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// Ch. 9 Moonstruck (Part 2) 
// Story: Strange Yet Wonderful 
// by Bionic Slime 
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Chapter 9: Moonstruck (Part 2)


 


The 6 ponies and 1 dragon collectively stared at the dark unicorn; strung up on the wall like a morbid piece of decoration. Moonstruck could feel the weight of their glaring judgment dragging him down even further. He lost, he had failed, he knew his lies would have been exposed eventually; but he had hoped he would have made more progress in finding out about this hex mark before they discovered him. Twilight approached Moonstruck; her gaze was intense.

“Now then Moonstruck, if that is your REAL name; I think it’s time you spilled the beans about everything.”

Pinkie pie popped up next to Twilight, “Beans, why would anyone want to spill beans? Besides, I don’t smell beans. I smell cupcakes; because I brought a whole bunch,” she pulled out a tray of frosted cupcakes with a variety of colors and candies. “You want one?”

“PINKIE, will you please focus? We have a very serious situation on our hooves. This pony is a wanted killer; we don’t have time for cupcakes.”

The pink mare giggled and rolled her eyes, “There’s ALWAYS time for cupcakes Twilight.”

“Ugh,” Twilight smacked herself in the face as Pinkie started hoofing out cupcakes to every pony. “Could you stop being Pinkie Pie for one second so we can ask this pony some very important questions?”

“Your absolutely right Twilight, we do have very important questions to ask him.”

Pinkie stopped hoofing out cupcakes and turned to Twilight, smiling and nodding. The princess let loose a sigh of relief and returned her attention to Moonstruck.

“So then which tastes better Weird Raccoon pony guy, the one with the sprinkles or the one with the jelly beans?”

Twilight spotted Pinkie on top of a ladder; feeding cupcakes to Moonstruck. The unicorn happily munched on the two tasty treats despite his situation. The Alicorn princess felt her eye angrily twitch, she felt like she was going to rip her hair out in frustration.

Moonstruck slowly licked his lips. “Hmmmm, I have to say I definitely like the one with sprinkles.” Pinkie clapped happily and was about to feed Moonstruck a second sprinkled cupcake. “Um Pinkie, I think Twilight is trying to get your attention.”

Pinkie looked down and saw Twilight; angrily insisting she stopped feeding him cupcakes and get down off the ladder. The party pony quickly shoved a new cupcake into his mouth and then hopped down off the ladder. The other element wielders rolled their eyes; not the least bit surprised by Pinkie’s behavior. Twilight however, still couldn’t believe her party pony friend was being this casual about dealing with a convicted murderer.

“PINKIE PIE,” Twilight shouted at her friend’s face. “This pony is our prisoner; not a new friend, were supposed to be interrogating him; not giving him sweets from Sugar cube corner!”

“I know Twilight, that’s why the cupcake I just gave him a cupcake didn’t have sprinkles OR jellybeans.” The mare’s statement left Twilight bewildered, she could actually feel her migraine expanding after hearing that remark. “He doesn’t deserve the good stuff” Pinkie said, crossing her arms and nodding.

“Twilight’s right, this creep is a stone cold killer and a thief; we don’t owe him a stinking thing,” Rainbow Dash said. The cyan speedster flew up in front of Moonstruck and smacked her hooves together; her pink eyes eagerly looking for a fight. “And I say that if he doesn’t start talking real fast; we bust him up before we send his sorry flank back to Princess Celestia.”

“Please Rainbow Dash; you got the wrong pony. I’m not a killer and I certainly don’t want to kill or fight any of you.”

“That’s not what your wanted poster says,” Spike said. He pulled out the wanted poster and pointed at the words ‘wanted for murder’ under Moonstruck’s name. “I can’t believe I was the one who directed you to my home. If I had gotten here a few minutes later, who knows what you would have done to my mom.” The young dragon would have never forgiven himself if something had happened to his adoptive mother; especially if he was responsible for the cause.

“Look, I know you don’t trust me and your all very angry with me; rightly so too, but I’m begging you, PLEASE don’t deliver me to Princess Celestia. I can’t go back to Tartarus, I just can’t! I’ll tell you anything you want to know, anything.”

Moonstruck’s pleas fell on deaf ears, no pony in the room felt confident he was telling the truth. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were visibly concerned about this whole situation; neither one had the disposition for things like interrogation and threatening. Twilight scratched her chin as she pondered over the colt’s words. She didn’t like giving this lying creep a sliver of assurance that she wouldn’t turn him over to Celestia, if the crimes listed on the poster are true; he absolutely deserves a seat in Tartarus. But if she wanted him to talk, he’ll need some kind of incentive.

