Chapter 8: Moonstruck (Part 1)
Twilight immersed herself in an ocean of books and parchments. The Alicorn princess used her magic to levitate swarms of texts in front of her eyes; quickly reading one and then moving onto the next. She was so focused on her studies that she didn’t even hear the knocking on her front door. The knocking persisted when Twilight failed to answer, eventually the pony discovered the door was unlocked and slowly pushed it open.
“Um hello, Princess Twilight, any pony home?” The unicorn looked around the immediate area for any sign of the princess. “Is this a bad time?”
Moonstruck stepped into library anxiously; it felt so strange to be inside the place he was staring into just a few nights ago. He felt like a sinner walking onto holy ground, just waiting for his body to burst into flames as punishment. Even though Moonstruck knew he was innocent of the crimes Celestia imprisoned him for; that didn’t excuse all the sneaking and spying he did on Twilight and her friends.
“Princess, I know you’re very busy and I’m sure you get lots of ponies coming in here; asking for help with their problems and royal…stuff and…oh man.” Moonstruck slapped his face, “This is NOT going how I planned at all. Look, I know this is a lot to ask out of the blue but, I was hoping you could use your incredible magical powers and knowledge to help me with this…little problem I have.”
Twilight didn’t seem to hear a single word Moonstruck said, her face was still buried in floating books and scrolls. The unicorn groaned and stared at Twilight’s back.
“You’re kidding me…she can’t be THAT much of a book freak that she can’t even hear when a total stranger walks into her house and starts yakking her ear off.”
Twilight tapped a quill to her chin and then resumed flipping through the pages of another book.
“Sweet Celestia does she ever stop?!? How does she not hear me talking?”
Moonstruck started jumping around; waving his hooves frantically. He even made faces behind Twilight’s back and blew raspberries at her, still nothing.
“I swear, Nightmare Moon could vaporize the library’s roof and she still wouldn’t come out of that ‘studying trance’ of hers. And to think that THIS is the pony that’s going to save my flank.” He hung his head and groaned loudly, “I am so screwed.”
Moonstruck looked to his left and saw a table full of quills lying in a perfect row; organized around a series of different colored ink bottles, also lined up in a perfect row. Nothing was out of place or off center, not even by an inch. Moonstruck looked at a jar of green ink and turned it slightly towards him.
“AH!”
Twilight gasped suddenly, she felt a disturbance in her perfectionist force when Moonstruck moved the jar. The dark unicorn couldn’t believe that was what shook Twilight out of her study trance. He was completely dumb founded; words couldn’t begin to explain how rattled and confused he was over Twilight’s neurosis.
“I…don’t…believe…it.”
Neither can I; you actually found a pony that is CRAZIER than you. Seriously, what are the odds? The princess of freaking friendship has more screws loose than the guy who talks to his own brain. You hit the wacko jackpot my friend!
Moonstruck rolled his eyes at his brain’s obnoxious remarks; finding little comfort in finding a pony whose sanity was more warped than his own. Twilight dropped all of her books and scrolls and turned towards her uninvited guest.
“Spike, how many times have I told you not to” Twilight’s voice trailed off once she saw Moonstruck’s face. Her cheeks went from fire brick red to a rosy pink blush; the heat of embarrassment among other feelings rushing to her face. “Y-y-y-y-y-y-you’re not Spike.”
The unicorn could barely respond himself. He was frozen by those violet eyes, that dark colored mane, and that adorably confused face; Twilight was far more radiant than Moonstruck had ever imagined. He’d watched over Twilight many times from within the shadows, but he never thought seeing her up close would have that much of an impact on him. She looked at him with eyes so vibrant and curious; like she had a warmth and kindness inside her eyes that made him feel like he could trust her with his deepest, darkest secrets.
“Wow you are WAY prettier up close.”
