//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Of Hoof and Paw // by Damsus Rhee //------------------------------// Of Hoof and Paw Written By: Damsus Rhee Chapter Four         It was a city of screams.         As the massive serpent loomed over Manehattan, the panicking populous continued their frenzied stampede away from the thunderous terror. The elderly or sickly cowered indoors while the young and fit fled down the streets, which were seething with tightly-packed ponies. The night sky was occasionally lit up by the unnatural thunder still licking off of the beast, allowing the embattled moon princess to see the faces of her madly-fleeing subjects clearly. Luna stood on the crumbling balcony of the hotel, watching the creature approach her. Silently, she feared for them.         The creature slowly floated into the boundaries of the city, coiling itself around a skyscraper, shattering windows and showering the ponies below with shards of jagged glass. The din of screams and cries increased in pitch. The building creaked and moaned its discomfort at the added weight, warping in upon itself as the monster came to a stop, its massive head curling over the roof.         Its flashing yellow eyes were locked on her. Luna took the moment to size up her opponent. It was a bit bigger than her, she rapidly concluded. Its scales were purple, and reflected light as if they were made of polished steel. She could only guess at its size, but would say that it was about a kilometer long. She had looked into its gaping maw, seen the four rows of lance-length, razor-sharp teeth, and knew that she would prefer not to get close to those again. The strange lightning was an obvious threat, the leviathan seemingly able to direct it from its open mouth. But what she feared the most from this nightmare was the illusions with which it had made to entrap her. Luna could defend herself in a fight. But what good was her strength or magic when she couldn’t trust her own eyes?         The monster’s mouth opened, stretching into a wicked, sharp-toothed smile as it glared at her. “Mare of the Moon,” its terrible voice boomed, more windows shattering. “Thy chances of felling me are as a dust mote upon a grain of sand in an hourglass.” Its smile was horrid. “Thou knowest the truth of my words. Bend thy knees before thy rightful sovereign, and the lowly peasants and squabbling yeomen of thy precious jewel of a city shall be spared the pain I could just as easily continue to visit upon them.” The snake closed its maw and grinned at her with evil intent. “Dost thou ken well my meaning, princess of the night sky?”         Luna felt perspiration beading on her brow. Ponies who had just noticed her stopped, cheering her name exultantly as they allowed hope to enter their world of sudden and terrible panic and despair. She silently wished they would continue to flee. Luna was terrified of this creature. But her still face registered none of her fear or her panic.         “Go get em’ Luna!” A brown stallion yelled up at her. “We believe in you!”         “Yay Luna!” A group of three fillies shouted in unison, cheering her name over and over again.         Luna felt pride and joy swelling within her. To have such faith and adoration directed to her given her too-recent past... Had she had the time for it, she would have wept uncontrollably at how wonderful they all were. Instead, she addressed her subjects in a weary but booming voice, “Everypony! Listen to your princess! You must flee the city! You face death or enslavement if you stay! Please, hurry!” After giving her mildly-deflated looks for a brief second, ponies began to turn and follow her command, their flight more orderly now that she had comforted them. Though she was sad to see them no longer throwing their fates upon her hooves, she was relieved to think that there would now be fewer casualties.         The monster began to laugh. It was a slow, deep sound, chilling her to the bone. As it did, the building to which it clung began to buckle and break, sending large chunks of concrete plummeting to the earth below. It opened its terrible mouth and said with glee, “Didst thou truly believe that I would so easily allow my quarry to slip the snare that I have set?” His eyes burned brightly, bathing the city in their sickly glow. “Thou foolish Princess of the Night... thy subjects who love thee so dearly shall henceforth call out to no other master but I.” It drew in a ghastly breath, air rushing into its open maw, leaving a vacuum in its wake.         It roared.         No living creature should rightly have made such a noise. It was as if everypony in the universe was scratching their hooves against a chalkboard. Not a single piece of unbroken glass remained in the city of Manehattan as the sound waves tore through the city, sending dust and debris rolling away from the epicenter in waves. Those ponies who still too close to the beast fell over dead from the trauma of the aural explosion.         Luna had fallen over from the shock of the terrible noise, hooves clamped tightly over her ears. Slowly, she stood back up, uncertain that the awful noise was over, the shock of it still ringing in her ears. She looked out on her once-lovely city now thrown into silence and ruin. The ponies a few blocks away stood silently, staring absently in whatever direction they had been facing when the creature had sounded his voice. Luna looked past them and noticed that ponies whose flight had taken them nearly to the outskirts of the city stood silently as well. Everypony in Manehattan appeared lost in thought.         “What have you done?” Luna asked, her voice loud and panicked as she looked out upon her ponies. She turned to face the horrid creature. “What did you do to them!?”         He responded with another eerily deep chortle. “Princess Luna... youngest daughter of thy thrice-accursed sires Eventide and Aurora. I have set for thee a quandary which I believe that thou shalt truly appreciate.” Luna stared at the beast in shock and confusion. She had never heard her parents called by name before. “While thou shalt ever try without success to subjugate thy people through love, I have done so through the power and fury of mine own indomitable will.” The serpent’s voice boomed as he began to address the citizens of Manehattan. “Now my loyal pawns, kill the Princess of the Moon who hath abandoned thee! Deceit, thy god, decrees that it must be so!”         