Living Under The Moon Chapter 15

Trixie shuffled the deck three times.  “now, let’s see if Trixie can wow  you” she gestures a bit with her hooves as the cards floating around in between the both of you, flourishing in the air before she holds the deck, one by one each card is placed on the mat between you, each card sitting over the other “I’ll see if the psychic lessons I’ve been getting have worked.” She holds her hoof on a 7 of diamonds “hmmm, no, this isn’t it” and with that the card beneath it glows and lifts out from underneath it, revealing the Jack of Spades “This is your card”

You nod with a smile “it is, but I know how you did the trick”

“Excuse me now?” She raises an eyebrow, clearly not knowing what you mean

“Well, you didn’t need to know my card, just the card on the top of mine.” You point to the 3 of hearts. “I noticed this card when I put the card in on top of the bottom half of the deck; it was on the bottom of the upper half.  You just needed to see this card to know that one was mine” you tap the jack of spades as it floats there, Trixie’s magic fading as it drop to the floor.

“Had that been anyone but you, I would have kicked you out.”

“Except we’re in my room” You mention to her, in fact the both of you had been sitting in your bed and she’d been showing you magic tricks most of the day.


Trixie hops off your bed “I think we should head into town.” She then looks at you rather appraisingly “and you need a manecut”

You pull your head back in defense. “What’s wrong with my mane?”

“You’ve had that same style since we met, it’s getting a tad long”

“My mane is perfectly fine and I’m not cutting it.” You declare confidently.

It was quiet in the hair salon as Trixie and Ivory sat on either side of you. Somehow Ivory had been of the same mind as Trixie, and in little time had conspired together and had relocated you to the local salon in Canterlot.  You never liked haircuts, they didn’t hurt you nor did you claim to have experienced a traumatic incident involving a deranged barber with an obsession for baldness.  No, you just had a sense of freedom in long hair. In your previous life you never felt like you looked well with short hair, so you always grew it out until your family could take it no longer.

“Midnight Sentry?” You flinch a bit hearing the name, regardless of how completely yours it is now, you’re still not used to hearing or using it, you nod and stand up. “If you just come back here I’ll set you up with a new mane style” the light green mare with the bright yellow mane that could sear ponies retinas with a passing glance signals you to a chair, you can hear some whisperings from one of your Unicorn friends in the back ground

“Your friends say they chose a manestyle for you, but, they want it to be a surprise.” She says in an accent not quite unlike a Bostonian woman. “So I insist you close your eyes, can you do that?”  you nod a bit and do as instructed.

	There was the occasional small talk, saying you never liked getting a  hair cut, (substituting mane for hair of course. ) When you were a human, you didn’t have much control, but you had the control over your hair, so you prided yourself on having long hair, only cutting it until everyone complained relentlessly.

The sound of clippers and razors and slippery gel covered comb filled your ears as they twitched relentlessly in the directions.

	Minutes pass by before she hums, “I think I’d call that done, you think I should show him girls?”

“Oh definitely” Ivory says, the smile prominent in the toner of her voice

Agreement comes from Trixie “oh yes! Trixie approves of this”

The chair is turned around and you are greeted by the sight of your typical bright blue mane done up in a rather intense looking Mohawk, you feel your lip curl up, grinning like like a goon “that is definitely suiting!”

“Knew you’d like it” Trixie pulls the chair around so you could see her grin that matched your own. The three of you pay and leave with your significantly lighter head giving you a pretty nice confidance boost.

---


Hours pass.  And the three of you find yourself sitting in the main room of the mansion, sitting onsofa and lounge chair, Trixie groans in boredom “why is there nothing to do?”

“because we’re bored. And Lazy” Ivory responds to her making you chuckle lightly.

“A mansion full of goodies, limitless funds, and the most we got done was giving Anon a haircut.”  Trixie talks again, her fore hoof lazily drawing circles in the air.

“It did kill more than a few hours since we did walk up the mountain most the way” You note aloud, your only really response is a groan from both of them. That climb up the mountain haad been pretty steep, nearly fell a few times too.


Your walk to the kitchen is uninterrupted, side from the occasional small talk with a maid or butler.
Bottle of pony cola, bottle openers are your friend. Drink, sigh of satisfaction and quenched thirst.

You turn around with a pleasant expression and bump face first into Luna.