Moonstruck instantly blushed upon realizing his own awkward words, Twilight cheeks matched his with her own cherry red blushes. The princess has had many mares come to her home, some colts too, but NEVER has she met a pony who said anything quite like that to her. Twilight’s eyebrow rose curiously at Moonstruck’s words.
“Wait, what do you mean up close?”
“GAH I mean uh the thing is you see uh…it’s like this.”
You are so dead if she finds out you’ve been plot peeping on her at night. What are you gonna do now stalker boy?
“W-w-w-what I mean about the um whole ‘up close thing’ is that I uh…I’ve seen you before, YEAH like lots of times. But at like coronations and stuff, yeah! I’ve seen you around Ponyville and with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at the whole sun…thing…that party summer thing. I mean I am sure LOTS of ponies have seen you; obviously, I mean you are a princess and you got like fans and probably worshippers since your royalty and wait…would that make them subjects or maybe…servants? No, no! You don’t have slaves ER I mean servants, what I mean to say is I’ve see you at ceremonies and royal stuff and I’ve always seen you from afar so to see you up close is like nice and stuff.”
An awkward silence crept into the room; Moonstruck looked to Twilight with a nervous smile. Neither pony knew what to say or do at this point.
Moonstruck rubbed the back of his head, “I’m really sorry about all that, I’m kind of rusty when it comes to this whole socialization thing.” The unicorn bowed and closed his eyes, “You’re majesty.
Twilight waved her hoofs and quickly pulled Moonstruck up from his bow.
“No, no, no please! Don’t bow or worry about calling me majesty or your highness or anything like that. I don’t like being treated differently than any other pony, okay?”
Moonstruck blinked and nodded; slightly shocked at how typical princess protocols seemed to bother her so much. Twilight moved to adjust the ink bottle very carefully back into place. Moonstruck backed away to allow Twilight room to “fix” the bottle; unknowingly closing an open book with a bump from his green tail mane. Twilight’s eyes bulged in horror, she gasped and bolted towards the book; grabbing it and flipping it open.
“Oh no, oh no; nononononononononono NO!”
“Sorry, I was just trying to give you space.”
The panicking princess flipped open the book to the page it was left on and closed it shut again. She proceeded to open and close the book several times; growing more terrified each time she looked at the page.
“This is all wrong, ALL WRONG! The page has a crease in it; all 368 pages of this book are perfectly flat and crisp but now this one has a…has a…CREASE IN IT!”
Moonstruck didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Don’t you get it?” Twilight shoved the book into his face and pointed at the page crease, “This changes everything! A proper book should be perfectly flat and smooth so any pony can gradually apply their hoof to the edges and allow the paper to rise and fall perfectly, like a flip book but without a matching picture. But now this has a crease and it’s going to TOTALLY throw off the rhythm of the hoof application to the pages. I’ll never be able to feel out the right page I want; it’ll feel lopsided and off, the balance of the book’s equilibrium will be thrown off course and no matter how hard I try to flatten it; it’ll never be the same again…NEVER!”
“Wow…I mean just…wow…you are crackers. I’m sure there are a million other words that perfectly explain how your mind works but for right now, I’m sticking with crackers. Yup, the princess of friendship is 100% crackers.”
Twilight put the book off to the side and focused her now enraged gaze on this smart mouthed unicorn. Moonstruck backed up nervously; he could actually feel the annoyance coming off Twilight’s aura. The unicorn winced seeing such beautiful purple eyes glaring at him like daggers.
“Excuse me?” Twilight got right up in Moonstruck’s face, looking him in the eye. “Who do you think you are coming into some pony’s home and calling them crackers? You think you can just gallop right in, mess up my books and ink bottles and insult me like that?”
“Umm well yes ER I mean no! I mean I didn’t mean to, it just sort of came out that way.”
The Alicorn scowled bitterly; backing up slightly.
“Look I’m not really good at this whole ‘talking to other ponies’ thing, it’s been a while.”