Luna’s heart sank.         Her mind began to work immediately once she heard the great leviathan’s name. Deceit, she thought. I have heard that name. But where!?         She was quickly brought back into focus when a blazing light struck the hotel near her head, causing an explosion of dust and debris as it slammed into the roof overhanging her balcony. Adding to her worries, she saw the ponies of Manehattan closing in on her position, their furious eyes flaring bright yellow as one. From above, pegasi began dive-bombing her recklessly. Flooding through the front door and coming up the stairs were a surging horde of earth ponies. Unicorns began taking offensive formations and charging her, horns leveled like harpoons and flaring as they cast many different kinds of magic. Even the fillies from before were growling like rabid animals, looking at her like a fresh meal.         As the unicorns let loose another volley of magic, Luna flapped her wings, lifting off the balcony and blazing past the incoming pegasi toward Deceit. The pain of possibly having to face her citizens transfixed her face alongside her rage at what this thing had done to them. She headed directly at him, her horn flashing with a brilliant purple glow.         Deceit opened his maw and the familiar yellow light began to flare and pulse in his gullet. Luna, prepared for the attack, pulled up, barrelling right. Though the beast had plenty of time to acquire her as a target, he did not. Instead, a light of evil in his eyes, he let the blast loose into the hotel she had fled. For a still instant, there was nothing as the light vanished inside the hole Luna’s earlier flight had left. Then, it erupted in brilliant yellow magical fire, surging out from windows and cracks before exploding, showering debris over the entire city. The ponies inside, Luna knew immediately, had never stood a chance. The ones outside were either killed outright or burned horrifically by the blast. Some of the falling debris crushed flying pegasi as they were already turning to come at her again, and caused more damage among the seething, hungry horde below. Her heart fell, her ears drooping.         “Thy people suffer as burnt offerings for the remission of thy transgressions... Princess,” Deceit spoke, smiling his terrible smile. His countenance grew stern. “Harry me so directly while I have still pawns with which to maneuver against thee... and forthwith shall I remove mine own pieces from the game.”         “You monster!” Luna cried out in anguish, unable to stem the tide of tears. “You cannot expect me to... to... harm.” She turned away from the beast, his cruel laughter rocking the foundations of the city as she tried to stifle her tears. She then looked at him with great conviction. “They are my subjects... I cannot! I will not!”         For the first time, the serpent, venomous and false kindness dripping from his fangs, spoke softly, his voice no longer destroying the city. “But... dear sister, thou hast before thee no other choice... an, at any rate, thou shouldst wish to preserve their lives.” His eyes flared at her, she looked away from the brightness. He began to cackle, deep in his insides, at her misfortune.         Tears stained Luna’s face, but her voice did not break. With cold resolve, she turned her sullen gaze upon the approaching army of Manehattan’s enthralled denizens, eager to draw her blood. “Very well,” She said coldly, and faced the oncoming horde. “If I must... I must.” Luna secretly cursed her luck. Four thousand attacking ponies who she had to best. But not kill. *******         Fleur de Lis trotted proudly next to Princess Celestia across the bridge that led to her bedchamber. They passed by the guards whom she had earlier rendered unconscious, and they regarded both mares respectfully. Entering the private chambers of the Sun Princess, the alicorn and the model-pony sat down upon some pillows and took a genteel morning tea service together.         It had been easy to plant the seeds of distrust in the hearts of the the guards. She had convinced them to capture one of their own. Rearranging and warping the memories of Celestia’s ancient and powerful mind, however, had been nearly impossible. Treachery was tired. The best he could do was to make her believe that Fleur was a longtime friend whose counsel she trusted, and that the thief had failed to take the gems. He had watched in joy as the princess sentenced the guard, Phalanx, to serve an unspecified sentence in the dungeon. She had made it known that she did not wish to truly sentence him until she had time to calm and consider the evening’s events. It had nearly broken Celestia’s heart.         Fleur sipped her levitating tea, smiling at Celestia over the rim of the cup. The Princess did the same, but there was worry in her eyes. Slowly setting her cup down on its cozy, Fleur spoke in a sultry, conciliatory purr. “Oh Princess... it will be alright. You did the right thing. He had to be punished for what he tried to do.”         Celestia’s eyes flickered to Fleur’s as she spoke solemnly, “It just doesn’t feel right. Like a piece of the puzzle is missing. Oh Fleur... what should I do? The guards... the ponies of Canterlot... they will want justice. But Phalanx is a friend. He has faithfully stood guard at my side for the last decade!”         Although Treachery would have preferred to have the guard executed, he knew that such a suggestion, a punishment so foreign to these ponies ideas of themselves and their place in the world, could well lead to his unmasking. Instead, Fleur gently leaned forward, placing a hoof on Celestia’s, an understanding smile on her prize-winning face. Her silky voice dripped with kindness as she comforted the distraught Princess, “I know what you are feeling. But you must remain strong. Leniency for the seditious will only encourage such behavior. But if you’re too strict you won’t be able to live with yourself. The people know you to be a kind and generous princess... they will expect you to be who you are.” Celestia smiled for the first time in hours, and wiped a tear away from her eye. “Send him away. To work off the debt he now owes you... with labor. It’s fair. And generous, considering the severity of his crime.”         “I’m so lucky to have you around,” Celestia said, smiling. “You always make me feel better when things are rough.”         “It’s what I’m here for!” Fleur de Lis said happily. Fleur and the Princess looked out the window as the moon turned a deep shade of crimson. The Princess’s lovely eyes went wide at the sight, and she began to stand when a letter appeared before her in a billow of green smoke. The Princess hurriedly snatched the letter and began to unroll it. Fleur turned to face the moon. A curse upon thee, Deceit! The time for action is not yet come! Fleur glanced back at Celestia as she read. With an air of concern that wasn’t feigned she asked, “What is wrong?” Celestia’s countenance was grave as she finished reading. She looked up at Fleur with trepidation. “It’s from Spike. My prize pupil’s assistant. All it says is ‘hurry Luna help please’. Spike never was the most verbose dragon in Equestria.” Celestia stood, looking up at the red moon, raising a forehoof to point. “But with that rearing its head above us... something big is happening in Manehattan. I have to go.” Treachery spat inward curses at his position. Fleur looked at Celestia with concern, moving to stand near her. She spoke sweetly. “Well, if you are going I am going.” “It’s too dangerous, Fleur... I’m sorry,” Celestia said, shaking her head at the lovely mare with finality. Fleur sneered in anger, her eyes glowing violently pink as she repeated, “Well, if you are going, I am going.” “Of course. I’ll tell the guards to prepare a chariot,” Celestia said, her eralier refusal forgotten. She galloped out of the room, shouting to Fleur over her shoulder. “We have to hurry!” Fleur smiled wickedly, calmly following behind her. “Anything you say... your highness.” ******* “Four thousand... three hundred... and twenty six,” Luna huffed, panting and striking her platinum shoe against the back of a brown earth stallion's head. Like those before him, he had been rendered unconscious by a single strike. Unconscious ponies lay in  massive piles around her. The last pony she could see still standing charged, bucking at her fiercely. Enveloped by her telepathy, he stopped in his tracks just short of her. She gave him a swift blow to the head. Dropping his limp, unconscious body, she looked up at the great serpent, her breathing ragged, frustration and exhaustion in her eyes. “Four thousand... three hundred... and twenty seven!” She was too tired to weep at what she had done. He is making me an animal... she thought desperately. Regarding the piles of disabled ponies around her, Deceit began to laugh wickedly, the noise shaking the city. “Thou hast earned well thy spurs.” He gave her a horrid, toothy grin, looking down on her from far above.. “My pawns lie vanquished, but breathing.” The leviathan’s body tightened around the groaning building, crushing it with ease and sending the rubble down to the street in a plume of dust. He floated slowly up into the night sky above, leering down at her. “If I may impose again upon thy generous courtesy... prithee allow me to clear the board so that we might make merry at some other sport.” Luna’s eyes went wide as the serpent began to flash and pulse quicker and quicker with a brilliant yellow light, small tongues of thunder licking off him as he trembled with the rising power. She took in the piles of unconscious ponies, then looked up at the beast who was aiming some eldritch weapon directly at them. And, she noted as an afterthought, at her. Barely able to keep her eyes open, Luna drew upon her magic, raising a thin sheath of luminescent blue over her horn. She poured her focus out as the serpent opened its mouth above her, the eerie glow of its maw bathing her and the disabled ponies in bright light. The serpent opened his mouth to roar, but no sound emerged. Only a torrent of death came down from above. Her horn erupted in furious blue flame as the magic coalesced into a shield which covered them like a dome. The power from above broke on the alicorn’s shield, sending waves of pulsing yellow rolling like water down the city streets. Buildings were burnt and charred, some buckling and collapsing under the onslaught. Though the serpent’s power was diffracted, it wasn’t stopped. It merely continued to pour down in a raging torrent upon the tired princess. Her barrier began to waver, hairline fractures appearing along its overstressed structure. Luna began to panic. She knew that should she drop the barrier, she and everypony around her would die. Luna pushed herself past the point of exhaustion, new magical reserves coming from the young alicorn to patch the collapsing hull of her shield spell. The force of the serpent’s assault never waned, however. The Moon Princess knew that if this went on, her magic would dry up, leaving her a lifeless husk. She felt faint, the maelstrom of magic from above hailing down upon her, reducing more of Manehattan to rubble with each passing moment. The torment ended as the creature shut its massive maw, the hail of power trickling to nothing as her barrier shattered in upon itself. Her legs quivered and her head felt faint. She collapsed onto her haunches, her forelegs placed wide to steady her, panting in great gouts. Quickly she forced herself to her hooves and looked at the still-safe citizens of Manehattan. They had been spared, thanks to her efforts, and she gave a weak smile of satisfaction. Deceit began to laugh as he floated away from the building on which he had coiled. Bereft of the new weight, the building folded in on itself and collapsed in a cloud of dust that washed over the burning city. Floating in the sky before her, the serpent’s terrible voice echoed out. “How long shall thy resolve hold, dear Moon-Mare? For mine own part, I can withstand forever. And I need neither food nor rest...” a mocking sadness filled his tone. “It is true mine own eyes are old and mayhap mistake thee. But to them, it seems as if thou canst but barely stand.” The universe seemed to rumble with his laughter. “Verily canst thou see that thou art only a toy to one such as I? Thy sweet ponies are not long for this world, Princess of the Moon.”         