“oh hey.” You look up to her

“Hello Anon”  she greets you in a pleasant manner “…I like your new manestyle”

You smile a bit sheepishly “Tixie and Ivory talked me into it.”

“Dragged you kicking and screaming?”

[grumbling intensifies]

“yeah…”

She giggles a bit “so what are the three of you doing?”

“being bored mostly, I think most of us are”

“heh…I suspect that’s due to the nature of tomorrow’s activities”

“Activities?” you smile slightly “making it sound like we’re going to the park for an exciting jog now?”

“Call it making the worst of a bad situation”

You chose to change the subject “so….any ideas of what we could do?”
“Well….you need to get out for the evening and unwind.” She mentions “I’m gonna give you a map to the hazy thestral”  she says….and suddenly you find that your both in her bedroom…

Princess Luna’s bedroom.

The spaghetti is dripping heavily.

“Have a seat” she says gesturing to her bed as she pulled out a  paper and quil as she drew direction “you all need one good night out at the Hazy thestral”

Again you say “Hazy thestral?” your tone even more confused

“I used to go there when I was young….er” she added the last part on less enthusiastically “back when we me and my sister started having our…differences.” You nod as she talked “mostly full of bat ponies, they encouraged me to confront my sister…..kind of partly responsible for my succumbing to the dark forces” she looks down as she seems to remember “I did come back….I revisited…it’s still there, but most of them see my sister as a villain…and I most certainly couldn’t go now….”

“They expect another uprising?”  you asked even if you knew the answer.

“oh most definitely”  she nods “I’d come…but I ‘d need to use a disguise spell…plus I still have some paper work” she notes as she  gives you the map “ the girls can teleport you half way…you’ll need to walk the rest”


You nod  “so we just hang out there?”

“As long as the three of you want.”

You take the map and slip it into a pocket on your armor “Thank you kindly, I’m certain we’ll enjoy ourselves”



The Hazy Thestral could be described in two words: Horrible Cliché. The patrons laughed and sang loudly and drank from pints of Apple Cider that were delivered to them in dark wooden tankards , though it definitely had a different taste that you would (most likely correctly) assume was what affected some of the behaviors of the surrounding ponies.

Of course the  patrons were what actually grabbed your eye in the first place. They were all bat ponies, the odd unicorn or griffon were sprinkled in amongst them, but the majority were bat ponies much like you.

And here you were, feeling like you were hiding some horrible secret from everypony in this place.  The three of you were sitting at a table set around the center of the building, waiting on your drinks  as you sat in silence, the atmosphere weighing down awkwardly on all of you.

“So…” You broke the silence to ask something that had been nagging you for far too long “Luna had a temple devoted to her evil alter ego?” you don’t direct it to Trixie, but you know she’d be the one to answer anyway.

“You haven’t asked her yourself?” Ivory cocks an eyebrow to you at that

“Doesn’t exactly seem respectful to bring up that kind of thing with an employer”

“Well” As predicted, the blue unicorn started “It’s a little more complicated than that, really” she traced a pattern into the table with a hoof.  “This was all before Canterlot had been made” you nodded, “They were still living in the ancient castle that was still in the everfree, when the everfree wasn’t wild as it is now “

“It was also easier to traverse back then” Ivory interjected

“Right” Trixie continues “ According to what I’ve researched,  there was some slight over population with in ponyville, and the few other settlements at the time, Luna believed if she were permitted she could lead a small pilgrimage further north. “

“And our wonderful princess of the sun in all her wisdom chose to let the society they lived in suffer in over population”  Ivory interrupted

Trixie Glared slightly “I’m getting there.” she said with irritation “Luna had offered this solution as a means to take a more direct role in being with her subject, since she couldn’t interacted with them during the day.”

“Sounds like the basic plot” You nod again

“Yeah, But, due to Celestia saying no, Luna decided to go against her, she sang a lullaby.”

You interrupt “A lullaby? I’m…not sure I’m following on how that could be useful ini negotiation”

“It wasn’t” Ivory picked up the story “Luna, having control of the moon and the night sky allows her dictation over things like sleep, and dreams. She sang a song that put the entire castle and the surrounding towns to sleep”

Trixie clears her throat in an obnoxious manner “As *Trixie* was saying” she emphasized herself in agitation for having the narration stolen “Luna sang a lullaby then sang another song,  she gathered the homeless and orphaned foals of the kingdom and flew them northward, deep  into the everfree.” She gestured widely into the air with her hoof “Along with her guards, they all settled into a small area, built what would be called the temple of nightmare moon, then Luna’s personal palace after the construction and many years of isolation Luna then returned to ponyville ”
“I suspect the reunion was far from happy?” You ask with a cynical intonation.