“Well for starters, the POLITE thing to do in these kind of situations is to apologize when you’re being rude to a mare, especially one whose house you just came into without asking.”
“Uh I actually knocked…several times, and I called your name but you didn’t answer.”
“Well obviously I’m a little busy, as you can see.” Twilight motioned to the numerous books surrounding her. “So why don’t you take your creepy moon cutie mark, your wild green hair, your…cute little freckles and those….those…absolutely beautiful silver eyes and…and uh.”
Twilight found it difficult to form words when looking at Moonstruck’s face; it was as if his face was causing her brain to become foggy and blurry. She felt her heart skip a beat and her cheeks blushing more and more with each passing moment.
What is going on with me, what is this strange pounding feeling in my chest? I feel like my face and chest is growing warmer but the temperature is perfectly comfortable inside the library.
The princess shook her head and hid her blushing cheeks from the equally red faced unicorn before her. She leaned in again and eyed Moonstruck like a bug in a jar, he avoided eye contact with Twilight as it was making him uncomfortable.
“Um can I help you with something, Princess?”
“Funny, that’s what I was going to ask you Mr.?”
Moonstruck froze for a moment; he completely forgot to come up with a fake name before coming here. He can’t risk using his real name in case Twilight heard about him from Princess Celestia.
“Oh uh right yeah my name, duh. You can call me ummm….L-l-l-l-lunar, Lunar Lando?”
“Are you asking me if that’s your name or telling me?”
“Telling, yeah definitely telling.”
Twilight could tell this guy was definitely weird but aside from a lack of manners, he seemed harmless enough. The unicorn quietly groaned at his own incompetence, he couldn’t believe he came up with such a stupid name like that. The princess ignored his groans and properly invited the colt into her home, magically closing the door behind him.
“So Lando, I think we both got off on the wrong hoof and seeing as how you came here for my help with something, I’d like to start off fresh with no hard feelings; deal?”
Moonstruck smiled and nodded; shaking Twilight’s hoof.
“Deal, I’m really sorry about moving your stuff around and making cracks about your sanity. That’s no way to treat some pony who you’re asking for help.”
“Water over the bridge my friend, and I’m sorry too; I shouldn’t have criticized your cutie mark.”
“Oh don’t worry about it your maj-”
“Twilight please,” she sweetly insisted.
Moonstruck smiled just as sweetly “Twilight it is then, but yeah I’m used to getting weird looks about my cutie mark. I don’t know how to act around other ponies and in turn, they don’t know how to act around me.”
“I used to be just like that before I moved to Ponyville.” Twilight moved past the unicorn’s face and examined his screaming moon cutie mark up close, smiling curiously. “And to tell you the truth, I actually find your cutie mark extremely fascinating!”
Moonstruck did a double take, “Y-y-y-you do?”
“Yes! I’ve never seen one like it, it’s kind of spooky looking but it also has a unique shape and design. Most meanings behind pony’s cutie marks are self-explanatory, but this one isn’t as obvious as to what your special talent is. It’s kind of like a mystery waiting to be solved.”
The colt pondered the princess’s words, he never thought of his cutie mark like that before. Usually ponies saw it as an early indicator of the darkness that lies inside his magical abilities. Even before he was wrongfully incarcerated, he always believed his “talent” was not something to be proud having. Moonstruck looked to see if Twilight had finished examining his cutie mark, he blushed bright red when his eyes inexplicably landed on Twilight’s purple rump. He already knew his brain was going to have a filthy field day with this.
Holy crap, she is checking out your ass. Holy crap, YOUR checking out HER ass; STOP STARING YOU PERV!
Moonstruck shook his head and broke off his stare, nudging Twilight to do the same. The princess pulled back and laughed nervously. She can’t believe she just walked up and stared at a colt’s flank like that, her cheeks reddened immensely. Twilight focused on Moonstruck’s eyes to avoid leering at his rump again.