Luna smiled brightly up at the serpent, still quivering from her prior exertion. She allowed herself a second’s pause, then spoke evenly. “I might still have a trick for you, old snake.” She began to focus, closing her eyes. The great serpent cocked his head, his expression curious. After a moment’s stillness, Luna’s remaining magical energy poured out of her horn like a bright geyser. A blue veil enfolded the ponies around her. She opened her own eyes, gave a defiant smile, and looked directly into Deceit's. “You may take me... but you shall not have them!” The veil shimmered and the ponies lying strewn about began to fade from the streets, disappearing from sight.         With the ponies now safe from harm's reach, Luna fell to the ground, completely exhausted. She lay on the cold, dusty ground, panting hard, dust and soot from the collapsing of Manehattan blowing away from her face with each breath. Above her, Deceit made no sound. He silently continued coiling upon himself, his face a mask of displeasure as fingers of yellow power continued to surge through him, his eyes locked on her frail form. That made him angry, she realized as she watched him. I took away his toys.         He laughed.         The deep rumble of his amusement turned into a chorus that resounded like an earthquake. “I had not taken thee for an arrant fool ere now, Night Princess,” Deceit said as he laughed. “From the beginning thou hast been my piece to move as I chose. I care not for the fools whom thou hast removed from my reach.” He sneered. “Thou hast given them but a brief stay before it is their time as it is now thine. My only errand was to sap thy strength. I would have thought that one such as thee could have seen. Did thy parents teach thee naught of stratagem?” He began to move closer towards her, his mouth dripping saliva down in front of her in great steaming pools. “Through the long dark ages have I awaited the time of my vengeance. Thou shalt die screaming on my teeth, and be remembered no longer while this world endures.”         As he drew closer to the weakened alicorn, Luna looked up defiantly at his flaring yellow eyes. “I am glad you chose tonight,” she said smiling defiantly at the approaching monster. She gazed up at her bright, milky-white moon and stood, dusting herself off with her wings. “Otherwise, you might have won.” She took in a deep breath. “I needed all of them out of the way for this.”         Luna’s horn began to pulse red, sending a beam of light up towards her moon. She had spent the prior week slowly pouring energy into it just for tonight. Not for a fight, though that had been fortuitous, but because she had wanted her moon to shine brightly and impress her sister. Her moon began to turn crimson, as did the Equestrian moonlight. Should Spike have failed to send the letter to Celestia, this would surely gain her attention, Luna thought. Now more than ever, she needed her big sister.         Deceit uncoiled faster than was seemly for such a large creature, pulling himself away from the Princess and floating high into the sky. The moon began to bleed down a stream of red, washing over Luna and rolling out in a crimson tide to flood the city. As the blood-red waters spread over Manehattan, its ruined buildings began to creak and sink into the anomaly, dissolving and spewing frothy red bubbles into the air about them.         The moon remained red even when the crimson waterfall had ended. Luna stood before the monster as she was revealed after the downpour. She wore armor of crimson, evoking the vague shadow of a blood-drenched Nightmare Moon. Her mane and tail were bright red, glistening with the birth and death of red stars. Her skin was a deep cherry, stained from the viscous liquid she had released.         Luna opened her eyes.         She felt sudden satisfaction, not just at the exultant rush of energies swirling within her, but from the shocked look on her nemesis' face, his yellow eyes glowing hypnotically. Luna had sworn to her sister long ago that she would never unleash the Crimson Moon. But she now had no other choice. The ground the moon had rained upon would never sustain life again. Leeched of every redeemable nutrient, she had sacrificed the city so that she might save its citizens, who lay sleeping peacefully in the forest.         “I am going to kill you,” Luna said flatly, her eyes seething with anger as she stared up at the serpent Deceit. She took a step forward, approaching him. The red waters around her reflected the moon in the sky, even the leviathan in the air, but hid her reflection completely. She stopped underneath him and extended a hoof before her, the waters below it rippling vigorously. Her voice became as a chorus of booming trumpets sounded by both angels and demons alike. “Now, vanish into obscurity before me!” The water in front of her shot upward like a needle.         Deceit laughed at the attack, and was cut short as the needle pierced his scaled belly, skewering him and breaking through his back with a sickening crack. He released a terrible shriek of pain, the water retreating rapidly from the shock wave of sound. He glared down at her with fury. “Never before has one not from among my kin wounded me,” he spoke with rage. “I assure thee that this time is both first... and last!” He whipped his body around him, coiling into a ball, only his head exposed. He began to draw in his magic, the familiar yellow power pulsing once again, and released it once more towards the stationary princess in a maelstrom of yellow light.         