Old Mare Luna

by Leondude

Chapter 8 - Old wounds

Luna and Discord continued on their travels once again, heading towards Dodge City. Along the way, they caught a glimpse of Ponyville in the distance. Luna winced as memories of that day flashed in her mind, something Discord took notice of.

"Too many memories?" Discord asked. "I know how you feel."

"I'd rather not talk about it."

Ponyville looked different from what it was five-hundred years ago, with the buildings being overrun with vines from the Everfree Forest and dark crystals when Sombra tried to take over. The residents were all wearing helmets similar to the ones used by Sombra and Grogar's forces, except this time, they were coloured with tinges of pink and the residents' eyes were glowing a light blue. They also had smiley faces painted on them. It was a sight that disturbed both Luna and Discord. In the centre, there was a big rectangular crystal with Cozy Glow's face carved into it. While Sombra actually succeeded in taking over Ponyville, it immediately became part of Cozy Glow's territory after Grogar put Sombra in his place and took his life.

"Hey there, friends!" the crystal rendition of Cozy Glow said in that sickeningly sweet demeanour of hers. "Just remember, friendship is power. And if none of you are my friends, I'll put you all to sleep!"

It sickened both Luna and Discord that a pony would threaten to kill somepony else while acting all innocent about it. Eventually, they made their way into a bar in Dodge City for some rest and refreshments. The bartender, wearing an unnaturally wide grin, walked up to the two of them as they sat at the bar.

"How can I help you, friend-a-reenos?" the bartender said, his voice having a hint of fear in it in spite of the jolly demeanour.

"Cider," Luna and Discord said simultaneously.

"And some hayburgers, if you please," Discord added on.

"Okely dokely lokely," the bartender said, turning away to pour their drinks from the keg behind him.

Luna and Discord looked around the bar. There were ponies that were wearing the helmets they saw at Ponyville sitting amongst unhelmeted ponies at the bar, and the ones that weren't wearing any helmets had very wide smiles that seemed forced. Luna wondered if Celestia ever had to smile like that during her exile. Suddenly, Discord broke the silence.

"I messed up," he said.

"How so?"

"Settler's right. All of this could have been prevented with a snap of my fingers. I really wanted Fluttershy and her friends to win like they always did that it never occurred to me that they would actually lose. I thought this would be another one of those close-calls they always had, like that time where I turned them against each other."

"I know how you feel. When I was Nightmare Moon, I had been using illusions and even trying to kill them before they confronted me. When I smashed the Elements in front of Twilight, I thought I had finally achieved victory. Then they used their friendship to restore the Elements and save me from the darkness. After that, they taught me that Nightmare Night brings happiness to my subjects despite coming about from my darker moments. Celestia had told me of the various times they saved Equestria from certain doom that, when we decided to retire, we thought they would have it under control."

"I know, right?! And when I betrayed them to Tirek and lost my magic the first time around, I was not expecting them to win because of what I did. And yet they still managed to win! Really, the only time I can think of when they didn't save Equestria was when Chrysalis and her hive returned and replaced everypony except Starlight and Trixie with changelings. And even then, Starlight, Trixie and I wouldn't have rescued them if they didn't make us see the error of our ways!"

Both Luna and Discord sighed, wondering how did everything go to Tartarus so quickly.

"Well, here are your drinks, fellas!" the bartender said, slamming two mugs of cider onto the counter in front of Luna and Discord. "I wasn't interrupting your conversation, was I?"

Luna turned towards the bartender. "Do you mind if I ask you something?" she asked.

"Heck, shoot!" the bartender said.

"Do you ever wish that you were born in some other time period, a time when you wouldn't have to answer to some power-hungry despot all twenty-four hours of the day?"

"Well, judging by your descriptions, the world five hundred years ago certainly seemed a lot more i-diddly-dyllic," the bartender said. "But I was born in this time period, and I've still managed to keep a smile on my face!" While this was indeed technically true, the likely forced smiles painted on his and half the patrons' faces did not help his case in Luna's eyes. She sulked back down, her chin resting against the counter.

"Oh well!" Discord said in a slightly cheerier tone. "At least you seem a little more like your old self."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Luna said grimly.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean..."

Luna then had a flashback to Sombra's attack on Ponyville. She was covered in blood, panting and snarling like a rabid animal, her fury being fueled by fear. Fear for her subjects. Fear for her friends. Fear for her sister. Surrounding her were the bloodied forms of Chrysalis, Sombra and all sorts of other monsters either lying on the ground or impaled on one of Sombra's dark crystals.

"I have no interest in atoning for my sins by playing the part of the hero, Discord," Luna said. "I love my husband, our foals, and the little life we made for ourselves. I'm only doing this so we can pay off our debts to Tirek."

Sitting at the table behind them, there were two Earth ponies, one with a yellow coat and a black balding mane, the other with a blue coat, ginger mane, bushy moustache and a pair of green eyes. The moustached pony walked up to them.

"Well, excuse us, fillies," the moustached one said in an Appleloosa drawl "Ah didn't realize tonight was..."

Luna can tell from the mocking tone of the Earth pony that he found her pain to be funny. In a fit of rage that, up until that point, had been long since been pent-up, she slammed the moustached pony's head into the bar, growling like a ferocious beast and looking ready to tear somepony's head off. One quick look at the pony's terrified face snapped her out of it. Horrified by what she was doing, she quickly ran out of the bar. Discord immediately began running after her. Luna ran as quickly as her legs could carry her, flashbacks of that one day running through her head. And right behind her was Discord, trying his best to catch up to Luna. When he finally caught up to her, they were both in the middle of a desert. Luna was sobbing hard, tears running down her eyes like waterfalls. Discord could tell that Luna wasn't telling her something.

"What happened to you, Luna?"

Luna slowly regained her composure and looked at Discord.

"Sit down, and I'll tell you everything."

Author's Note:

Now you lot will only have to wait two more weeks until the big reveal. Trust me, it would be worth the wait.

Comments

[Assy Assman]

Luna needs a beard.

[Leondude]

9732353
I don't think female ponies can grow beards. And if they could, chances are it would be a very rare condition. Also, she'd look ridiculous with one (not that I'm saying beards are ridiculous considering I myself have quite the badass beard).

[DmitriTheWriter]

9732353
But she already has a beard. What do you think that waving sheet of stars flowing from the back of her head is?

[Leondude]

9732649
Uh...Dmitri? That's her mane.

[DmitriTheWriter]

9732663
No, it's her beard. When Luna was banished to the Moon a thousand years ago, she singlehandedly took down the Moon Mafia, in the process becoming so manly that she spontaneously grew a huge wavy beard. Then she cut if off and glued it to the back of her head. Come on, everyone knows this.

[Leondude]

9732783
What an interesting headcanon.

[Emperor Grogar]

I knew that i took the Cozy pony in my crew for a reason

[Nightflight406]

Cozy wants us to smile. Now I get the joke. Now I'm always smiling. *crazy Joker laugh*