There’s that warm feeling again. Is it really because of this pony, this weird guy with such gorgeous silver eyes? GAH! Why did I think gorgeous? I don’t think of gorgeous!
“So then Lando” Twilight said softly, casually rubbing the back of her mane. “What is it you needed my help with? A spell, history lesson, research paper?” She giggled and rolled her eyes, “Oh sweet Celestia I LOVE doing those.”
“Of course you do,” the unicorn said dryly as he rubbed his eyes. He looked to Twilight with a twinge of sadness, bringing the subject of his ‘problem’ was nerve wracking and a little bit embarrassing. “Actually, it’s kind of hard to explain what I need your help with. You see, there’s some kind of spell or hex or magical wall that’s blocking my magic from working effectively. Every time I try to use a powerful spell or anything other than basic stuff, this mark appears and cancels it out. I don’t know where I got it from or how long I’ve had it for.”
“Hmmm that is strange,” Twilight scratched her chin; her eyes deep in focus. “Canterlot guards uses magic counter spells to prevent ponies from using their magic to interfere in the Equestrian Games, and of course Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know a number of spells that specifically cancel other spells.” She levitated 4 books off the shelf onto a table and began flipping through all of the books at once. “But this sounds like some really high level magic is at work here, restricting a pony’s magic 24/7 is no easy task.”
“So then, there’s nothing you can do for me at all?” he asked, his voice trembled with dread and disappointment.
“Not necessarily” she said confidently. Twilight closed 2 of the 4 books and placed them back on the shelf; she walked to Moonstruck and sat down. “In order to help you, I need to see this magic blocking hex in action. Magic usually has a signature or a specific aura that can be identified, if you know where and what you’re looking for.”
“So when I use my magic and the hex comes out to block it; you’ll be able see it and find out how to remove it?” Moonstruck asked nervously.
“That’s the plan” she replied optimistically, smiling brightly.
Moonstruck bit his lip; he had to tread very carefully with his next move. If he uses his fear spell then Twilight could panic and be in no cognitive state to help him, not to mention the fact she’d be screaming and wailing over whatever it was that scared her. He had to cast a spell that was powerful enough to make the hex mark appear, but not too strong, otherwise the darker side of his magic will come out. Using dark magic is a sure fire away to get yourself run out of town. Only creatures like Tirek and Discord use dark magic, and the last thing Moonstruck wanted to do was to give Twilight any reason to think that he could be associated with them. Twilight watched him intensely, giving him her full attention.
“Ok-k-kay, here it goes,” Moonstruck said anxiously. The unicorn looked around for something safe to test his magic on. He had an idea but it might ruffle a few of the princess’s feathers; based on how anal retentive she is. Moonstruck sighed and looked to Twilight, “I’m going to try something that’s going to be a bit disorienting so don’t freak out, but I promise nothing will be damaged.”
Twilight was confused by the unicorn’s words but for the sake of scientific curiosity; she nodded and insisted Moonstruck continue. “All right, whatever you say Lando.”
The unicorn closed his eyes and began to concentrate everything he had on casting this spell. A faint red aura emanated from his horn, the energy slowly began to grow brighter and brighter; the color shifted into a midnight blue color. Moonstruck felt his body straining, the hex was starting to take effect, but he knew he had to push harder if he wanted Twilight to fully understand what they were dealing with. He grunted and forced more power into the spell, the blue aura expanded across his body and spread across room like a shadow, every inch of Twilight’s body and home was covered by the blue energy. Books and chairs began to float off the ground, the tables and quills went next; everything not bolted to the ground began floating higher and higher. Twilight felt her hooves leave the floor, she found herself floating without using her wings or magic. The princess couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I don’t believe it, you can cast GRAVITY spells?!? That’s incredible Lando,” Twilight exclaimed.
