//------------------------------// // Princess of the Night // Story: Revenge // by HeroeDeLaVida //------------------------------// Now let’s review. According to Twilight’s (rather extensive) lecture I had gathered that there were only 3 alicorns. Celestia, who controls the sun, Luna, who controls the moon, and someone (somepony?) named Cadance. Now, call me crazy, but I don’t think the goddess of the sun is going to have a depiction of the moon on her flank, so I may be going out on a limb here to say I just stumbled across Princess Luna. I stood quietly trying to decide what to do, while the lunar princess doodled in the sand with her horn. Option one, I could walk away. I doubt she would even notice. Option two, I could talk to her. I’ve dealt with royalty before. Of course, at the time there were a lot more bullets flying through the air and a lot less time to think. Option three, I could climb inside a hay bale while wearing fake glasses… *Crack* Stupid pony world, stop interrupting my narratives! Crouching low, it didn’t take long for me to locate the source of the sound. On the far side of the river, dipping it’s muzzle in the river to drink was a…. something. It looked like a very large lion, with leathery wings that looked to small to actually carry it far, and a scorpion tale. Luna offered a very un-princess like squeak as she was pulled from her subconscious doodling, before quickly clamping a hoof over her mouth as she stood and slowly started backing up. Too late. The thingy noticed her on the far bank and, unluckily for Luna, it looked hungry. And unluckily for me, Luna was backing up strait towards me. She had lowered her head, and her horn had began to glow an ominous. The lion-bat-scorpion was hardly deterred as it ran strait towards her. Now I was never good at math, but one pony, alicorn goddess of the moon or not, plus one lion-bat-scorpion with sharp claws and teeth and is about three times her size, probably won’t end well. Unless your rooting for the lion-bat-scorpion. Then it will. But frankly I wasn’t, so option 21 it is… I drew my worn combat knife and started sprinting. Now if I’m fast enough I should be able to get to the lion-bat-scorpion before it get’s to Luna. Oh, Luna. Right. She’s in my way. Thank you senior high track and field and whatever mystical force made it that Luna is only a little taller than a hurtle when she was crouched down. Leaping with all the might in my legs, I was able to land right in front of her, and took two more steps before colliding with the beast. The lion-bat-scorpion was surprised to be suddenly under attack from a strange creature, and I worked that surprise to my advantage. I slipped in close so it couldn’t hit me with it’s tail, and kneed it hard under the jaw. That managed to make it flinch, but its forward momentum still managed to bowl me over. At that point, my memory became a compilation of punches, kicks, stabs, and the occasional bouts of pain washed away by the flow of adrenaline through my veins. From the brief glimpses I got of the moon goddess, she at first was shocked, but soon recovered as her horn started to glow again. Right. Scorpion-bat-lion demands full attention. Wow this thing was big. Why is it that in a world of ponies, magical, friendly, talking ponies that recoil at the thought of death by anything other than natural causes, are there so many things that are just out to kill me. Probably compensation for my less than peaceful past. Maybe I could- Get slammed against the ground so hard it knocked the wind out of me. The beast stood over me, blood dripping from multiple knife cuts along it’s body, and from its snout where I had hit it with my knee. It raised a heavy paw, and I was almost sure I saw it smirk as it got ready to kill me. “Sorry kitty, dying ain’t on the to do list.” I grumbled as I kicked both legs into it’s chest, causing it to rear up enough for me to roll out from underneath it. Standing quickly, I spun to face it, just in time for me to see it’s tail arcing towards me. I flinched, and the tip of it’s tail stabbed into my left forearm. Without missing a beat, I brought my knife down on it’s tail, cleaving the tip clean off. With a mighty roar and a slight whimper, it retracted it’s tail, which was now dripping with crimson blood and an odd green ooze. Surprisingly enough, my arm didn’t hurt at all. In fact, I could barley feel it. Wait. Shit. My left arm was completely numb, and the numbness was quickly spreading across my body. This isn’t good. I tried to step back, but I stumbled and fell on the sandy river’s edge. This time when it posed to strike, there would be no resistance, and I would die. Maybe