“Celestia was more than a little upset, and tried talking sense into her sister…and that’s where history tends to blur with legend.”  She halted “No one knows exactly where but Luna stopped being Luna, and became Nightmare Moon.  And further still, no one knows how long the fight between them lasted, could have been minutes, could have been days.”

“Just that it ended with Luna being trapped in the moon for one thousand years”

“I swear if you interrupt one last time!” Trixie glares harder

“Anyway!” you pull them back to the story “what happened to her settlement?”  You cock your head to the right a bit “and what about all these bat ponies here “

“Well, these are just simply Sympathizers and the ones that, if what you told us what luna told you, people who encouraged Luna to do it all. As for the settlers, legend has it they’re all either long dead haunting the temple, or, they went further north, into changeling territory, doing who knows what at this point.”

You nod once more “Well…that’s one heck of a story” you say before suddenly a grey hoof slams onto your tabled

“Ehh!” a rather obnoxious looking bat pony looks you in the eye, leaning in close “You’re new here, aintcha” his words slur as you can smell warm cider coming off his breath. Ick.

“Yeah, what about it?” you keep as much composure as you can, his breath threatening to bring the peanut butter and hay sandwhich you’d ate earlier back up.

“Well we have a tradition for any new bucks that come by”
“And that is?”

“You have to *hic*” he hiccupped and nearly belched right in your face “You gotta fight me!”

“I think I’ll pass” You gently nudge him backwards away from him, off the table.

He stares several seconds in silence before “Oh, okay” he hiccups and turns around. Walks a few steps before suddenly taking a 180 degree turn and swiping a hoof at you, you duck under it and then drive your head forward, forehead connecting with his jaw and knocking him backward into a crumpled heap on the floor, unconscious.

“Well.” You grin a bit “That was fast”  Your mare companions giggle a moment at the poor passed out sap on the floor as another mare approaches setting your drinks on the table

“Now these are on the house, anyone who one hit k.o’s Murky  deserves it” The female unicorn says before walking away
“Thank you kindly” you say  and grab your cup, drinking down the cool beverage.

“Anon, You’re bleeding” You hear Ivory tell you. This makes you reach up to your forehead, feeling small trickle of blood

“Did I hit him that hard?”

“Looks like it…” she opens up a saddle bag and pulls out a small bandage “hold still” she instructs you as she places it on the open wound.

You all three set back into the spots around the table and relax a few more minutes “So did I ever tell you how I once found myself  in the den of a Wyvern?”

“Regale us with yon tale of such adventure” you chuckle. Your response is vacant staring,  “Means tells us.” You add

Trixie nods as she gets what you said “So…there I was, pile upon piles of treasure surrounding me when suddenly this pure white wyvern comes out of no-“ She’s interrupted by the sound of Ivory’s  drink fallout to the floor with a thud. “oh come one Ivory can you let me tell a single story with out interrup-“

“Look!” she gasped, pointing forward to a corner in the tavern. You’re eyes follow her hoof to the corner and the sight you see sends chills up fron the tip of your tail to the roots in your Mohawk.

A dark grey unicorn in black lunar guard armor.

Death.

You were all terrified. She was just there! Casually!  “that’s…is she?”

Trixie stumbles over herself while talking “y-yeah…th-that….that’s death”

You all silent sit there, watching her watching you….

The sience is smothering “I’m going tell her to leave” You say getting up on your hooves

“Anon don’t!” Ivory tries to keep you

“Shes’ wrecked it and she needs to leave” you say starting off in the direction.

A waitress crosses your path on the way to that corner table you blink for all of  second an- She’s gone….Death just up and disappeared.

You look around every which way, the skin under your fur is a buzz with goosebumps, a shudder creep down your spine.  You nearly jump as you feel Ivory tap your shoulder “We should probably get out of here.”

You nod and turn, the three of you finishing your drinks and exiting. To spend the rest of the night with Luna, and hopefully get some sleep….you had a big day ahead.