//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Star-crossed 
// Story: Until Dawn 
// by MidnightScribble0914 
//------------------------------//

	Luna kicked her front and back hooves frantically, her scream dying in her throat as she began to pant rapidly and deep, the fear overtaking her.  She kicked harder, desperately trying to right herself.  She heard a grunt and felt the tangling around her grip her tighter.  Luna could see the twisting and spinning ground rushing to meet her.  Feathers brushed her face and she could hear the beat of wings just as the grass drew nearly close enough to touch it.
Her angle suddenly changed drastically, and she hit the ground like a rock skipping across a lake surface.  Luna bounced and rolled, grunting with each impact with the earth until she finally skidded to a halt, her face in the grass, her body sore, and her long mane and tail disheveled and draped over her face and body like a shroud.
She lay there for several moments, feeling the pain deep in her bones.  She stirred slightly, letting out a soft groan.  The sound of flapping wings came closer, fading to hoofbeats in the grass as they approached her.
“Bucking hay, are you alright?”  
Luna raised her head slowly, looking through sheets of mane and into a wide pair of bright green eyes.  A pale blue Pegasus stallion stood over her, his wings still erect.  He was breathing heavily, a gash across his right cheek, his dark grey and black mane windblown and disheveled.  He hunkered down on his front hooves in front of her, still panting, pushing her mane off her face and laying a hoof on her cheek.  His wide eyes were full of concern and fear as he spoke again.
“Hey!  Are you alright?”
The disguised princess’s adrenaline and fear and drunken embarrassment kicked in at the intimate touch and she pushed herself off the ground, lashing out as she stumbled back.
“Do not touch me!”  
He raised a hoof in surrender, his expression shocked.
“Whoa!  Calm down!  I just want to know if you are hurt.”
“Of course I am hurt!  You crashed into me!” she spat, bringing her hoof to her face to wipe away dirt and grass as she limped back.  
“Hey, you crashed into me!  You were flying around all loopy and not paying attention!”  
Anger flared in her.  “How dare you!  Everything was going well until you hurled me to the earth!”  
He stomped his hoof, his eyes narrowing.
“I saved you!  I would have been able to change our direction sooner if somepony hadn’t been flailing around like a crazy pony and hoofed me in the face!”  
Luna scoffed.  “Saved me?  You nearly killed me!”  The stallion stiffened at this response, his eyes growing even wider as his face went apprehensively blank.
“Alright, what is happening here?”  
She spread her battered wings and swooped towards him.  He was a tall Pegasus, perhaps taller than her in her true form, so she was forced to unevenly hover in his dirt streaked face.
“You dare to put our life at risk and then place the blame on us?  Correct yourself, sir!”  
He glared at her, stepping back as he caught her sudden change in speech.
“Our life?  Us?  Look here, you crazy mare…”  Something inside of her snapped.  Perhaps it was the memory of being thought of as insane.  Perhaps it was the sudden fear as she realized she had referred to herself as she used to long ago.  Perhaps it was the fact that her wonderful evening had been ruined.  Either way, Luna’s mind clouded with rage and she lunged at him, raising her hooves to pummel him.
“That’s enough,” he mumbled through gritted teeth.
The pale blue Pegasus easily dodged her cider-slowed attack.  He snapped his head around as she streaked past him and caught the end of her tail in his mouth.  She jerked to a halt, plopping to the ground on her flank.  The stallion spread his wings and lifted them both off the ground, slowly flying towards a nearby stream.  She dangled upside-down, her mane flopping in her face, twisting and beating her wings.
“RELEASE ME, YOU RUFFIAN!”
“Gladly,” he snorted, and she fell from his bite and toppled into the cold water of the stream.
Luna came up coughing and sputtering.  She locked her glare on the Pegasus hovering over her.
“Are you trying to drown me?!  I will DESTROY…”  The stallion leaned over, placing a hoof on top of her head and pushing her head back under the water.  When she popped back up, she took in a long haul of breath.
“How dare you…”  
He landed in the shallow water several feet away from her.
“CALM DOWN,” he bellowed, blowing her dripping wet mane straight back.  Her expression went flaccid as she stared at him in shock.  He was seething, grinding his teeth together as his chest heaved.  The rage rushed from her body as she opened and closed her mouth with no words.
“LOOK HERE, YOU LOON.  I WAS JUST FLYING ALONG AND YOU CRASHED INTO ME.  I WAS BARELY ABLE TO SAVE BOTH OUR FLANKS, BUT NOT BEFORE BEING BASHED IN THE FACE.  NOW YOU ARE ATTACKING ME AND THREATENING ME.  YOU NEED TO COOL OFF AND CALM DOWN!”  
