Luna's Secret (A DWU Short Story)

Chapter One

It wouldn't be entirely practical to begin by recounting the events that led to my banishment on the moon, since everypony (at the very least, the large majority of ponies) already know the general chronology:

The younger sister dwelling beneath the humongous shadow of her older sister; the glorious reign of Princess Celestia.

She acted in a jealous rage and attempted to take full control of the kingdom, but Celestia prevailed, and used the Elements of Harmony to banish the younger sister to the moon...

Therefore, I will open by skipping to immediately after these events, which your general history books, which speak about the aforementioned events, do not cover...

My initial days, weeks, and months on the moon were overflowing with unbearable solitude, as well as a flurry of negative and unhealthy and scornful thoughts.

In my stubborn, jealous anger, I held fast to my feelings; the very same ones that had brought me to this fall from grace...

Any pleasure that I took were in things inappropriate to take pleasure in:

For example, very early on in my banishment, I watched the sun and moon rise and fall without my help. Initially, I took a high offense to this, watching as my most important roll as a Princess was being done for me, like I was never even needed.

However, I began to realize how much power that no doubt required, and the toll it must've been taking on my sister. Presently, I now regret my actions, forcing her hoof in this matter. But at the time, the idea of this gave me a sick sense of comfort.

To pass the time, I formulated solitary games to play. I'd illustrate my dark fantasies of unquestioned rulership through the seductive power of fear by drawing in the moon dust using a small rock. Without my magical abilities, it took much more effort to do this than normal.

I'd watch the sun, and attempt to guess what time of day it was, even though I could never verify whether or not my guess was correct. My sister's efforts in controlling the moon and sun were admittedly sloppy at best, leading to some inconsistent and downright odd positions of the celestial bodies.

The entertainment quickly grew vapid, despite my best efforts to keep them from being so. With no real concept of time, except for the movements of the sun (which I hardly paid attention to), there was no way of truly knowing how much time had passed.

I began to keep a tally of the 'days' that had passed. Again, I was never fully sure of when day or night were back home, but considering my predicament, I decided to formulate my own concept of night and day.

Here is what I did:

Whenever the sun seemed nearer to me, that was my morning. Every morning, I'd take a rock and scratch a tally mark onto the wall of a crater that I had taken residence in. When the sun sank behind the planet again, that was my night.

It was very inconsistent, as you can imagine...

During my 'daytime', I tried to be in the sun as much as possible. It was considerably warmer, to my surprise, than on summer days in Canterlot. I suppose that's because the sun was literally in closer proximity to the moon and to me than it should've been. At the time, it perplexed me how I was able to get so close to the sun in order to not freeze to death...

I now realize that it was my sister providing for me. The warmth, in those days, I made out to be simply luck.

But the cold, I was more than happy to blame on my sister.

During my 'nighttime', when the sun would sink behind the planet, it would leave me with a heavy, ever present, icy chill. Every night, I would dwell in the innermost part of my crater home, and there I would lay, shivering incessantly.