Luna lowered her head and raised her hoof above her as the beam descended. The waters around her bubbled up into an orb, swallowing her as the attack struck. Yellow lightning coursed angrily through the red waters, and the force of the magic sent a tidal wave of liquid towards the edges of the once-great city, now an unlivable ruin. When the onslaught from above broke, the orb collapsed into red water once more, revealing an unharmed alicorn still standing calmly before the snake. She looked up at him with cold eyes.         “Damnable mule!” He shouted in anger, uncoiling and descending down upon her with his fangs bared, yellow thunder pulsing from his open maw. The blood-red princess sank beneath the surface of the water as he slammed into where she had been, his head bounding off the ground under the thin pool of liquid. Unable to arrest the forward momentum of his massive form, the ponderous weight of his body crashed ruinously to the ground. He raised his head and roared, the water once more exploding away from him, and began blindly firing tongues of yellow lightning into the crimson pool.         Luna emerged from behind the serpent, her wings unfurling, and flew at him. Deceit turned to face her as she landed on his tail with her horn blazing with red fury. She plunged her horn into his flesh as she began to gallop along his back toward his head, prismatic fire erupting from his wounds. He roared as yellow power pulsed once again in his maw. The red liquid below darted up and wrapped around his mouth like rope, muzzling him. The power building within him continued to grow as Luna made the nearly one-kilometer run along his spine, rending his flesh with her burning horn, the wounds cauterizing from the heat. His eyes grew wide with panic as he shook his head, trying vainly to break his bonds.         Luna reached the monster’s head and released the magical charge, cutting through the creature's spine with a brilliant flash of red. She rode the corpse as it fell slowly but inexorably to the pool below, crashing with tremendous force, the red waters rushing away and the earth cracking in two great slabs from the sheer weight of the beast.         Leaping off the beast, she noticed that while it did not move, the power inside it continued to build. She pulled in the crimson tide around her as a shield, and the creature who had once sought to destroy her and her subjects exploded in a maelstrom of yellow lightning. Lowering her defenses, she gazed out at the remains. A charred black serpent’s skeleton sat smoldering in the crater that had once been Manehattan.         Frowning, the princess spoke. “You were powerful, Deceit. But you could not hope to best that which controls the very moon and tides.” She surveyed the destruction. Normally she would be fearful for using the power she had promised not to. But she knew that the twisted remains of the leviathan would more than absolve her of any wrongdoing in her sister's eyes.         Slowly, she turned away from the carnage she had wrought. She suddenly stopped. Something felt wrong to her. She couldn’t place the feeling. It was if she had an itch to scratch but couldn’t find it. The princess peered out into the night, her crimson moon still painting eerie shadows on the landscape, and realized what she was feeling.         Agony.         Luna opened her eyes to find herself in the maw of the serpent, impaled by many jagged teeth. Her skin was still covered by the armor she had summoned forth, but the red of the armor was being slowly covered in her free flowing blue blood. She gurgled a terrified scream as the serpent violently shook its head, ripping her free from its fangs, and threw her to the earth. She slammed head first into the thin pool of water below her. Struggling, Luna tried to call the waters to her, to pull her to safety, but they stood still. Her armor began to crack, turning to dust and blowing away in the wind. She rolled over to look up at the beast, fear in her eyes.         “Pity,” Deceit said with an evil grin, her blood on his face. “With that strength... thou may well have won the day. Tragically thou hast defeated thyself... by trusting in thine eyes.”         Coughing up blood, Luna’s face contorted in pain and fear. She weakly choked up to the looming monstrosity extending a hoof in supplication, “Please... I... I don’t want to die!”         He began a horrendously loud series of laughs, excited by her pained pleading. “Fear not, Princess of the Moon,” Deceit spoke coldly, his eyes burning into her. “Thou shalt feel nothing henceforth.” He raised his tail above the withered mare, and brought it crashing down upon her, spending no more effort than he might to crush an insect. As his piercing laughs poured across the land, the red moon above him grew dim, and cracked. *******         Deep in the chasm of the Great Divide a giant shadow lumbered awkwardly. A giant black spider, dark orange markings matching its glowing eyes, wound its way along the canyon floor. The markings on its back resembled a ghastly smiling face. One of its legs, broken and and hanging uselessly, dripped putrid green blood. As it walked, its spinnerets splayed the rocky walls with thin webbing, coating it in invisible strings.         The creature stopped walking, and raised its mangled leg to its rear eye level. “Damn that cur!” Its strangely sultry voice spat. “I would have expected Tempest to ruin my sport... but not some random mongrel! Those ponies shall be mine!” Her voice turned to a shout. “That wolf will dance for me!” Her eyes rolled around wildly as she raised her front legs, a web between them from which an enormous fly hung helplessly. “All the world is my stage! All of the mares and stallions merely puppets for my sport... oh!” Her fangs parted into a rough approximation of the arachnid equivalent of a sneer as she gazed upon the captive, her voice changing to a silky tone. “They have their exits and their entrances... and one pony in their time plays many parts whilst dancing at the end of my strings.” She dropped the web and the fly in a fit of sudden rage, crushing the bound insect under her clawed foot. “And all good puppets on my stage know to exit when the act is finished!”         “Ever have I noted thy ‘sporting’ to be almost solely with creatures somehow more pathetic than thyself, dear sister,” a voice echoed sarcastically out from the canyon walls. The spider scanned the walls nervously. “Didst thou truly believe that I would not be watching thee? Thou who wouldst rather spend thy time at ‘sport’ than follow thy orders.”         “Ahh... Misery,” her voice cooed out to the shadows. “I wondered when I should chance to catch thee in my webs.”         The air blew furiously around the spider, her webs blowing away, floating further down the canyon. The shadows on the rocky walls coalesced unnaturally to a single point, gradually taking the form of the great shadowy bird, who stood sternly before her. His sea-green eyes glared down at her. “Damnable Mockery,” Misery spat. “At thine own great peril dost thou practice thy namesake upon me.”         “I would never make to do so,” Mockery spoke with false modesty, raising a leg to point up at the blood-red moon shining down on them. “But what dost thou make of that?”         “My plans are laid deep. They have allowed for Deceit’s... overeagerness,” the black raven spoke, raising his head to leer at the moon. “Treachery shall attend to it.”         An expression of what might have been worry crossed her inequine face. “But... I thought that thou hadst intended for Treachery to occupy the young mare of the sun?”         “Unlike thee,” Misery said, bringing his gaze back upon her. “Treachery is reliable and capable of following orders. I trust him to see to it.” His gaze switched to her leg, still hanging uselessly. The sight seemed to frustrate the great bird. “What now hast thou done to thyself, Mockery?”         “A damned wolf,” the great black spider spat with disgust.         “Tempest!?” Misery asked urgently.         “No,” Mockery responded flatly, and with a touch of disappointment. “Just a wolf who decided to play at heroism. Tempest should have wished to sport with me more than with some puppet. What is more, it looked nothing like her, and felt nothing like her.” The raven cocked his head and looked at her incredulously. “The landslide it brought down upon me broke my leg.”         Misery reached forward with a wing, draping it over the broken leg. Mockery recoiled as the leg began to rot, melting in a viscous puddle on the ground underneath her, and Misery laughed a deep laugh.         “Now heal thy hurt and make thy way to Fillydelphia,” Misery said, taking flight. “We have suffered too many setbacks already and all the pieces must be in place for our plan to work.”         As the spider watched the great bird fly off into the night sky, a fresh leg burst forth from her body covered in green blood, replacing her lost limb. She tested her weight on it tentatively “Just as thou sayest, my lord,” Mockery said with sweet spite. “I will just have to find more puppets to play with in yonder hovel.” Rubbing her legs together gleefully, she made for Fillydelphia, skittering with a horrible speed. *******         “Hey Sweetie Blue, look at this!” Bon Bon exclaimed to a pony sleeping in a cot as she looked out the window of the moving train at the crimson moon. “Everypony! Look!”         A light blue mare with red and pink stripes in her mane approached the window beside her. “Wow!” Sweetie Blue said as she looked at the strange sight. “Wonder what’s going on out there?”         Ponies who were sitting in the train’s common room began filing towards the windows, gazing out into the night sky as the train barreled toward its destination. A mixture of excited speculation and worried concern filled the floating conversations drifting about in the midst of what was supposed to be a pre-concert party.         An earth pony with a coat the color of light cream and a striking red mane stepped away from the window. She looked at Bon Bon, who seemed to notice her apprehension and stepped away to speak with her. “Think everything is ok?” the rose-flanked earth pony asked, her ears drooping slightly.         “Sure it is, Rose,” Bon Bon told her enthusiastically, eliciting a ghost of a smile from the worried mare. Gently, she placed a comforting hoof on Rose’s shoulder. “It’s no secret that Princess Luna has been feeling a bit homesick. She’s probably just trying to get Celestia’s attention.”         The conversations by the window quickly took on a tone of panic and surprise. Bon Bon turned once more to look out of the window. She saw that the moon had a large and inevitably distressing crack running through it. The now-transformed red light seemed to be dimming as the crack spread.         They stared out the window in quiet worry. The fearful silence was short-lived, broken by the sudden entry and violent outburst of an obviously inebriated minty-green pony. Her wavy mane matched, save for a single shock of white. She walked into the room groggily and grimaced with the magical effort of rocketing an empty bottle of wine into a trash can. Everypony jumped at the sound of breaking glass and stared at her, their chests heaving.         “Would you all pleeeaaase keep it down?” She whined. Annoyed and drunk; a bad combination, Bon Bon reflected. “We got a big show tomorrow, and I know you’re all excited... but seriously!” She looked past the gathered mares and out the window. Gently, she massaged her left temple with a hoof. “Luna is just trying to get some attention. She’s probably just feeling a bit lonely. She has been gone for a thousand years!”         “That’s what I said, Lyra. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t we pay attention?” Bon Bon asked curiously. “I mean, the last time she felt ‘lonely’... we got Nightmare Moon.”         “You foals can worry all you like,” Lyra slurred slightly, smiling in good humor as she turned to leave, shaky on her hooves. “But I’m going to bed.” She looked over her shoulder at Bon Bon, her expression of mild frustration causing the beige earth pony to flash a bashful smile. “If somepony will let me sleep in peace.”         