Luna stared at him.
“Are you… yelling at me?” she whispered.  He stepped forward, his eyes wild and wide.
“YOU WERE YELLING AT ME!”  
He was yelling at her.  Luna.  Princess of the Night.  She was the former terror known as Nightmare Moon and he was yelling at her.
The corner of her mouth tittered, then she grinned.  The stallion raised an eyebrow as she began to shake with giggles.
“Alright, what’s going on?  Have you cracked?”  
She erupted into a giggling fit, sitting in the water, soaking wet, her mane clinging to her as she shivered.
“Filly, you are a special sort of crazy aren’t you?”  
She broke into hysterical laughter, tears streaking her face as she held her stomach.  She couldn’t remember the last time she actually let herself laugh like this.
After several more minutes of her fit, and likely scaring the stallion beyond reason, Luna hiccuped, lifting herself from the water, wiping her eyes as she let out a few more chuckles.
“My leg hurts.”  
He eyed her warily.
“What?”  
She hiccuped again, limping slowly toward the grassy shore of the stream.
“You had asked me if I was alright.  My leg hurts.  And my wing.  And my flank.  And my head.”  Resigning to her aches, she dropped her hind quarters to the ground.  The stallion stood still for a moment, then hesitantly stepped forward.
“Can I look?  Or are you going to try to clobber me again?”  
She let out a defeated laugh.
“I give you permission to assess my injuries.”  Hiccup.  
When he finally accepted her words as truth, the pale blue Pegasus stepped towards her, slowly reaching out and running his hoof over her bruised wing.  She grimaced, biting her lip and closing her eyes.
He then moved in front of her, reaching down to take her leg.  He gently squeezed, feeling for broken bones, which caused her to cry out.  He immediately stopped, mumbling an apology as he pushed her mane off her face and narrowed his eyes, inspecting her forehead.
“I’m not a doctor, but I think you just bruised your wing and knocked your head pretty good.  I think your hoof is sprained.  Forgive me that I didn’t check out your flank.  I’m taking you to the clinic, just to be sure.”
“No!” Luna blurted.  She pushed herself back up painfully, knowing that if she were to go to the hospital, she would probably be kept there long past sunrise.  She only had until dawn.  “I will be fine.”  She turned and slowly began to limp away.
“You are a stubborn one,” the stallion stated flatly.  He was floating beside her, his wings gently beating.  She grimaced at the pain in her hoof.
“Indeed I am.  But that does not change the fact that I will heal.  Hic.  Thank you for your assistance.”
“Let me at least take you to a friend of mine’s house.  She probably has a first aid kit.  She must, with all the critters she cares for.  And she lives right over that hill.”  
Luna sighed, looking to the peak of the small rolling hill he was nodding his head towards.  She contemplated once again refusing the offer.  Then she imagined attempting to make the long journey back to Canterlot by dawn while injured.
“Very well.  I will agree to have your friend dress my wounds.”  She began to limp her way up the hill, still hiccuping occasionally.  The Pegasus stallion floated around and alongside her for a while.  But her slow pace made it difficult for him to fly beside her, so he eventually landed softly on the path.  They made their way slowly up the hill, walking in silence.  He would cast a glance at her out of the corner of his eye, obviously concerned for her condition.
Luna’s guilt and embarrassment over her reaction began to weigh on her.  This pony had saved her after she carelessly collided with him.  And after having done so, he was rewarded for his quick thinking and concern with her absolutely harsh and uncalled for response.
She raised her eyes briefly to look to him trotting slowly beside her, looking up at the stars.  He still had dirt on his face and hooves from the impact with the ground.  Even his cutie mark of a cloud was half obscured by a long streak of mud and grass. And even in the dark, she could see the black eye forming where she had hoofed him in the face in her panic.
“I am so sorry.”  
He snapped his head to look at her in surprise.
“You are?”  
She nodded, grimacing.
“I was frightened and hurt, and I chose to lash out at you when you were only attempting to help me.  For that, I apologize.”  
He pressed his lips together, looking back to the path.
“I’m sure a large amount of the Apple Family’s Cider didn’t help matters much.”  
Luna blushed.
“You can tell?”
“I can smell it on your breath.”  
She brought her hoof to her mouth and huffed a breath, quickly inhaling the ripe scent of the strong drink and winced.  He laughed.
“It’s alright.  That cider has led me on more than one misadventure.”  He paused, pressing his lips together before making up his mind.  “I’m Cloud Climber, by the way.”
Luna smiled, then her face went blank.  A name.  She hadn’t thought of a name.  The pale blue pegasus looked at her expectantly, causing her mind to race.  She needed a name.  Something she could remember.
