The Moon Isn't All Bad

by Ze Guest

7: The Notebook

Once again, the same song. Playing at the same time. 6:00. Luna just lied there, ignoring the order of the alarm clock to get up. She had nothing planed for today. She didn't feel like doing anything. The song ended. And Luna still lay in bed. She stayed like that for about fifteen more minuets and she finally got up.

She shambled down the stairs and into the kitchen. There, she sifted through the refrigerator. Nothing too interesting. She could have eggs. She plucked one out of the fridge. She stared at it for a second. Not too sure why, though. And she popped the egg in her mouth. The uncooked egg tasted fairly good. Not perfect, but good. She ate another. Followed by three more until her stomach was content.

She stood in the kitchen and remembered the taste of the eggs. Not too bad. Another excuse for her sister to call her weird. It had been quite a while after Hickory's death. But without him, things were just bland. She didn't feel like doing anything anymore and she had already given up on remaking him. But things were getting a little better. Sleep no longer eluded her. But it wasn't easy either.

She wandered around her house a little bit. Past the bathroom, past the foyer, past the entertainment room. The entertainment room was a trophy of pure irony. It stuck out like soar hoof. It was void of anything that could possibly be fun or entertaining and was, in fact, an actual void. A deep dark gaping hole in the middle of everything. For no reason either. It was still there and, alas, she didn't quite know why. But when the day comes when she goes back to Equestria she'll most likely forget all about that room.

She walked around a little more. She passed pretty much everything in the house. Except, of course, the library. Trashed and ruined, and Luna didn't have the decency nor the dignity to fix it up. The walls still stood and the ceiling was there. The bookshelves, however, were just mere piles of dust. It looked crappy. Like, really crappy. But she had nothing else to do. Might as well fix the place up.

She fixed the bookshelves up and put back the fake books, no longer caring about the order they were in. It didn't matter anymore. The went to the last one and erected the bookshelf, but stopped there. There, in a little hole in the wall, sat a book. A real book. It was, no doubt, made very poorly. All pages bound by a single strap of leather. But what was this book doing here. Last time she checked, Luna didn't find any actual books. Then again, she never actually checked for that.

She flipped through a few pages, skimming through them. It wasn't just a book. It was a journal. It certainly wasn't Luna's. But, if not hers, then who's? It couldn't be... Hickory's... could it? I mean, not to be rude, but friend or not, he was still just a pile of dust. She found a page and started to read it.

Today was certainly a bit... different. The Princess made these lobsters and told them to attack us. Why? I haven't a clue. We found a hill in which the battle would ensue. She made sure the we specifically had close to no ammunition. I went up to her and tried to ask what she was thinking, but she just said she had an idea. I had a feeling she might have been lying.

"Huh," Luna said to herself. "I guess I didn't fool anypony after all." She kept reading.

When The Princess finally got an idea, it worked fairly well. We fought back at the lobsters and forced a retreat twice. The third time, the lobsters broke through. I had to save the Princess and give up ammunition to her in which she wasted. We ended up losing the battle. But for some reason, she was still happy. It made me wonder, has she learned to forgive herself?

Now what did that mean? Well, actually, she has been on the moon for a thousand years with now way to escape. But still, she learned her lesson! She knew that what she did was wrong.

She flipped through a couple more pages. Most of them just about the boring days where nothing happened. Then she found a passage she liked.

Now for some reason, The princess has put me in charge of the attack. Who knows, maybe she might have recognized me.

Recognized? The question beat her.

This fight didn't last long. I just did my best to end it quickly. I did a good job. It lasted thirty minuets. I saw The princess running around with swords, slicing the lobsters in half. After her little 'playtime' she had a crazy look in her eyes. It almost scared me. But I think I can handle myself. Other than this, the princess seemed to quite nice and loose.

Luna started to wonder, did hickory dislike the battles? He seemed to act like it. She started flipping through and found the entry for the next battle.

That look in her eyes was nothing short of insanity. She even dropped the whole lobster thing and instead, put in tigers! What was she thinking? Okay, I have gotten a liking in princess Luna, but when it comes to sanity, the two contradict! Just cutting up the poor things like stake. Now I know why she sent mehere...

What?! She?! Who's sh- Wait... Could it be... She found the next page she was looking for.