“Fine then,” Twilight said; frowning. “If you agree to tell us everything about yourself and anything else we want to know, we’ll see about reporting this to Princess Celestia.” He knew this wasn’t much of a guarantee, Twilight could still report him even after he tells her everything; but this was a risk he had to take. Moonstruck took a deep breath and nodded in agreement.

“Thank you so much Twilight; I promise I’ll tell you anything you-”

“Save your thanks and your promises,” Twilight interrupted. “I’m only listening to your side of the story out of scientific curiosity. Now start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out; I want to know everything about what you’ve done and what you were planning on doing.”

“Um, if you don’t mind that is…please” Fluttershy softly added. Twilight looked to the yellow Pegasus, she squeaked sheepishly; “Just trying to be nice.”

Moonstruck nodded, “Certain parts are going to be tricky to explain but I promise; I’ll tell you everything I know. My name is Moonstruck and I spent the last 2 years incarcerated in Tartarus for crimes I did not commit. I escaped the same time Tirek did, though for the life of me I can’t tell you how he managed to pull that off. Even though I escaped the same time he did, I couldn’t stop him from fleeing the scene. I did however manage to seal Tartarus back up with a makeshift block before any other evil creatures got out.”

“Hold on there, I thought Twilight said you had some sort of strange curse mark on your back that prevented you from casting powerful spells,” Rarity said curiously. “If that’s the case then how did you manage to summon something big enough to keep those icky beasts locked up?”

“The hex only cancels my magic when I use powerful spells frequently. The longer I reframe from using powerful magic, the more energy my horn can charge and build up. Think of it like an ink bottle: the more ink I use the less I have in my reserves, but if I limit my ink use to only for emergencies; then my ink supply will slowly replenish itself and I’ll have that much more ink to use. I couldn’t use my magic for 2 years straight, so when I got out of Tartarus, I had a great deal of magic saved up. Almost all of it was spent by making that wall block though, same thing happened when I fled Applejack’s farm.”

The orange mare looked to Moonstruck, “Is that where you’ve been hidin out all this time, at mah barn?”

Twilight shook her head, “No that can’t be possible. Cerberus came to Ponyville months before we found out about Tirek escaping, and it was even longer after we defeated Tirek that we found out about Moonstruck. If he had been around here for that long hiding in AJ’s barn, some pony would have seen him at some point; no matter how careful he was.”

“Actually, after I escaped Tartarus I spent most of my time living inside the Castle of the two sisters.”

The ponies eyes widened in shock at that statement.

“Wait a minute, yer tellin us that you’ve been hidin out at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s castle since you escaped? Then that would mean-”

“That’s right Applejack; I was living there when all of you came to the castle to read up on the rainbow chest.”

The ponies had no idea Moonstruck had been this close to them all this time; without them ever knowing it. Twilight felt even more suspicious about this unicorn now, who knows what he could have learned or observed when they were there. She just couldn’t believe a pony so dangerous was so close to them without them ever even knowing it.

“Well, I for one cannot imagine living in that dreary place for so long. All those crumbling walls, creepy shadows and those ugh…outdated furniture and pony armor suits,” Rarity said with a shudder. Moonstruck rolled his eyes at Rarity’s distaste for his previous accommodations.
“It’s not like I had much of a choice. I had to stay out of sight and away from public places; any pony that recognized me could have reported me to the royal guard and had me sent back to Tartarus. Sure, it was run down, crumbling and drafty, but it was better than living in caves. Of course, after I failed to scare you guys off I had to go live in caves anyway until I found Sweet Apple acres.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, “Wait a minute; hold it right there. What do you mean scare us off? You didn’t do anything! We were all freaking out because we were scared…AH I mean I wasn’t scared heh, I mean obviously; but every pony else sure was.” Every pony audibly groaned at Rainbow’s remark. “Plus Pinkie Pie was screwing around with the pipe organ and causing all those booby traps and secret doors to switch on.”

“Ha, ha, ha; you said traps,” Pinkie giggled loudly. She tried to stifle her laughter with her hooves; Rainbow rolled her eyes at her pink friend’s giggling.

“I know; I saw everything, the Castle of the two sisters has even more hidden passage ways than you could imagine. What I was referring to was the thunderstorm that appeared; I summoned that to try and scare you guys off discreetly. I figured there’s nothing more discrete than using bad weather as a means of getting you guys to leave before you discovered me. Unfortunately it didn’t work, and when you kept routinely coming back for more research, I knew it would only be a matter of time until you found me. So eventually I left and stayed out of sight and out of Ponyville until I heard Tirek was defeated.”

