! Ist thou a messenger from the heavens? Or mayhaps escaped from the pits of Tatarus?"
'Oh, the poor thing...I've only made things worse...'
I felt tears start to well up, but I couldn't feel them on my face- you know? Like- it was happening- but at the same time; it wasn't...I don't know...
Now, due to the darkness, I was only able to move after the lightning flashed- and if she was going to continue to be afraid of me...there was something I needed to do first...
X X X X X X X
Luna sat in wide-eyed terror, the thunder and lightning only succeeding in adding to her fear. Every few minutes, the statue's arms would inch closer and closer to her- stopping whenever the lightning lit up the area.
The only thought bashing itself against the inside of her head was 'It'sgoingtoeatmeIt'sgoing toeatmeIt'sgoingtoeatme'.
She was frozen in terror as she felt the cold, wet, concrete arms of the statue wrap around her stomach- the entire process took several minutes, the arms starting and stopping at seemingly random intervals. Her fear wavered as she was picked up; seeing tears falling from somber eyes, and rolling down the smooth face of the statue. Luna shook as she found herself staring over the statue's shoulder, and into her own room.
"Thou- thou- is hugging me? Wh- wh- why?"
Her terror spiked again as she heard a soft, melodious voice answer
"To show- I'm sorry for scaring you"
"Why- why- didst thee not talk before?" she asked, still looking over the shoulder
"I can't talk or move if someone is watching me..."
"Dost thou know why?"
"No...I don't...now before I set you down- is there anything you'd like to ask?"
"...hast thee arrived to cause harm?"
"No- I haven't- I apologize again for scaring you..."
"Thee meant no harm..."
"Alright...I'm going to set you down now...and don't open your eyes until I say so" Luna nodded, and closed her eyes
She felt her hooves disconnect from the statue's shoulder, and felt each of her hooves touch down on the floor- she waited a few minutes before she finally heard the voice again
"Alright- you can open your eyes again"
She did, and found the statue in the exact same position she had on that first day.
"I am still not prepared to trust thee- but I thank thee for thy efforts"
The doors to the balcony opened, and her mother and Celestia trotted out.
"Luna?! What are you doing out here? You're going to catch a cold from this rain! Get insidethis instant!" her mother shouted, wrapping her in blankets with her magic Luna and Celestia were led into the room, out of the rain.
"We are going to have a long talk about this in the morning, young filly" her mother said sternly
"Yes mother..." Luna sighed, taking one last look at the statue.