I had given the lunar princess enough time to run. Maybe by saving this one peace-loving pony, I had compensated for all those who I had killed. Yea, and maybe I’ll wake up as a pony. Now my narratives are getting all cliché. I closed my eyes and waited for the claws to rip into me. At least it wouldn’t hurt. Stupid cheating poison. But instead of claws, I felt energy flash behind my closed eyelids, and when I opened them, I saw a bolt of magic strike the lion-bat-scorpion in the chest, sending it flipping end-over-end and landing in the river with a loud sploosh. It crawled out onto the other end of the river, obviously having enough of fight. With one last whimper it limped off into the forest to lick it’s wounds. Finding I still had mild control over my right arm, I started dragging myself back to the bush cover, when I was stopped by a now slightly darker purple-blue face popping into my vision. Strangely enough, her mane had also change, as instead of light blue, it resembled a night sky, complete with dozens of stars that gleamed with there own light. Sure, why not. This world doesn’t need to make sense. “Thou art- err, I mean, you are a very odd creature. I wonder if you are responsible for what I felt.” Luna said, obviously talking more to herself than to me. So obviously I had to interject something to prove I was sentient. Maybe not an extremely intelligent sentient, but sentient. “Well your not exactly a run-of-the mill creature yourself.” If there was one thing I hated, it was being talked down too. At the sound of my voice, she gave yet another un-princess like squeak and jumped back out of my vision. Obviously, she didn’t expect me to talk. “Oh my, I didn’t expect you could talk.” Called it! One point for Sol! “May I ask what your name is?” She said as she once again poked her head into my line of sight. “Yea, my names Sol Knight.” Cliché, I know, but my mother liked the name Sol. “Oh, well I am Princess Luna, Goddess of the moon.” She said, though she didn’t seem to take much pride in her title. “Yea, Twilight told me about you and your sister.” I said. Truthfully, I wasn’t in a talking mood. And I was getting dizzy. Why was that? Oh, yea. Losing blood. I should fix that. Oh yea. Can’t move most of my body. “Oh, so you have met with Twilight Sparkle. She is… nice. She has her heart in the right place at least.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, nor was I in a caring mood. As I began to find a way to wrap the wound, Luna began saying something about a Nightmare Night. Something about ponies thinking she was going to eat them. Until she took notice of the fact I was bleeding from my side and my arm. “Oh dear, that’s a lot of blood. Are you hurt?” I gave her my best deadpan look. “Right, of course you are.” She leaned over me to get a better look at my side. “May I?” I nodded and her horn started to glow. “I’m almost sure this should heal your skin. Or at least, it would heal a ponies skin.” Right, how different can I be from a magical talking pony. Her horn began to glow brighter, and I felt the flesh of my side began to itch and crawl. Then the glowing stopped and I was able to lift my head enough so that I could see my previously wounded side, now all in one piece. If only we had that healing technology back on Earth. Luna looked to me again, the concern on her face was plain as day. “I’m fine. In fact, I’m much better, thank you. Could you do that to my arm please?” I said, trying my best to be formal. After all, I was in the presence of royalty. She nodded, and repeated the process with my arm. I still could barely move, but at least I wasn’t about to bleed out. “Can you move?” she asked. I tried, and only got a twitch in response from anything other than my head and right arm. “No, ‘fraid not. That lion-bat-scorpion things poison sure is and inconvenience.” From this I got a chuckle, so I figured I was making progress towards having at least one person in this world not wanting to lock me up. “Manticore.” “What?” “That lion-bat-scorpion, as you described it, is a manticore. It’s poison is usually enough to render a pony unconscious for a number of hours. I’m surprised you are still able to move at all.” “I have a bit more body mass than your average pony.” I mumbled as I looked into the sky. It was nearing twilight, I’d have to say at least a half an hour left before sundown. Ya, know, if this was a normal place and not crazy pony world. “You know, you didn’t have to do that.” Luna was also looking towards the setting sun. She sounded distant, as if she was far away. “Do what? Get eaten by a demonic lion?” Obviously, this pony princess didn’t understand how I