“I can’t hold it ARGH any l-l-longer,” Moonstruck grunted. His eyes turned pure black before the spark on his horn fizzled out, the spell ceased and everything floating instantly dropped to the ground. The color of his eyes returned to normal. Moonstruck panted heavily, wiping sweat from his brow, he looked to his back to see the white hex mark on his back. “There it is; that’s the mark that saps my strength every time I try to cast a powerful spell.”
“Are you sure your all right? Maybe I should cast-” Moonstruck cut Twilight off with a shout, time was short and she needed to act fast. Twilight rushed to Moonstruck with a magnifying class in hoof, she quickly examined the mark. “Okay, it looks like some sort of…tribal mark or…weird bone design, I’ve never seen anything like this. And you say this ONLY comes out when you try and use strong magic?”
“Yeah,” he nodded to Twilight’s question. “It fades away shortly after but it always comes back when I use my strongest spells, I can never get a good look at it or found any pony who knows what it is.”
“Well based on the outline of the marking; it seems it’s suppressing a part of you from coming out, and I’m not JUST talking about your magic.” Moonstruck was even more confused now about this mark, what did she mean it was suppressing a part of him? The mark started to fade, Twilight levitated a scroll and quill over and quickly traced the marking as best she could. “This is way more than just magic; it’s affecting your body and quite possibly your mind as well.”
Moonstruck blinked, “Wait my mind, what do you mean?”
“Well you see,” Twilight placed the quill and scroll to the side and looked to Moonstruck. “You said that you don’t remember how long you’ve had this hex or where you got it from. That indicates to me that the hex is affecting your mind; intentionally keeping you from remembering something that has to do with the hex’s origins.” Moonstruck nodded, that would explain why he could barely remember anything before he was arrested; or it could be due to being inside Tartarus too long. “Think of yourself as a jigsaw puzzle and this hex is hiding several large pieces of you, making it impossible for you to be whole again.”
“So then not only is my magic being affected by this hex, but now my mind and my memories too?” Moonstruck groaned and held his head. “This is really heavy stuff, heavier than I thought.”
Twilight smiled and patted his back, “I’m not giving up on you Lando so don’t you give up either. Like I said about your cutie mark, this is a mystery and I for one am not going to be able to sleep until I figure out how to make you whole again.”
“Twilight I”, Moonstruck said with a slight choke in his voice. He couldn’t believe how warm and caring the princess was, he’s known what her personality is but to see it; to physically experience it after so many years of pain and suffering, it’s quite a surprise to him. Moonstruck can barely remember what being cared for felt like; it felt like a distant memory that was replaced with thoughts of running, hiding and living behind bars amongst Equestria’s most wanted. “Thank you…thank you so very, very much.”
“Of course, that’s what friends do Lando” Twilight said, smiling and warmly hugging Moonstruck. The unicorn felt his brief moment of happiness fade once he heard that false name of his, a painful indication of what’s to come if he keeps lying to Twilight. “It’ll take a while to crack this case but I know we can do it,” Twilight said as she headed towards the front door. “I just have to get my assistant so we can ask Princess Celestia for help.”
“NO! YOU CAN’T” Moonstruck shouted, he rushed to the door and blocked it off with his body. Twilight moved away from the door in shock. “Please Twilight, you have to keep this between us, it’s too dangerous to bring any pony else in on this.”
“What do you mean too dangerous?”
The unicorn nervously looked around, mumbling to himself, trying to come up with a quick excuse. “Um, b-b-b-because uh w-w-w-what if it’s contagious or something? I wouldn’t want the ruler of Equestria to come out all the way here just to get infected herself. We really don’t know anything about this hex and we can’t risk any pony else getting sick or starting a panic if any pony else finds out.”
“But Princess Celestia is my-”
Moonstruck rushed to Twilight and placed his hoof over hers, she felt her cheeks redden and her voice trail off before finishing. The dark unicorn looked at her once more with those hauntingly beautiful eyes of his. Twilight couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, she felt frozen and warm all over at the same time.