Spike suddenly gasped, “That means YOU’RE the Pony of Shadows. I KNEW he was real, I saw him at the castle just before we left for the night.” He crossed his arms and frowned, “But Twilight said I was just seeing things; that I was letting the castle spook me all over again. I told you I saw the Pony of Shadows, I saw him looking right at us from the shadows but noooooooo.”

“So you’re saying that it was YOU that caused the thunderstorm to appear?” Twilight said, ignoring her assistant’s attitude.

“Yes, I knew it would drain all the magic energy I had saved up, but it was a risk I had to take.”

“I thought your talent was gravity spells since you have a moon cutie mark,” Twilight said. The princess trusted Moonstruck less and less with each new tall tale, she’s never heard of a pony having enough talent to create gravity spells AND manipulate the weather.

Applejack nervously raised her hoof and called every pony’s attention towards her. “Actually, ah thought yer special talent was castin those fear spells like you did to mah brother and me. Ah figured it had somethin to do with that skull face on yer cutie mark.”

A dreary silence slowly settled in the room as the ponies awaited Moonstruck’s answer. The dark unicorn hung his head and bit his lip; he could feel the sorrow and sadness in his heart overflowing. His cutie mark, his “talent,” his magic’s true power; all of these were poisonous topics that caused his already aching heart to suffer even more. Fluttershy noticed a single tear dripping from the unicorn’s cheeks; she swore she even heard him sob a little. None of the other ponies seemed to notice Moonstruck’s silent pain.

“Please Moonstruck,” Fluttershy said softly. She flew up to the prisoner and gently cradled his cheek, despite her friend’s protests. “It’s all right, I know your hurting and you’re scared; I can hear it in your voice.” He sniffled and slowly looked into the mare’s gentle, light blue eyes. “But whatever pain your feeling or hiding; keeping quiet about it won’t help anything. No pony should be ashamed to talk about what makes them special, it’s a part of who you are.”

“If you really knew what the source of my magic is…you wouldn’t be saying that,” Moonstruck said with a low, hushed tone. His eyes were red from crying. “You’d see me exactly the same way I see myself: a monster.”

Fluttershy smiled and wiped his tears away with her hoof. “Well, why don’t you try me? I’m friends with lots of animals that many ponies see as monsters or dangerous beasts. And you want to know something? Even scary monsters have feelings; we just have to find the right way to communicate with them to find out what makes them so scared.”

“T-t-t-t-thank you Fluttershy,” Moonstruck said with a warm smile.

Rainbow yanked Fluttershy down by her tail mane before she could say “your welcome” to Moonstruck. She knew her friends were upset at her for talking to the prisoner, but the butter colored Pegasus couldn’t help herself. Moonstruck took a few deep breaths and regained his composure.

“Technically Twilight, Applejack; you’re both right. The face on the moon represents the darkness that every pony has inside their hearts, their inner madness if you will. Every pony has a bit of madness inside of them; it’s just a part of pony nature, my magic brings that madness to the surface. The word moonstruck actually means to be deranged or crazed. My magic uses dark magic to amplify the deepest, darkest parts of a pony’s subconscious and uses it to actually manifest and manipulate their fear energy. That’s how I was able to summon the storm; it was a fear that one or all of you dreaded happening while you were at the castle.”

Aside from Twilight, none of the other ponies or Spike had a clue what Moonstruck just said. “Would some pony PLEASE tell me what he just said in proper English?” Rarity groaned loudly.

Moonstruck sighed, “In other words, my talent is to bring out the worst in ponies and spread fear and terror. I AM dark magic itself and the only thing I will ever be able to do with my magic is to scare the crap out of ponies.” Two tears rolled down Moonstruck’s cheeks, “I’m no different than Tirek; just another monster designed only for darkness…not love.”

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity were visibly shaken by Moonstruck’s words; their resolve for punishment and justice was wavering. Despite the royal poster’s listed charges; the ponies were finding it harder and harder to believe this unicorn was a thief and a murderer. His tale struck chords in their hearts; they started to wonder if he really is innocent of these times. Twilight, Spike and Rainbow Dash however were certain of their beliefs, they had no doubt Moonstruck was guilty. Fluttershy began to fly towards Moonstruck once again.

“No more puppy pep talks Fluttershy,” Twilight said firmly. The yellow Pegasus stopped midair and returned to the ground. “You may be fooling some with that weepy backstory but I’m not buying it. If Princess Celestia says you’re a killer and a thief, well then that makes you a killer and a thief and I think it’s high time you told us about what happened when you committed those crimes.”