Everypony watched as she left the train car, winding her way back to her private quarters, alternately giggling and cursing. Bon Bon turned to look at the other mares. “Well, you heard her, girls!” She spoke in an authoritative tone. “We need to get some sleep! Tomorrow is Hay Stock, and that stage isn’t gonna build itself!”         Mares grumbled quietly as they made their way to their cots, lying down restlessly. Bon Bon smiled as she watched them settle in. Turning and walking out of the passenger car, she headed up the train toward the private suites. On her way to Lyra’s room, she stopped outside an open door, glancing inside. Vinyl Scratch was lying on her bed with her eyes closed, shades resting on her stomach. Bon Bon smiled at the mare, fast asleep with a set of headphones blaring quick, percussive beats into her ears, and closed the door for her.         Continuing down the hallway, a gray earth pony opened her door, and smiled out at her with a slight and endearing awkwardness. “Oh... Bon Bon. Good. I wanted to talk to you for a moment,” the mare said kindly, opening her door fully and motioning inside. “Would you come in?”         “Sure, Octavia,” Bon Bon said cheerfully as she followed her inside.         “Make yourself comfortable, dear,” Octavia said as she approached her liquor cabinet and began perusing the contents.         Bon Bon sat on a velvet pillow in the middle of the floor, and began to look around the mare’s room. Even though it was a three-day trip by train, Octavia had furnished it with her own paintings and adornments. Bon Bon looked to the two large instrument cases in the corner of the room, identical in size and fashion.         Octavia smiled, cheeks rosy from a night of casual imbibing, as she saw Bon Bon’s poorly-disguised curiosity. Her voice was slightly thick. “When I travel... I bring a spare.”         “Oh! That makes sense,” Bon Bon said, her expression growing troubled. “But... I read that your Contrabass is one of a kind.”         “It is,” Octavia replied flatly, lying across her bed with a freshly opened bottle of Chateau la Horse, of what year and expense Bon Bon could only guess. “Drink?”         “Huh,” Bon Bon replied, lost in thought.         “Would... you like... a drink,” Octavia spoke pointedly, slowly and carefully pronouncing each word, gesturing unambiguously to her open bottle.         “Of that!?” Bon Bon asked in utter shock.         “Mm-hm,” replied the gray mare with a giggle.         Fearful of the scorn she might receive in turning down such a lavish offering, and dying to try something she would never have been able to afford, Bon Bon quickly replied, “sure!” Octavia grinned widely, retrieving two wine glasses with a soft and inequine grace, despite her mild inebriation. Setting them down on the floor, she doled out two generous portions with the care that earth ponies learned to use from an early age to make up for their lack of flight or magic.         Bon Bon gently inhaled the wine’s bouquet, quickly concluded it to be well above her pay grade, and took a sip. She smiled as the sweetness of the wine rolled over her tongue, growing immediately giddy and clapping her hooves in excitement. A welcome warmth already filled her tummy. She quickly blushed, realizing that Octavia was smiling at her display from the comfort of her bed, lying lazily as she gently moved the red liquid about in her glass, an arcane procedure whose purpose perplexed Bon Bon, despite having seen it before.           “You like?” Octavia asked.         Bon Bon had to take a moment, overcoming her embarrassment at her recent behavior before answering bashfully. “Yes, thank you!”         “Any time,” the grey mare said, then took a sip. She sat the wine on the table in front of the bed and looked into Bon Bon’s eyes. “So do you play den mother for all of Lyra’s... gigs?”         Bon Bon laughed. “Oh no. This is probably the biggest event I’ve ever been to. Hay Stock is once a year but... we’ve never been.” She looked into the liquid at the bottom of her wine glass. “We wouldn't even be going if DJ Pon3 wasn’t hosting it this year. She invited us. Lyra’s very happy to get to play in front of such a large crowd. What about you?”         Octavia rolled over onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. “As you know, I do plenty of shows in Canterlot. But... just like you two I have never attended this... kind of performance.”         Bon Bon’s curiosity was getting the better of her as she glanced back over at the two instrument cases. “Umm,” she hesitated and took a mildly unladylike gulp of the sweet wine. “About the whole ‘one-of-a-kind’ thing. Do you think you could clarify that?”         “Make you a deal,” Octavia said playfully. “I’ll answer that question if you will answer one of mine.”         “Sure!” Bon Bon agreed happily, memories of fillyhood sleepovers jumbling together with the wine and quickening her response.         “Good,” Octavia said with a wry grin. She waited a moment, taking another sip from her glass, then pointed at the first case. “Originally, I was taught to play the violin by a stallion named Treble Clop.” Bon Bon gave a giggle, choking on her mouthful of wine. The gray mare arched her elegant brow. “Oh please, darling.” Octavia grinned at the coughing pony. “Get your head out of the gutter... he was a respectable and well-educated pony.”         “Sorry,” Bon Bon apologized, wiping a tear from her eye. “Please continue.”         Octavia waited a second, shaking her head, her smile never fading. “Anyway,” she continued. “One day, I decided to hold the violin like you’ve seen me holding my double bass. She took another sip before continuing. “He took it as outside inspiration... so... he built it.” Her eyes locked on the case holding her instrument. Her voice changed to admiration. “The instrument stands at one hundred eighty centimeters from scroll to end pin. It is constructed from several types of wood.” She took another sip from her glass, emptying it. “Maple for the back, spruce for the top, and ebony for the hoofboard. I am well versed in playing arco and pizzicato.” Noticing the vacant stare of her guest, she laughed. “That’s playing with either the bow or plucking the strings by hoof.”         “Oh!” Bon Bon exclaimed, then motioned to the other case. “That’s all well and good... but not what I meant. If it’s one of a kind... how can you have two?”         “I don’t,” Octavia said, reaching down for the bottle to refill her glass. “That... is an abomination against the art of music. Treble Clop made... that... because he got inspired once he finished with mine.”         Bon Bon’s ears fell flat to her head. “Then... why do you carry it with you?”         Octavia froze, her hoof just barely touching the bottle before her. “Who knows?” Her tone was wistful, her eyes looking up at the case. “I promised him I would on his deathbed. He said I would know how and when to play it.” She quickly averted her eyes, grabbing the bottle and drinking a deep pull straight from it, her empty glass tinkling to the floor. Her voice had a twinge of sadness when she spoke again. “Foalish babblings of a once-great stallion. That he could have ever thought I would play that... it’s not an instrument. To call it that defiles the dignity of my contrabass.”         “Sorry,” Bon Bon spoke with great sincerity, clearly worried about the cellist.         “For what?” Octavia asked, shrugging as though there truly were nothing. She smiled wickedly as she glared at Bon Bon. “My turn.”         “Oh yeah!” Bon Bon replied with obvious apprehension. She tried to drown her hesitance in a large mouthful of wine.         “How long have you been bucking Lyra?” Octavia asked, leaning in close.         Octavia’s reward for the uncouth question was a shower in her own expensive libations. Bon Bon, shocked beyond words, sprayed the contents of her mouth directly into Octavia’s face. The other mare made no move to avoid the spray. Bon Bon’s eyes met the drenched mare’s as she reached a hoof over and grabbed a towel, wiping herself off.         “Thanks for that,” Octavia said sarcastically, finishing and tossing the towel away.         “Sorry,” Bon Bon replied sheepishly.         “Soooo?” The gray mare drawled, grinning again.         “We’re not!” Bon Bon exclaimed. “Why does everypony think that!? She’s just a foalhood friend!”         Octavia pursed her lips in boredom. “That’s a pity,” she added, her smile turning to a frown. “Would have been a nice juicy bit of gossip.” She noticed that Bon Bon’s face now wore an indignant glare. “Oh calm down, double B.” Bon Bon’s eye arched inquisitively at the strange and unsolicited nickname. She was pretty sure that nopony had ever called her that. Not even Lyra in her crueler moments. But Octavia went on. “Everypony loves a bit of good gossip. It makes our boring little lives seem interesting. But knowing you aren't with her, just playing den mother, I might try to steal you away.”         “What!?” Bon Bon exclaimed bashfully, her cheeks flushing brightly.         Octavia looked back at the mare, her eyes averted to the ceiling in a moment of quiet consideration before she seemed to comprehend the content of her words. “Oh,” she said, laughing. “Not like that. As a director and planner for when I tour. You do good work. Everything seems to be moving along nicely. I could use you.”         “Oh,” Bon Bon breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled up to Octavia. “I would need to talk to Lyra about that.” Octavia gave her a knowing smile, bringing another unbidden blush to her cheeks. She stood up, wobbling slightly, the alcohol in her system objecting to her flirtations with verticality. “Well, thank you Octavia. But I should probably get some rest. And so should you.”         “Yes, mother,” Octavia slurred sarcastically, curling up with her now-empty bottle of fine wine like a filly’s stuffed pony. She looked up once more as Bon Bon made her way to the door. “Are you sure you're not bucking her?”         Bon Bon turned around and sighed. “Yes, I’m certain.” Pointedly, she continued. “Goodnight, Octavia.”         “Goodnight, double B,” the inebriated mare moaned sleepily, hugging her bottle in foalish contentment.         Bon Bon rolled her eyes as she pulled the door shut and headed back to the suite at the very end of the private car. “Why does everypony think that?” She asked herself as she approached the door. “It’s a completely unfounded assumption!” She pushed the last door open with a hoof, revealing a room strewn with empty beverage containers, an especially impressive pile sitting magisterially in the middle. Atop it snored a drunken Lyra, who ignored the perfectly good bunk bed. With a touch of frustration, Bon Bon approached, giving the minty-green pony a gentle tap with her hoof. “Lyra, get up. Time for bed.” Lyra replied with a growl and rolled over, pulling empty containers over herself like a security blanket. “Get up!” Bon Bon began knocking the bottles off the sleeping pony. Lyra looked up with bloodshot eyes at the familiar mare. “You stole my warm,” she said hazily, eliciting a grin from her friend as she turned her head and nestled back to sleep. Lyra looked up groggily, seeming to note that she hadn’t moved. “Ugh!” She moaned hoarsely. “Fine.” She got up and walked over to the bottom bunk, crashing awkwardly, her hind legs hanging over the side. Bon Bon sighed, stepping over and pushing her friend onto the bed. “You really are a handful,” she spoke as she struggled to get the all her bits in bed. Satisfied with her work, she took the covers gently in her teeth and pulled them over her drunken friend. “There we go.” Bon Bon began to climb up to her top bunk and Lyra rolled over, half asleep, and grabbed her tail with her hooves. The cream-colored mare stared down at her and smiled sweetly. Bon Bon quit trying to climb into her bed. Instead, she curled up alongside her drunken friend, resting her head down upon Lyra’s stomach. Their faces shared expressions of contentment. Both mares fell asleep peacefully. In their sunlit pony dreams, cracked, horrible red moons didn’t even register. Author’s Notes Big thanks again to Malthusite, my editor, for all the hard work he has poured into this project. I would also like to thank everypony over on my facebook for their continued support and feedback.