This is insane! I’ve read every book there is about pony anatomy and internal body chemistry and none of them ever described anything like I’m feeling right now. It’s like he’s making my body feel all warm and tingly through some magic…eye…charm…spell or something.
“Please Twilight; I’m begging you,” Moonstruck desperately pleaded. “You have to keep this between us, no pony else can know about this; not even your closest friends or your mentor.” He looked away from Twilight, pain echoing from his voice. “I can’t explain how but if any pony finds out about this, a lot of bad things are going to happen to me.” Moonstruck looked to Twilight and tightened his grip on her hoof. “You’re the only pony I can trust to save me.”
“Wow that’s um…that’s a lot of pressure,” Twilight said; gulping nervously. “But if things really are going to be that bad for you if I tell any pony else, then I’ll have to do my best to help you, alone.” The princess felt a twinge of sorrow inside her after saying that. She hated keeping secrets from her friends, even more so from Princess Celestia; she always knew how to help her with any problem. But this pony is asking for Princess Twilight’s help; not Celestia’s.
Moonstruck sighed and released Twilight’s hoof. “Thank you Twilight, thank you for everything you’ve done and everything you’re going to do. I have complete and total faith in your ability to remove this hex from my body.”
Twilight smiled weakly, “Well at least that makes one of us. But you should know that by going alone; it’s going to take a lot longer and require a LOT more research. This is going to be a major project and I’m going to need help getting more resources.”
“Whatever it takes, and don’t you worry, I’ll be here helping you every step of the way. So what’s our next step?”
The pony’s conversation was interrupted by a violent, thunderous rumbling from Twilight’s stomach. She blushed bright red, embarrassed by her rather vocal stomach pains. Moonstruck’s chuckling only made Twilight feel more embarrassed.
“Heh, after we get you something to eat of course. How do quesadillas sound?”
“No, no, NO quesadillas” Twilight blurted out, her whole body began shivering with fright. Moonstruck jumped back from the mare’s reaction, his eyes bulging with shock.
“What, what’s wrong with quesadillas? It was just a suggestion; we don’t HAVE to go out for those you know.”
“No it’s not that it’s just,” Twilight said nervously. The Alicorn was shuddering and sweating, she chewed on her hoof frantically. “They’re just…too cheesy…I don’t trust something with THAT much cheese in it.”
The dark unicorn was speechless; he didn’t have the slightest idea how to react or what to say to such a ridiculous statement. Moonstruck stood there, letting the lunacy of Twilight’s words slowly sink into his mind. Slowly, the colt let loose a roaring laugh that grew louder and longer with each passing moment. Moonstruck dropped to the ground, laughing harder and with tears forming in his eyes. Of all the peculiar things Twilight said and did; this one is by far the weirdest and the most hilarious. Twilight failed to see the humor in her statement.
“And what exactly is SO funny Lando?”
Moonstruck eventually ceased laughing and got back onto his hooves, he rubbed his tussled green hair back into place. “Wow, I haven’t laughed like that in years and I’m not kidding; I literally mean it has been actual years since I laughed that hard.” The princess pouted bitterly, seeing that only made Moonstruck smile even wider. “Awe come on, don’t look at me like that Twilight. It’s nothing to feel bad about or anything, it’s just that I’ve never seen a pony that’s so crackers.”
“HEY, would you stop calling me crackers? Calling some pony nuts or weird isn’t exactly polite.”
“I actually find ‘weird’ ponies to be the most honest ponies around,” Moonstruck said confidently. “A pony who acts weird is only acting out the most sincere parts of their personality. If we do or say something that’s different or unusual, well, that’s because were open about who we are and how we want the rest of the world to see us. There’s nothing wrong with being weird or being crackers.”
Twilight still wasn’t convinced; she frowned and turned her head in a classic Rarity snub. Moonstruck smirked and playfully raised an eyebrow towards the princess.