“I know this sounds like I’m copping out, trust me I REALLY do, but I swear I don’t remember ever committing those crimes. Everything before Tartarus is a blur to me.”

Rainbow flew up to Moonstruck and flashed a glaring bright light into his face. “That’s it! I say we sweat this guy out and make him tell us the truth, if he wants to make things rough then so will we.” He vainly tried to turn his eyes and face away from the searing search light, the heat was driving him crazy.

“Rainbow Dash; that’s not how we do things,” Twilight said. She magically yanked Rainbow down and removed the light. The cyan Pegasus pouted being grounded and blew a raspberry at Twilight; the princess simply ignored it. “I’m going to ask you again and I strongly insist you tell the truth this time, what did you steal and who did you kill?”

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU! I don’t know about any of those things, I can’t tell you something I didn’t do or can’t remember.”

“Not doing something and not remembering doing something are two very different things.”

“Look, the only thing I remember are bits and pieces from the day I was arrested. I remember staying at a friend’s home in the Whinny city, at least…I think he was a friend… but I don’t remember what he looks like or what his name was. Anyway, I was taking a nap when suddenly Princess Celestia and a group of guards burst into the home and came after me. I didn’t know what was going on or why they were after me so I panicked and ran. The guards caught me and I remember struggling and resisting. I was so confused and scared I didn’t know what to do.

Celestia was saying something to me, something about what I was being arrested for; but that’s when things got blurry. I remember a bright light, lots of screaming, Celestia’s voice and then…nothing. When I awoke, I was in Tartarus with chains on. I discovered the hex mark when I first tried to use magic to escape. At first I thought all prisoners had this spell on them so they couldn’t use magic while inside Tartarus, obviously I was wrong after seeing what Tirek could do. I learned the mark was still affecting me even after I was out of Tartarus, but thankfully I still managed to block the hole with a makeshift plug, and as you now know; the rest is history. Maybe the hex Celestia put on me does affect my memory just like you told me it affected my body Twilight, or maybe living in Tartarus made it impossible for my mind to think about life before being imprisoned, either way; that’s everything I know.”

The mane 6 looked at each other; processing everything Moonstruck said. If Moonstruck’s words were to be believed, then they were holding an innocent pony prisoner who has been wrongfully incarcerated for 2 years. Twilight noticed the uncertainty in some of her friends; she could tell this won’t be settled easily.

“Well then, thanks for the information Moonstruck. Girls, Spike? Let’s head up stairs and come to a decision about what to do next,” Twilight said; turning her head to her friends. Each pony made their way up the basement stairs and into the center of the library. “As for you,” she turned to Moonstruck; the scathing and anger in her voice had subsided a little. “Regardless if what you told us was the truth or not, I’m going to get to the bottom of this; you can count on it.”

The princess headed upstairs; slamming the door shut behind her. Moonstruck attempted to say something before Twilight left, but he stopped himself. He knew anything he said would just make things worse. Twilight was furious with him and she had every reason to be, she took a chance trusting him and it blew up in both their faces. Now Moonstruck’s fate rested in the hooves of the very same ponies that were famous for defeating dangerous villains; just like him.

Moonstruck stared at the door with longing, sorrow filled eyes. “Now all I can do is pray, pray they make the right decision.”



“I don’t care how much he cries or how sad he looks,” Twilight said; angrily slamming her front hoof on a table. “I say he’s guilty and we need to report this to Princess Celestia immediately. There are just too many holes in his story, none of which we can corroborate UNLESS we talk to the Princess about him.”

Rainbow grunted and nodded, “I totally say we send this creep back to Tartarus as soon as possible. Like Twilight said; it’s way too convenient that he can’t remember the most important details we were asking him about. I don’t trust a thing he says and neither should you guys.”

Fluttershy meekly raised her hoof, “B-b-but what if he’s telling the truth? Some ponies do get amnesia; especially if they have something horrible and painful happen to them. The poor thing couldn’t even remember anything before he got arrested, like who his parents are, what they look like or if he has any brothers or sisters or not.”

“I for one don’t even want to imagine what it would be like being locked up in such a dreadful place like Tartarus,” Rarity said with a shudder. She raised her hoof above her horn, adding a dramatic sigh to the gesture. “All those terribly, nightmarish creatures surrounding you day and night for 2 years straight; that would drive any pony mad.”

Spike looked down and scratched his scaly chin, “I don’t know; there’s something about the guy that just seems weird to me. He knew where Twilight and I lived but he still asked me for directions.” The dragon looked up and put his claws on his hips. “If he was going to hurt Twilight or something, wouldn’t talking to me draw too much attention to him?”