Luna, even though she is somewhat nice, she did something which seemed very inhumane. She wasn't just killing piles of dust trying to kill her, she was killing piles of dust that never wronged her. I could hardly fathom what she was thinking. And to say it was fun? I mean, yes, it is a game, but even a game can be taken too far. And the fact that she was that last living thing I've seen in the last life and now this one? If only I could tear. But I'm just a pile of dust.

Luan couldn't even believe what she was reading. She had to read it again just to try to believe it. And what scared her even more? There was one last page to look for. She finally found it. She didn't want to read it. But she felt she had to.

There is only one conclusion I can make here: Princess Luna is a machine. Heartless, careless. Nearly two miles away insanity reigns. A few days ago she made this machine. A gun. But so much worse. Now you pull the trigger and multiple bullets fly out. An instant kill. I doubt when I'm near her, but I'm doing the right thing. What I need to do now is a test. To see if this machine has a heart. Celestia sent me here just for that.

Celestia. Luna found herself not being surprised. But she had a heart... didn't she?

I know what I should do. I've been here long enough for her to think we've grown a bond. If I die will Luna cry? Or will she shrug it off like the rest? When I die, I'll make sure she finds this book. I'll make sure she reads every page and I'll make sure she regrets making me re-live hell! One day she will know this: You take a fighter out of combat, you cannot put him back.

Luna put the book on the floor. So that was it? The entire time she was here, she was just some monster to who she thought was a friend? So that means that the entire time she thought she had learned her lesson, she really didn't? She was just some mad mare? It was now that she actually realized what was going on. She thought the lesson to learn was not to take over Equestria. But really it was she was insane and nopony actually liked her?

But there was one last page. This was different from the rest. This time, it was a letter.

-Princess Luna,
If you have not read the book in which this letter is enclosed, I intend you to. If you have, here are answers that you might want revealed. It was indeed your sister, Princess Celestia who sent me here. She told me to find any way possible to get in touch with you but not directly. To try and teach you your lesson without doing it altogether. What I had decided to do was observe your actions. When I saw you with the stallion you built, I figured this would be a good way to do this.

Okay, so Luna could tell that Celestia set this whole thing up. But how did Hickory do whatever he did?

What you are probably wondering is how I was able to do this. The answer may be one you would regret.

Regret? How would she regret it? Then a thought came to her. It was a scary thought.

My real name was not Old Hickory, as you have named me. Instead it was Hail Storm. I was a war General. And you, Princess Luna the first of Equestria, are my killer.

... Luna didn't know what to say. What to think except that time she last saw Hail. On the ground, face down in the mud. There was a hole in his chest as well.

During your reign, you ran me through. But Celestia asked of me one last favor. I'm quite sure I've already stated that. Through my time I spent with you. I had concluded that you were corrupt. But I thought I might be able to help you. So here it is. You are not insane. You are just, in all simplicity, jealous. Although many don't like to admit it, that is the answer. I hope you take this all in. There is one last thing that you should know. Another lesson. But I have faith in you. I feel you could find it out yourself.

- Hail "Old Hickory" Storm

Luna sat back. Trying to think about what that last lesson could possibly be. The one she was intended to find out for herself. Then she got an idea. She re-read the passages. This time more open-mindedly.

Hickory, or Hail, didn't like what Luna was doing. He thought she was corrupt and maybe even evil in some cases. What Luna had been doing herself was...

"Making havoc..." She said to herself.

That was it! The entire time she was on the moon, the only thing she was looking forward to was just slaughtering those dust stallions. She didn't mind killing them because, to her, they didn't have much value. But when Hickory died, she just lost all hope. Just gave up on everything.

What she was supposed to learn was that everything has value. From a small pebble to the biggest gem in the world. She can't just act like things don't have a purpose. She didn't think that killing the dust stallions didn't matter. But when it came to Hickory, he was completely disgusted. He couldn't even call Luna humane.

Then Luna realized another thing. Those thousand years she had been on the moon. She really did need them. She thought she had learned her lesson but in all reality, it would take her a hundred decades to realize just how wrong she was.

Luna almost started to break a smile about it. In fact, she did. As annoying Celestia is, or, was, she was pretty damn smart.

Comments

[Mad Pancake]

Celestia? Oh. That was... Well, to be honest disappointing. I just think that if Luna had accidentally created Ol' Hickoy, that the journal would have been more meaningful and eye opening to her. Instead of just another of her sister's meddlings it would have been from an actual, slightly accidental, but an actual friend. Instead of being just another of her sister's pawns and plots..
But then it's 0119 at the moment and I'm thanking Luna for autocorrect.