Luna awoke with a start. She opened her eyes and found herself sprawling on the ground. She gave her brain a few seconds to figure out the meaning of what she beheld: a vast, dark sky where the stars shone with unearthly brightness, as if…

Suddenly all the memories flooded back into her mind. Her revolt. Nightmare Moon. The duel. How she had laughed at the power of the Elements of Harmony. And now she was stranded. Marooned here for a thousand years until the stars would reach the proper position again. In the meanwhile… 

She grunted. But much to her surprise, no sound escaped from her mouth. She tried to say a word, to no avail either. Apparently, it was impossible to speak on the moon. Not that it mattered much: whom could she talk to anyway? At least she was delivered of her sister’s corny babbling. 

She looked around her, but saw only bare rocks, strewn all over a desert plain. [i]Fine,[/i] she thought, [i]not even a deckchair or an umbrella to enjoy the view.[/i] Too long had she overlooked the tending of her satellite. Developing the tourism industry would require a major change in her politics.

Mind you, she had plenty of time to do so.

She felt disgruntled. She gazed at the remote disk that was Equestria, floating in the darkness, and it seemed to her she could perceive her sister at the balcony of their castle, looking up at the moon with a sadness on her face. She shrugged, grimaced, and blew her a raspberry. [i]Good luck with Equestria’s daily boring business, sister![/i] she thought, and smiled.

She gathered her limbs under her and stood up, to find that her dark blue coat was covered in dust. She shook her barrel, causing the dust to pour on the ground. How come this place was so dirty? On the other hoof, when was the last time she had swept her abode in the sky? She could not remember. 

This was an embarrassing fact. But then she remembered the sun was spotted at times, too. Even her perfect sister had her flaws. 

With that thought she felt slightly better.

Having nothing better to do, she decided to explore the surroundings. Maybe she could encounter some sort of critter? Or was it crater? She was confused. But it didn’t matter, so she unfolded her wings and started to flap.

But didn’t take off.

[i]Dang![/i] she thought. [i]Why can’t I fly here?[/i] Undaunted, she folded her wings back and decided to use a mundane teleportation spell instead.

It didn’t work either.

She swore silently. Then she faintly remembered that teleportation was related to geographical coordinates. And while Equestria was flat as a crêpe, the moon was round. Maybe that caused interference. She would have to find out.

Anyway, that left only walking. She sighed – well she tried to at least – and set out. The first steps were surprisingly easy. She was able to stride almost effortlessly, as if her body was weighing much less than in Equestria.

After a couple of minutes, she thought she caught a glimpse of a dark fleck against the backdrop of while hills. Intrigued, she turned and trotted toward it.

It turned out that fleck was some sort of giant road sign warning of rock falling, placed atop another sign saying “umbrellas compulsory”. Some… some something had defiled the text, drawing on it an obscene graffiti.

Luna had no idea what all that could mean. She stood in the middle of a large basin. There was no way rocks could fall here.

She was about to turn around and walk back to her previous location when something crashed on to the ground a few metres ahead, digging a tiny crater and spreading dust around.

All that in eerie silence.

Incredulous, Luna raised her head and considered the sky thoughtfully. Things were so different here. It was a whole new world to discover. 

Suddenly, every trace of sadness was lifted and she felt elated. Too long had she put her private estate aside to help her sister in her petty duties. 

She had a world to tame. And a millenium to do so. And, thinking about it, she wasn’t positive it would be enough.

Better to rule in heaven than to serve in Equestria.