“He probably wanted to make sure you weren’t home so you wouldn’t get in the way of tricking me into breaking that hex spell,” Twilight explained. She hunched over and growled; every pony could see the aggravation fuming off Twilight’s body language. “I can’t believe I let that lousy, lying, no good, back stabbing JERK into my home!”

Applejack raised her eyebrows at Twilight’s grumbling. The orange mare spoke with concern and care in her voice, “Now Twi; ah know you don’t wanna hear this but, is it possible yer being extra hard on em because yer mad at him for lying to ya?”

Twilight gasped, “Do I really have to have a good reason to be mad at KILLER? He’s a liar, a thief and way too dangerous and powerful to trust; even with that hex on his magic.” The princess smacked her hoof on the table once more, the force knocked Pinkie’s cupcake over. “I don’t think any of us are being hard enough on him!”

“But Twi, none of us know for sure if he really did do these things. All we have to go by is what the wanted poster says. He just seemed so sad and heartbroken; like a pup separated from his litter, that don’t sound like no killer to me.”

“I can’t believe YOU of all ponies are actually defending him,” Twilight pointed at Applejack. The country mare had a surprised look on her face. “You almost died because of one of his fear spells, if that Pegasus had been paralyzed by that spell for a few seconds longer; you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Applejack nodded, “Ah know and this trouble maker dun got to pay for all his peccadillos; no pony here is arguing that. But you didn’t see him on the farm, he was plum scared out of his mind and he even told me and Big Mac that he didn’t want to hurt any pony. The fear spell wears off anyhow, ah was just unlucky cause ah was right by the edge of the cliff at the time.” AJ thought about it for a moment and smiled softly, “Thank Celestia for Hopeful Romantic.”

The fashionista swooned with a song in her voice; her giggling caused Spike’s eyes to become hypnotized with her. Rarity had been giddy as a school filly ever since Applejack told her about Hopeful’s heroic last minute rescue. “Oh Applejack, he sounds like such a divine colt; risking life and limb to save you from a fatal fall, catching you in his arms and then turning to putty once you embraced him.” She spun around and cupped her cheeks; giggling loudly, “Oh it’s so romantic.”

Applejack blushed sheepishly and tipped her hat over her eyes. “Ahm not sure nearly dying is all that romantic Rarity,” she paused, lifted her hat back up and smiled. “But ah think ah know what ya mean.”

All of this talk of romance and mushy stuff was making Rainbow want to barf; she loudly gagged and pointed to her mouth. Rarity and Applejack both frowned.

“PUH-LEASE, can we drop the whole lovey dovey thing? It’s such a waste of time, not to mention embarrassing.” The Pegasus hovered above the table, pointing at Applejack. “No offense AJ, but I think your losing your touch if your letting some smooth talking pony sweep you off your hooves.” The orange mare didn’t bother dignifying Rainbow’s comments with a response.

Fluttershy blinked curiously, “But Dashie; that’s exactly how you sounded when you were talking to me about that Earth pony that raced you.”

The cyan speedster widened her eyes, her cheeks turning an embarrassingly bright shade of red. Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie smiled smugly; their eyes all looked to Rainbow.

“FLUTTERSHY,” Rainbow shouted. She flew to Fluttershy and looked down at her with an immensely embarrassed face, “I thought I told you not to mention Arrowhead’s name to any pony.”

Fluttershy weakly smiled, “Um…I didn’t; you did.”

Rainbow groaned out loud and smacked her face; her cheeks were practically glowing now. The Pegasus only mentioned the charming Earth pony to Fluttershy; she was still unsure about the colt and worried that admitting she liked a guy would ruin her “tough girl” image. She always thought romance was nothing but fluffy girly stuff that ponies like Rarity obsessed over. The rainbow mare knew she’d have to bring this guy up sooner or later; since he’s insisting on having lunch with her and her friends, but she was hoping to have more time before bringing him up.

“Soooooooooooo Rainbow Dash, who’s this Arrowhead feller? He wouldn’t happen to be the same Earth pony that was acting all warm and fuzzy like with ya at the party now; would he?” Applejack asked; her voice dripping with smug sarcasm.

Pinkie Pie tackled Rainbow before she could answer. The Pegasus tried to push Pinkie back but the party pony was stronger than she looked, she shoved her face right into Rainbow’s. “Ooh, you have a new pony friend? That’s great! Where’s he from, what’s his favorite color, can I meet him, what size party hat does he wear, does he like cake, does he know how many chickens it takes to pull a chariot? I need to know by Friday.”