worked. “Manticore. And yes.” I thought about this for a full 2 seconds before answering. “Because you were in danger.” Really, it was a simple process. I see someone (Somepony?) in danger, I help. It’s one of the things I do that help me live with myself. “But I was Nightmare Moon. I tried to bring about eternal darkness. Surely Twilight Sparkle told you about that.” “Yea, I didn’t miss that part of her lecture. I don’t quite see how that changes anything.” I said. Maybe this pony was very confused. She just gave of the vibe that she had been alone in the dark for far to long. “So you wanted to help me, even though it was none of your problem, and you knew I had been an evil megalomaniac who tried to shower the world in darkness?” “Yep, pretty much.” I replied. Really I don’t know where she was going with this, or how it was hard to understand. “You didn’t run, like all the ponies do when I’m around. Or even now after the danger has past.” I once again deadpanned and to punctuate my point, twitched my legs. “Oh right.” she said, giving a sheepish smile. “But I still wouldn’t of run.” She seemed truly shocked at this statement. “Why not?” “Because, you were an evil megalomaniac who tried to shower the world in darkness. Now, as far as I can tell, you are just a normal pony, who is having trouble adjusting back to life around others, especially since there are those who still believe you are evil. As for me, I don’t.” I stated matter-of-factly. “How can you be so sure?” she asked, and I was sure I saw a gleam of hope in her eyes. “Because I think you’re a lot like me.” She was obviously taken back by this. “What do you mean?” I sighed. This is not something I enjoyed talking about. “Because we’ve both done something in the past we regret, and now there are those who still won’t forgive it.” Now her look turned to disbelief. “What could you of possibly done that can equate to what I did?” I gave her a sad smile. “No, it doesn’t equate to what you’ve done. It’s worse.” And cue completely shocked face from the princess. And cue disbelief. “What could you have done that is worse?” “I don’t like to talk about it. That’s a story for another time.” In other words, I’d prefer it if I never spoke of it again. “Besides, isn’t there something you must be doing about right now?” I said, giving a meaningful nod towards the sunset. “Oh, yes. I apologize but I must take my leave.” the lunar goddess said as she began to walk to the river, spreading out her dark blue wings. Then as an after thought, she turned, and I could see hope twinkling in her eyes. “Sol, I was wondering. Could,” She took a deep breath. “Could we be friends?” I looked at her for what felt like forever. Friends. I hadn’t had friends in what felt like years. “Friends…” I mumbled under my breath. “If you don’t want to, it’s ok…” she began to turn away and, I could practically see the little bit of hope she had gather begin to shatter. “Yea. Yea, we can be friends.” She turned around almost instantly, a huge smile adorned her muzzle. “You mean it? Oh thank you!” and before could protest she had picked me up in her magic and wrapped her forelegs around me in what I could assume was a hug. She then released me, forgetting that I can’t stand up. I quickly crumpled to the sandy beach. She gave me another sheepish smile. “Sorry.” I waved her off and she turned and took to the air, a noticeable spring in her step. Figures, the first friend I make in what? Three years? Is a talking pony. I’m definitely crazy. Forget what I said about wanting to just fall asleep in this world. I think I prefer to be knocked out. At least that way I’m not tormented by dreams. I was in a populated city next to a Chinese military base. I was walking home from work, and it was late at night. All around me, people chattered in Chinese as I walked past. The sun had set only an hour ago, and the streets were lit up with paper lanterns. It was Chinese new year, and I was eager to get home to celebrate it with my family. Suddenly I heard screaming and explosions, followed by alarms sounding. I began to run. Street after street went by as I raced home. The sound of gunfire and explosions grew closer and closer. I turned a corner and saw my house. I run to it as the street around my was filled with machinegun fire. Dozens of others were scrambling around the street, and many of them were dropped by the hot lead that screamed through the air. I dove into my house, and found my family huddled in a corner, my wife holding our two children close to her as they cried. I held the three of them as we waited for the fighting to go away. Bullets flew through the house over our heads. Then out in the