My legs felt like glass as I shuffled through a grove of fruit trees. My stomach hurt so much as I thought of all the hatred for myself and regret of everything I did sloshed around inside my gut. Or maybe the pain was just from hunger.

Yeah, hunger.

I pulled an apple off a tree and delicately munched it. My eyes shot open then closed as I savored the juicy, sweet fruit. After finishing that one, which didn't take long, I grabbed more and more. One by one, the apples were plucked from the branches, and their cores left scattered on the ground.

"Wait a second, did I just eat some guy's livelyhood?" I gulped, the tasty morsels turning bitter in my mouth.

"Look around," Nightie spoke, turning my head to view the rest of the fields. "There are countless orchards of numerous fruit. I doubt he'll miss a few apple trees.

"I-I guess," I said, forced myself to look at something else.

My ears perked as the sound of footsteps hit my ears.

"You hear that?" Nightie asked, and I nodded. I took off at a moderate jog away from the trees. The footsteps only got faster, so I did, as well.

"Which one of you young whippersnappers been eatin' my apples ag'in?" An older man yelled out. Moony's whispered thought hit my brain.

"Run,"

I went into a full-out gallop, spreading my wings to take flight when

BANG.

Well... that hurt.

***

Luna's eye twitched, bloodshot and crusted slightly at the lid.

"C-Cele-t-a..." She croaked, her hooves moving through wads of paper.

"Hmmm, Woona?" Celestia looked at her younger sister from above her forelegs.

"Night... Moo... is hu... rrr..." Luna collasped, completely unconcious. Celestia rushed over to the smaller, mustering the last of her own energy to pick up the exhausted alicorn and rush to the royal doctor.

***

One of the nurses, a white unicorn with a red mane walked over to Celestia, who stood up immediately.

"How is she, is she okay?" The frantic elder asked, scrambling to get past the nurse. She was too tired to do much when the nurse merely pushed her down with a single hoof. "Please tell me LuLu is okay."

"She is fine, your highness, merely sapped of energy. You two have been working far too hard. Princess Luna is stable, and we are making sure she is comfortable as she sleeps the stress and tiredness off. I advise you do the same." The unicorn said, her voice calming.

"No! Nightmare Moon must be caught as soon as possible!" Celestia yelled in the nurse's face, who barely flinched.

"Which you cannot do if exhausted. Now sleep, and I will not tell you twice." The nurse pointed towards Celestia's bedchambers. Celestia groaned and complied. As she walked she realized what she was doing. She glanced at the unicorn, who looked so much like her mother that she had to listen.

"Mom..."

***

I woke up in a pile of hay, which was surprisingly comfortable. I looked around and saw a thin old man with a short white beard.

"So, yer the rascal who ate my apples." He said, chuckling. "A unicorn. Yer not a bad one, are ya'?"

I just stared, not wanting to answer.

"Say, yer mane is mighty pretty." He held it as it flowed like water. He took out a pocket knife and cut off a bit, which made me flinch. The rest of my mane continued to flow around the slash, making it impossible to know where it was cut. The lock he had fell limp, but was still beautiful.

"Oh, girl, yer gonna make up fer all those apple trees ya' ate."

Oh... dear...