The speedy mare grunted and shoved Pinkie off. “Give it a rest Pinkie; I barely know the guy. He challenged me to a race and since I won; he promised to buy lunch for all of us. But now he’s saying he won’t just give me the money and that he wants to have lunch with all of us in person.” She huffed and whipped her hair back, “Of course I’m WAY too cool to be hanging out with him anyway.”

“Oh you have GOT to be kidding me! I try for weeks to find a decent date and end up only meeting uncouth pigs, while you and Applejack BOTH scored dates with a charming pair of stallions without even trying?!? It’s just not fair,” Rarity pouted.

Seeing Rarity so downtrodden over all this boyfriend talk only caused Spike to feel just as lonely and dejected. Deep down though, Spike was always grateful things didn’t work out with Rarity’s dates because that meant he still had a shot with her; or so he hoped.

“Um Rarity,” Spike gently poked Rarity’s side; offering her a hopeful smile. “I know this isn’t really the best time to do this.” The unicorn seamstress ceased her whining and looked to the young dragon curiously. “But, since we’re talking about dating and stuff, I wanted to know if maybe you would like to-”

WHAM!

Twilight levitated the table off the ground and slammed it down; shaking the other ponies off of their derailed conversation. “How exactly did we get to THIS point? We’re trying to discuss the fate of a dangerous pony chained up to the wall in my basement, and yet every pony is acting like were at a slumber party!”

Pinkie’s bouncy mane popped up from beneath the table; she was wearing a blue and yellow nightcap and white pajamas with yellow smiley faces and tacos on them. “You mean were not at a slumber party? I thought chaining Weird Raccoon pony guy to the wall was a new slumber party game Twilight came up with.”

The Alicorn princess could see they weren’t getting anywhere at this rate. The group had wasted enough time arguing about this Moonstruck situation, its time to put all of this to a vote and finally decide what to do with him.

“Look we’ve talked this over long enough, Moonstruck told us everything he knows and now it’s time to put this to a vote: who thinks he’s guilty and needs to be delivered to Princess Celestia and who thinks he’s telling the truth about being innocent. Every pony raise their hoof, or claw in Spike’s case, and decide which side you want to vote for” Twilight announced to everyone. The princess raised her hoof first, “You already know my stance; I say it’s back to Celestia with him.”

Applejack raised her hoof next, “Ah don’t think he’s entirely innocent but ah don’t think he belongs in Tartarus either. Ah say he should stay and we should find out the truth about these charges against em.”

Fluttershy nervously nodded, “I agree w-w-w-with Applejack; I think he deserves a second chance. We’ve got to give ponies the benefit of a doubt and learn to trust them when they ask us to. After all, Trixie and Discord were both bad once and now were friends with them; I think Moonstruck deserves the same fairness.”

“Well I don’t trust him and I think we should let Princess Celestia straighten him out. That guy spent days spying on us when we were in the Castle of the two sisters, he’s been creeping around doing who knows what behind our backs. I’m not gonna let him endanger my friends or Ponyville just because he turned on the water works,” Rainbow said firmly.

Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow looked to the ponies who didn’t vote yet: Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike. The mares leaned in and awaited their response.

Pinkie pie giggled “I like him; he should definitely stay.” The mare paused and scratched her chin; looking deep in thought. “Although, he does stink at playing reverse Hide and seek. I walked backwards the entire time waiting for Weird Raccoon pony guy to follow me and he NEVER made a single move; some pony seriously needs to teach him proper game play.”

“It pains me to do this to that poor soul but, I must confess that I side with Twilight on this” Rarity said, a twinge of sorrow in her voice. “This Moonstruck seems deeply troubled and he’s struggling with so many things right now, I can’t possibly imagine what living in such awful conditions could do to a pony. I do believe him when he says he doesn’t mean us any harm, but I worry what damage he could do unintentionally; as well as intentionally with that dark magic of his.”

Twilight nodded, “So that’s 3 for Moonstruck staying and 3 for him going, which means it’s down to you Spike.”

The dragon gulped nervously, “M-m-m-m-me, why me?”

“You’re the tie breaker; you’re the only one of us who hasn’t voted yet. I don’t mean to put pressure on you Spike but I think it’s important this decision be made tonight. I promise none of us will think any less of you or be upset; no matter which side you choose.”

All eyes went to Spike; everything now depended on him and him alone. Even though Twilight said no pony would be mad at him; there’s definitely going to be problems if he makes the wrong choice; not to mention what happens to Moonstruck. Spike bit his lip and started to sweat furiously. He started to fumble his claws against his belly; rocking back and forth on his toes; unable to sit still or look his friends in the eye.