center of the street, stood a lone figure, clad in metal power armor, holding a mini-gun. I turned the weapon to face me, and I stood in front of my family. The barrels of the weapon began to spin, and the air was soon filled with burning death. My eyes shot open. No. I wasn’t there. I was here. In talking pony world. Filled with sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, this whole world felt like it was mocking me. I felt something tickling my nose, and I blew at it to reveal it was a light blue strand of hair. Looking around, I noticed I was still on the beach next to the river where I had fallen asleep. I also notice that Luna was lying on the beach next to me, one wing draped over me. I shifted slowly, trying not to wake her, but her eyes opened none the less. “Oh, your awake now. You are a very restless sleeper.” she said, with a hint of sadness. I shook my head. “It keeps me from forgetting.” I said, then tried my best to change the topic. “What about you? Don’t you sleep?” She shook her head. “No, for alicorns, sleeping is optional, and is only something we do out of comfort. But I choose not to sleep, so I’m not haunted by my dreams.” I wish I had that option. I sat up, my whole body stiff. “Well, I don’t have that option.” Wait a second. I sat up. “Hey it appears that poison wore off.” I exclaimed as I quickly jumped to my feet. Or try to at least. I actually only succeeded in collapsing on weak legs, drawing a badly stifled laugh from Luna. “Ok, I might need some help.” Half an hour later, we were walking down a path through the forest, me using one of Luna’s wings as a support. She was actually a bit smaller now. “Hey Luna, why do you look different?” I asked, doing my best to make small talk with my new friend. She gave me a confused look, then looked at her now blue hair. “Oh, it’s because I currently don’t have the power of the moon channeling through me. I can still feel it, but it’s not showing.” “What?” “It’s sorta like I took a tarp and through it over it, so that it isn’t so strong, but at anytime I could take that tarp off it and be back to like I was last night.” She said. I nodded my head, still not completely sure I understood. “Ok, then why-” “Sol? Is that you?” I looked up. We just had walked around a bend in the path and down the about 50 meters was a lavender unicorn with twigs and leaves in her mane and dark bags under her eyes. Immediately after seeing me she started running and tackle hugged me. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know all that about you and being afraid of captivity. I didn’t mean to drive you to jump. And then when Rainbow Dash accidentally blew you into the forest with a Sonic Rainboom and we couldn’t find you. I was so worried. I though something horrible had happened. I’ve been out looking for you all night? Where have you been!” Wait wait wait. Too many words. She was beginning to sound more like Pinkie Pie than herself. “I’m fine. Just some minor poisoning.” “Poison! From what? Are you ok? Are you-” She was cut off by the sound of another pony clearing her throat. It was then that Twilight noticed Luna standing at the side of the path. “Oh princess Luna! I’m so sorry. Why are you here?” “It’s quite alright Twilight Sparkle. I was here looking for the source of some magical radiation when I came upon your friend here.” Friend. There’s that word again. “Oh, ok. Well would you like to come back to the library so we can talk?” Luna suddenly got really nervous. “Uh a maybe another time… I was really just helping Sol get back to Ponyville.” Twilights ears drooped a little. “Ok. Well will you at least accompany us out of the Everfree Forest?” “Yes, I would be delighted.” With that, Luna once again helped me to my feet and we were walking down the path again. This time it was me who broke the silence. “Hey Twilight, is there a house near this forest for rent or sale?” I asked, plans forming in my head. Twilight thought for a moment, then said “I think there’s an old cottage for sale near the edge of the forest. It’s kind of in bad condition, but it should be pretty cheap. Why do you ask.” “Because I think I might be here a while, and if I am going to, then I need a place to live. Since nopony seems to want to go near this forest, it would be a good place where I won’t be disturbed.” “Your staying? Oh good, because I got these ideas for some tests I’d like to run on you since humans aren’t magic. Maybe you could…” What had I just gotten myself into? *AN: I would like to thank anyone who has taken the time to read all this. I appreciate any comments or criticism. Anything that would make this more enjoyable for the reader. Thank you.