The Moon's Tear

by Luna Sapphire

Luna's Awakening

Prologue: Luna's Awakening

A ray of sunshine came through a small gap in the curtains of a room at the Leaky Cauldron, disturbing the sleep of a young girl. Her ears moved with the sound of a hooting owl. Blue ears on her head, like some animal.

The girl opened her cyan eyes slowly, using one hand to protect them from the sunshine. She noticed the wooden roof that covered the place where she was. Confused, she finally sat up and allowed herself a look around.

She was sitting on a bed, covered with white sheets; the room was small, with furniture made of oak and a fireplace.

On the nightstand beside the bed was perched a brown owl, but the girl ignored the animal. Where was she?

Then she slowly remembered. Her name was Luna and she was a princess pony, co-ruler of Equestria alongside with her older sister, Celestia. She was the princess of the night, with the duty of raising the moon to bring the night.

But then there was that spirit, Nightmare, who, seeing how jealous she was over her sister and taking advantage of this, harnessed her black feelings in a moment of weakness to turn her into Nightmare Moon, taking control and trying to destroy Celestia who, without choice, used the Elements of Harmony to imprison her on the moon.

The scene around her made Luna think that there were two possibilities: either her sister misjudged the power of the elements, which got rid of Nightmare and sent herself to who knew where; Or someone interfered, causing the same effect.

The first was possible, but unlikely, because they had already used the Elements of Harmony before and knew well what they were dealing with. The second was also possible but unlikely, because she, Celestia and Nightmare were alone during the whole battle.

The owl hooted impatiently, but Luna ignored it again, her attention focused on a mirror in the room.

Moving a little further to the edge of the bed, Luna could view her reflection and had to make a great effort not to scream. She wasn't a pony anymore. The new creature she had become seemed a hybrid between pony and... Human! Yeah, this was it. It was exactly what it seemed. She had read about it in one of the records of ancient portal spells created in Dragonia, although no transition between worlds had been made successfully; until that moment.

She seemed a young human girl, but kept some pony features; like ears, wings, her tail and her horn. Her hair was short and light blue, like her mane in its natural form. The stranger in the mirror... she still looked like herself, and it wasn't by the pony signs.

Then she was in another world, not in Equestria? What would she do now? How to get home?

Her attention finally turned to the owl, and Luna realized that it was carrying two letters. One was thick and had a wax seal, seeming important. It was addressed to Luna Stars, in a place called The Leaky Cauldron, and according to the address, room thirteen. She assumed that was where she was right now.

The letter stated that she was summoned to a school of magic, for which she certainly would not attend. She needed a way to return to Equestria. But if she couldn't before September 1... Schools usually had libraries, and one would certainly be helpful.

The owl was still there, so she took the opportunity to send a reply, and also to test if her magic still worked here. She was happy to be able to open the drawer in the table and take parchment, pen and ink from within. She could feel her magic was weak, but still worked.

Of course, if she didn't get out of here she would have to learn to do things without alicorn magic, but for certain things she would need someone who could teach her. Someone she could trust. And she first wanted to try some spells that could maybe take her home.

When the owl had gone, Luna heard a knock at the door.

"I'm coming!" She cried.

Using a quick illusion spell she got rid of most her pony features, although she left the ears. Now the hard part. She reached for support to get up, but fell back on the bed a few times until she could balance well enough to remain standing on her new legs and go, a bit wobbly, to the door and open it, too with some difficulty.

It was a busy day. Getting used to human ways was complicated. Luckily she was left alone most of the time and spent most of this time in her room, trying some things and waiting for the night to try to get back.

Now it was late and the sun was setting. It was strange not having to raise the moon, it was as if part of her was missing. A goal, a reason to be there.

Sitting in the window, now back to the way in which she had come, she thought of all that had happened. She had been discovered out on a street and someone who remained anonymous had had her brought here and paid for the room. But who could it be? No one knew her; it was as if everyone had mysteriously forgotten.

Then she remembered that there was another letter that she still had not opened. It was there where the owl had left it; a dark blue envelope decorated with golden stars on the edges and written in silver ink. There was no address.

Dear Princess Luna

I hope you have come through this trip safely. You must be wondering how you got here and what happened to Nightmare. I am afraid, about Night; her spirit is still inside you, again asleep. As for this world... The release of the power of the Elements of Harmony in Equestria, coincided with a rare stellar event in another world, creating a dimensional vortex. With a little help from me, you were brought here. 1000 years trapped on the moon seemed a little boring, and I don't know if Nightmare would still be in control or not. I don't know how long you will have to wait in this world until you will be allowed to return to Equestria, but I fear that by the time difference, there will be 1000 years past. I'll be providing you with a way to communicate with me in my next letter. Until then, I hope you enjoy your stay.

Your mysterious friend

Star Gate

Luna looked confused at the letter. Who was Star Gate? Well, she understood why she was there now and understood that she couldn't return, thanks to her sister, and that the owner of the letter only wanted to help bring her there. But how did this mysterious person know what was going on in Equestria to be able to interfere?

Well, she had much to be grateful for. She expected to only be able to keep tabs on Nightmare, and that her sister could forgive her for Nightmare Moon and all that she had said earlier. The two had always been so close, so she started getting jealous, which aroused Nightmare, who obviously had not helped at all.

But the problems would continue when she returned. What if she lost control again? What if Celestia couldn't stop her this time?

Luna didn't want to worry about that. She just wanted to go home, but it would have to wait. Meanwhile, she would learn what she could about this new world.

The next day was better for Luna. She sat at a table in the pub, which was located downstairs and was just watching the humans coming and going; how they behaved, how they did things, listening to conversations, learning things by watching.

She found out that this world was divided between magical and non-magical humans. Those who did magic used a kind of wooden stick. It should not work very different from her horn. Basic magic.

A not very welcome piece of news was that here she was a normal girl, not a princess. She discovered this the hard way. The hardest would be to avoid using her real voice and adapt to the way of speaking of the natives. Luckily the majority spoke the same language as her, and the strangest thing was that everypony seemed to pay for everything while she seemed to receive everything for free.

When she came back to her room, she found a black owl with feathers flecked with white resting on the cabinet.

The owl flew to her shoulder, bringing another black letter in its beak. Luna opened it and read:

Dear Princess Luna

How are you adapting?

This is Night Wing. She is your owl now. She is able to find me wherever I am, if a letter is marked with a star stamp. There is a card inside the envelope with some, let me know when you're running out of them and I'll send more. Likewise your letters come with a seal of the moon. If the seal is different, send it back.

The truth is that I am sending this letter to tell you that you will be getting a visit tomorrow to purchase your school supplies. I have paid for your stay in this place. Inside the envelope is also the key to your safe deposit box; it's time you learn to do it by yourself. And don't worry about where the money came from, or needing to return it, I am giving it to you.

Your mysterious friend

Star Gate

Comments

[Dicefire5]

Well right off the bat I would say that the biggest reason this story is not as well liked is because right in the first chapter you introduce a character that behaves like a Deus Ex Machina...Yes I am talking about Star Gate.

The idea behind the story so far is sound and interesting.

It's just that if you feel the need to create a character that can bridge dimensions, control the elements, and gift the main character all the knowledge she needs to get started...then what is going to happen later on?...

A good deal of what Luna was just gifted by Star Gate could have been figured out on her own, and that process could have been used to get us the readers more emotionally invested in the story.

Deus Ex Machina characters are usually considered (I am sorry for saying it) lazy writing, and it makes readers nervous simply because we then wonder what other convenient characters of macguffin will be written in to the story...?

The story has potential! Don't give up!