This is crazy, what am I supposed to do?!? Everyone is expecting me to make the final decision, otherwise; we’ll be stuck here all night and Moonstruck will have to just hang there; waiting while we sort it out. This is nuts! Both my mom and the mare I love are on the one side, but on the other hoof; I don’t agree with their side. I know Twilight said no one would be mad at me, but how can they NOT be mad? Either decision is going to make problems.

“I’m thinking I uh…I want to choose um…the side that uh.”

What if I vote for him to stay and that totally ruins things with Rarity AND makes my mom mad? Voting against her is like undermining Princess Celestia; I’m arguing against royalty! But that’s not fair to Moonstruck. I feel for the guy; I don’t know what I feel but I definitely feel something and if I vote against him just cause mom and Rarity are on that side; how is that fair to him? This is his LIFE were talking about, not like losing a game of hoof ball or something!

Spike darted his eyes left and right; he gripped his head and bent his knees. The young dragon felt like his mind was going to explode from all the worst case scenarios popping inside. Twilight looked more and more concerned with Spike’s stress level; she could see him trembling all over.

I don’t know what to do; I don’t know what to do! Rarity, she’s so beautiful and angelic and yet, she doesn’t feel safe around Moonstruck. If I vote to keep him here; she might worry I’M unsafe to be around because I want him to stay. What if this totally destroys the one chance I have to be with her, what if her opinion of me changes because of this one decision? Argh! But that’s greedy; letting a potentially innocent pony suffer just because I want someone to like me.

“RAAAAAAAAAH” Spike screamed into the air; clutching his claws tightly. Twilight and the others went to comfort Spike; he raised a claw up and motioned for them to stop. “I’m a-a-all right, I just needed to blow off some steam; clear my head a little.” He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and calmed himself. “I’ve made my decision and I just want to say that…I’m sorry.”

The 6 mares looked at each other with confusion; unsure of which pony or which side Spike was apologizing to. Twilight motioned for Spike to continue.

“I know how this must sound; coming from the guy who whacked him upside the head with a frying pan but, I vote for him to stay.”
Applejack and Fluttershy sighed and patted Spike’s back, happy to hear he made the right decision. A small shower of confetti rained down on Spike’s head; curtesy of Pinkie’s handy party cannon. Not every pony was pleased however.

“Are you kidding me? You can’t seriously want that guy to stick around,” Rainbow snapped. She flew over to Spike and looked him right in his emerald eyes; her glare made Spike freeze with fear. “How can you be okay with a potential killer living in your house, I mean come on, you ran all the way over here freaking out Twilight might have-”

“THAT’S ENOUGH Rainbow Dash,” Twilight shouted. Her magical aura yanked the cyan Pegasus back and plopped her next to her, “Spike made his decision; we all agreed to vote on this and we can’t yell at him just because he didn’t pick the side we wanted.” The Alicorn princess softened her tone and turned to her scaly assistant. “Thank you for being honest Spike, though there is one part I do agree with Rainbow on; you did seem like you wanted Moonstruck out of here more than any pony else.”

“I agree Spikey poo, what could have possibly made you change your mind about letting such a dangerous stallion stay?” Rarity asked. The white unicorn spoke with confusion rather than irritation in her tone. She agreed that Spike shouldn’t be shamed for being honest with his decision, but she was puzzled by his change of heart. Spike was just grateful her view of him hadn’t changed.

“To be honest, I don’t like the idea of him hanging around here; wanted poster or not. He’s a stranger and with all the weird magic he can do and this whole hex thing; it makes me feel uneasy.” Spike placed his claws on the table and rested his chin on them, his green eyes watering a little. “But then I thought about what Fluttershy said about him not being able to remember his parents and family…and it reminded me how I don’t know who my family is.”

Rarity gasped, “Oh darling; I hadn’t even thought about that.”

“None of us did, even though I should have. I was the pony that raised you Spike and I know there are still a lot of questions about your past that I couldn’t answer,” Twilight added.

Spike nodded, “I know and I still think of you guys as my family; it goes without saying. But I do wonder about my dragon mom and dad, if I have any brothers or sisters, or how my egg ended up where it did. I also know Moonstruck has some pretty scary magic, but I’ve got powers that can be scary too; every pony in Ponyville got to experience them.”

The mares all nodded in agreement; remembering Spike’s monstrous transformation on his birthday. It was a day of darkness for the young dragon. Just like the vote he just finished, he still worried about hurting others because of a choice he made; even though every pony forgave him in both cases.