“I’m… Moonlight.”  Sweet Celestia.  “Moonlight Breeze.”  Alright, a tad bit better.
“Well, Moonlight, it’s… interesting… to meet you.”
They crested the hill, looking ahead to a lovely tree cottage not far from them.  In her moonlight, Luna could see the small pond and the fenced yard filled with chicken coops and bird houses.  It all seemed too peaceful and quiet and she hesitated.
“Are you sure we should bother your friend at this hour?”  
The stallion rolled his head towards the cottage.
“Fluttershy won’t mind.  She’s too kind for her own good.”



A pale yellow pegasus with pale pink locks cracked open the door to Cloud Climber’s soft knock.  She smiled kindly, pulling the door fully open and stepping out onto her front stoop.
“Why, hello Cloudy,” she greeted with a sweet soft voice.  “It’s so late!  Is everything alright?”
“Hi, Fluttershy.  Sort of.  There has been a little… accident.  We had a midair collision and hit the ground pretty hard.  Moonlight Breeze here is banged up a little bit.”  
Fluttershy’s hoof came to her mouth and she swooped forward to inspect Luna.
“Oh dear!  Are you alright?”  She glanced at Cloud Climber again, then gasped.  “Your face!  Your eye!  Oh goodness, come inside you two!  I’ll get my bandages, and Cloudy, you can wash up in the kitchen.”  
He shook his head.
“I don’t want to dirty up your kitchen.  I’ll use the trough out back though, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind!  I’ll put on some herbal tea to help sooth any aches you might have.”  She turned to face Luna, her face etched with concern.  “Come in, Moonlight.  I’m Fluttershy.  I have just what we need to fix you up.”  Luna smiled weakly, limping inside after the yellow mare.
“You are too kind.”  
Fluttershy trotted to her stone fireplace and took a kettle in her mouth and gently placed it over the already licking fire.
“Twilight tells me that a lot,” she said softly, moving to her cupboards to retrieve the tea.  Luna looked at her with a smile.
“Twilight Sparkle?  Oh!  You must be very close friends.”  
Fluttershy’s mane swished around her as she smiled at the disguised princess proudly.
“Oh yes.  She is a wonderful friend.  How do you know her?"
“Oh!  I… do not.  Well, I have heard of her.  She is the pupil of Princess Celestia.”
“She is, and she's very smart.  Quite a reader.  I'm sure if I ever had a question about almost anything, Twilight could find the answer.”  The kettle quickly whistled and Fluttershy soon had the steaming cups of tea set out on a platter.  Handing one to Luna, she smiled as the princess took a sip, the aroma and warmth immediately relaxing her aching body.
"Isn't that better?  Now let’s see to that hoof.”  As Fluttershy inspected and wrapped Luna’s sore hoof, Cloud Climber trotted in the front door, his mane damp and freshly shaken out.  He smiled in gratitude as he accepted Fluttershy’s offer of tea.



Luna was soon on the mend, her hoof smartly wrapped and her pains nearly gone thanks to a marvelous cup of tea.  The two pegasi were chatting cordially when Luna stood.
“I greatly appreciate your hospitality, but I have troubled you long enough, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble,” Fluttershy said with closed eyes and a smile.  Cloud Climber rose, placing his cup on the platter.
“I should go too.  Those clouds won’t move themselves.  I’m a bit behind.”  
Fluttershy ushered them to the door as they walked out, stepping outside into the night as Luna spread her wings, lifting herself into the cool air.  She turned back to face to the two ponies.
“Thank you so very much, both of you.”  
The stallion raised his brows and smiled slyly.
“See you around.  And watch where you’re flying on the way home!  Those pesky pegasi can come out of nowhere!”  
Luna blushed before turning and drifting into the darkness.
Cloud Climber stood on Fluttershy’s stoop, watching the lavender pegasus fly away when he suddenly called after her.
“MOONLIGHT BREEZE!”  
Luna paused and whirled to look back at the pony in the distance.
“YOU OWE ME A DRINK!”
She smiled and shook her head in resignation before continuing on her way.
“What a strange mare,” the stallion thought out loud.
“I thought she was perfectly lovely,” the yellow pony gushed.
He laughed.  He laughed hard, continuing to do so despite Fluttershy’s obvious confusion.
“Thanks again, Flutters,” he chuckled, flapping his powerful wings, “Have a good night!”  And with another wave of laughter, he took off like a shot into the clouds.



Luna landed on her balcony, her true form once again.  She smiled and limped lightly into her chamber.  It had been an adventurous evening.  That was certain.  She lowered herself onto her soft bed, deciding to plan her next adventure as she waited for the dawn.