“Besides, I’m plenty weird myself. I talk to my brain out loud all the time,” Twilight was visibly shocked by that last part. Moonstruck smirked watching Twilight taking the bait and looking back at him once more. “I also happen to like weird girls; in fact, I find weirdness to be irresistibly cute.”
The princess tried not to smile, she mentally fought the urge to grin as best she could, but eventually she caved and offered the sweetest smile Moonstruck had ever seen. He smiled in return and offered an apologetic look.
“There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there?” Twilight asked coyly. Moonstruck winked to the princess, she rolled her eyes and laughed. “You’re such a weirdo.”
“So what do you say, lunch still sound like a plan?”
“It does, but YOUR paying the bill,” Twilight said with a sassy smirk.
CLANG!
Before Moonstruck could reply, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, he dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Spike stood panting behind the fallen unicorn with a dented frying pan in his claws.
“SPIKE, WHAT IN THE WIDE WORLD OF EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING?”
That was the last sentence Moonstruck heard before he conked out.
A few hours later…
The unicorn’s vision was dark, blurry and impaired. He couldn’t tell where he was or what happened, the last thing he remembered was talking to Twilight and then blacking out. Eventually, Moonstruck awoke and straightened his vision out to see what was going on.
“Ugh…oh my aching skull…what the Hell happened?”
Moonstruck tried to move his arms and legs but found that impossible, he looked over his body and found he had been chained to the wall. His arms, legs and even his tail mane were spread out and bolted to the wall with numerous shackles. The unicorn tried to use his magic but felt no power coming out of his horn; not even a little bit.
“Trying to use that gravity spell of yours again? Well forget it, I used Dalgo the great’s negatron spell to completely nullify all of your magic spells.”
That was Twilight’s voice, but it was coming from below him, which meant he was higher up than she was. Moonstruck had been shackled high on the wall in the library’s basement, immobilized and powerless. Surrounding the shackled unicorn was Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. The ponies must have gathered together after Spike knocked Moonstruck out. Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack all gave Moonstruck dirty looks; Fluttershy shyly avoided eye contact, while Pinkie pie smiled and loudly munched on cupcakes.
“Would some pony PLEASE tell me what’s going on here?” Moonstruck shouted. He looked down to Twilight, silver eyes shimmering with fear and confusion.
“Funny, that’s exactly what we were going to ask you, Lando,” Twilight said coldly. She magically lifted the wanted poster Spike had given her, Moonstruck gasped in horror at seeing his face lined up next to the word murder. “Or should I say Moonstruck, or how about MURDERER? Which sounds better to you?”
Moonstruck’s worst fears had come true: Twilight knew who he really was and what he had done, except for the murder part anyway. The unicorn had absolutely no knowledge of ever killing another pony, but even so, no pony would ever believe him at this point; especially not Twilight after finding out he lied right to her face. If she turned him over to Princess Celestia; he was dead meat for sure!
“This time were going to have a real, honest talk,” Twilight said with an icy tone. “You’re going to tell us everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, but before we begin I want to make one thing perfectly clear: there’s no point in lying or talking your way out of this. Applejack here represents the element of honesty so she can tell if you’re telling the truth or not, and Rainbow Dash is the fastest mare in Ponyville so even if you do somehow manage to escape; she’ll catch you and bring you back here in no time.”
“Um Twi, that’s not exactly how that works,” Applejack said with a cough.
“SHHHH, he doesn’t need to know that!”
The orange mare shrugged and nodded; she stepped back to allow Twilight to continue her interrogation. Moonstruck sighed sadly and hung his head.
“I understand and I promise I’ll cooperate. But Twilight, I just wanted to say to you personally that I’m sorry for lying to you and all the pain I’ve-”
“SAVE IT LIAR,” Twilight angrily interrupted. “I’m not interested in your lies or your apologies, none us are; so start from the beginning and tell us everything you know and everything you were planning to do. I want to make sure to give Princess Celestia a full report about all of this BEFORE we return you to Tartarus!”
To be continued…