“I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, if Moonstruck could get his memories back; he could remember about his family and find out if he really did those things or not. That’s an opportunity no pony or dragon should be denied. And even if he is bad and is just putting on an act, I know you can handle him. After all, you guys defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis and Tirek; I know you can do anything.”

“Now hold on there partner” Applejack said; nudging Spike’s side. “Don’t you go on forgettin to throw yerself into the mix; you’ve helped save Equestria just as much as we have.”

Twilight smiled warmly at her dragon son, “Applejack’s right; you’re a hero too Spike. It was thanks to you the Crystal Empire was rescued from King Sombra’s evil, and you saved an entire stadium full of ponies from that ice cloud at the Equestrian games.” Spike blushed sheepishly at all this praise, he kicked his feet lightly. “You’ve been with us all this time and we wouldn’t want any other dragon or pony by our side during battle; I’m very proud of you Spike.”

“We all are Spikey Wikey” Rarity said, nuzzling Spike’s green scales. She lifted Spike’s chin with her hoof, the purple dragon blushed even brighter. “We’ve all seen your strength and bravery and we know it took a lot of both to speak your mind about what to do with Moonstruck. No one should ever feel embarrassed about being true to themselves.” Rarity flashed a stern gaze towards her Pegasus friend, “RIGHT Rainbow Dash?”

“Heh, sorry there bud; guess I got carried away with the whole ‘winning’ the vote thing,” Rainbow said with a sheepish smile. She shook her hoof with Spike’s claw. “There’s nothing cooler than a pony err dragon who has the guts to tell it like it is; even if the odds are stacked against him.”

Spike smiled and shook his head. “No, thank you guys for being the best family a dragon could ever ask for.” The ponies collectively cooed at Spike’s touching words, they moved in for a giant family hug. Everyone eventually dispersed and returned to the business at hand. “So, what do we do now?”

“Even though we agreed that Moonstruck is going to stay until we find out what happened to him, I still have to talk to Princess Celestia about what happened when she arrested him 2 years ago. She’s the only pony who can fill in the gaps to Moonstruck’s amnesia,” Twilight explained.

“But are you sure you’re going to be okay keeping a secret from Princes Celestia? You almost cracked just trying to lie to the guards when I took Philomena,” Fluttershy said worriedly. “This is an awfully big thing to hide.”

Twilight sighed and nodded, “Yes I know, that’s why I am going to ask her as many details as I can without revealing that I’ve encountered him. I trust the princess and her wisdom without question, but she always taught me never to make a judgement without having ALL the facts so that’s what I’m going to do; get all the facts.”

“So what do we do in the meantime while yer gone?” Applejack asked.

“For the time being, keep him here and don’t tell any pony about him. I don’t expect all the responsibility of watching him to fall on Spike alone so I’m going to ask the 5 of you to come and take shifts every couple of hours. That way all of you aren’t sacrificing all your time here, and no one will be here with Moonstruck alone. Just keep him locked in the basement but bring him food and water when he needs it.”

“We should probably get him down off the wall then,” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash was about to ask why, but then a loud groan from the basement interrupted her. Moonstruck was shouting something to them.

“I need to use the bathroom; like really, really, REALLY badly!”

The cyan Pegasus cringed, “Oh yeah….kind of forgot about that part huh?”

Twilight began scurrying about the library; magically lifting several books, scrolls and notes into a satchel across her back. “I should only be gone for a day, 2 at the most, so the sooner I leave the sooner I get back here with answers. I trust you guys to figure out who watches first and who follows, I know this is a last minute emergency to drop on you guys, but I wouldn’t be leaving you with this unless I trusted you guys completely.”

Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Spike followed Twilight to the door; giving her warm hugs and wishes of good luck. The princess exited the library and waved to her friends; smiling to them as she left. She was determined to find the answers to the mystery behind Moonstruck’s past and powers, and she knew her friends would be able to keep him safe and hidden until then.

I don’t know why, but I sense there’s something bigger at work going on here than just Moonstruck himself. Maybe digging into his past will help me find out what his future has in store for him…and for us.

Twilight thought back to her first meeting with Moonstruck, her eyes briefly looked back to the library’s basement window.

He’s such a fascinating colt; I’ve never met anyone like him. I just hope what I find out about him will be helpful, and hopefully dispel this nasty feeling I have in my gut about something bad surrounding him. I’m sure I’ll feel better about everything once I talk to Princess Celestia; she always knows what to do.

The princess stopped for a moment, she looked down at her bag and levitated a scroll from her satchel. It was the scroll that Spike was writing that she hid from him.

I just hope she knows what to do about this too…for Spike’s sake.



To be continued…