//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: A Lone Star 
// by The master of the game 
//------------------------------//

	Stars twinkled softly in the dark night sky. Standing on the balcony of her tower, Luna glanced upwards at the bright disk of the moon.
She sighed in contentment. On nights like these, she could easily forget all about the hectic battleground that was politics; she could forget, even for the briefest of moments, that she was a princess of Equestria. It was on nights like this one that she could feel normal. A normal pony, with a normal life, enjoying some stargazing on her own.
A small smile split her face. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and enjoying the coolness and the stillness of the night, before she turned around, her eyes still closed.
The sound of someone clearing their throat caused Luna to stop. With a sigh, she opened her eyes to see the thestral standing awkwardly in font of her.
“What do you want?” she asked, unamused.
The guard shifted on his hooves, uncomfortable. “Your sister has requested your presence.”
Turning around, Luna said, “Tell her I'll be with her shortly.”
The guard bowed, then hurried out of the study Luna had come to call her little sanctuary. Said study was not large, but it wasn't small either. The walls, painted a deep navy blue, had small, white dots scattered over them. A bookshelf stood against one wall, with a torch holder on each side. The ceiling had an accurate representation of the night painted on it in a nearly-black blue paint and silvery white.
Letting out one more sigh, Luna looked up at the sky. Overhead, a trio of bright stars out-shined the others. Closing her eyes once more, Luna muttered under her breath, “I wish I could be normal for once. I wish I could have a normal life, and maybe find love like Cadance has. I wish I was far from here.”
Reopening her eyes, Luna stepped out of her study and made her way to Celestia's chambers.





Marc groaned as his alarm clock beeped loudly. With one hand, he blindly looked for it, sending some figurines down to land on his bed-sheet-covered head. Eventually, he found the offending object and, with a groan, pushed the snooze button before deactivating the alarm for good.
He sat up in his bed, the sheets falling from his head and bare torso. He scratched his belly, slightly bulging thanks to his sweet tooth and usual bad eating habits.
He got up, then put the small figurines back on the bedside table. He grabbed some relatively clean clothes from the pile on a chair, and he made his way to the bathroom.

­­
@@@


Marc walked down the crowded sidewalk of Sainte-Catherine Street on his way to his job. A public transit bus passed by close to the sidewalk, into a puddle. The splashing water seemed to land only on him, drenching him in cold-ish water. Around him, people barely even noticed the man standing still on the sidewalk.
Marc groaned. He would have loved to go back home to change himself, but that would make him arrive late to work, something he couldn't to do afford again.
At long last, after a twenty minute walk from his apartment building, Marc arrived at work. As he stepped inside the small store, the electronic door bell announced his arrival to the only other worker present.
She had shoulder-length auburn hair, emerald green eyes and light skin. She would have been pretty if her haircut had been different. She wore square, thick-rimmed black glasses, and she wore an oversized wool sweater as her uniform.
“Heya, Marc! How are ya?” the female clerk asked her coworker.
“Hey Caroline,” Marc replied halfheartedly.
“Wass wrong?” Caroline jumped over the counter and went to Marc.
“I'm soaking wet because of a goddamn bus splashing water all over me... And prolly only on me...”
Caroline stifled some giggles. “Jus' ça?” she said in French as she grabbed Marc by the wrist, dragging him towards the rear of the store. “C'mon, Marc, cheer up! You know you need to smile more.”
Marc twisted his wet wrist to try and free it from Caroline's grip. “Caro, lemme go.” Marc tugged once more, and Caroline let go. “Thanks. You're a great friend, and I'm glad to have you, but... Tabarnak, Caro, t'es pas ma mère! J'ai pus huit ans! Anyway, Life's jus' bein' a bitch with me; has been since I've been walking.” Marc sighed as he walked behind the counter.
He put a hand on the knob of the back-store door. “But you know what?” Marc turned around and faced Caroline, an honest smile on his face. “I'm sure it's not gonna get any worse.”





Luna paced back and forth in front of her sister. “Are you sure of it?”she asked.
“Yes, Luna, I am sure of it.” Celestia took a sip of her evening tea.
“If so, why didn't I sense such an anomaly in the celestial balance? I'm the one who controls most of the celestial bodies!”
“Calm down, Luna, I'm sure it's—” Celestia began but was interrupted by something strange.
Luna looked down. Under her hooves, the floor was glowing with a brilliant, blue hued light. She felt as if something was pulling at her, trying to take her somewhere. Celestia quickly reacted, quicker than the guards.
For Luna, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She saw as her sister's horn slowly became shrouded in a golden aura. She saw the guards slowly jump towards her, trying to get her out of the circle of light that, now that Luna looked properly, was only under her.
In the blink of an eye, Luna was gone from where she stood. Celestia's spell fizzled out as the two guards dog piled empty space.
Celestia took a deep breath, using the same technique she had seen Cadance teach to a younger Twilight. Outwardly, she looked composed and calmed despite the situation, but inside, she screamed. She screamed at herself for being unable to save her sister once more. She screamed at the universe and its cruel sense of humor.
Celestia shed a single tear, the only one her mask was unable to hold back.
She looked at the two guards that had tried to tackle Luna. With her most even voice, she said, “Go get Princess Twilight. I will need her expertise.”
Celestia tried her hardest not to break down, and her voice came close to breaking. As soon as she was alone, she slumped down on the floor, tears now flowing freely.
Not again...” Celestia said in a small voice filled with sorrow and anger. “Why can't I save my little sister once?”
She looked up at the ceiling, at an unseen observer. “SCREW YOU, FATE! SCREW YOU, DESTINY!” she shouted, before breaking into unstoppable sobs.





Marc was leaning on the counter, his chin on his hands. The evening had been slower than usual. Caroline had taken her break earlier, deciding to go and get something to eat at the Reuben's delicatessen some five minute away from the store on Sainte-Catherine.
He liked Montréal a lot, despite what his parents had said about the city. Of course, he could go back to Québec City anytime now, since he had abandoned scholarly pursuit at the Université du Québec à Montréal, but something in Montréal appealed to him, something that Québec City was lacking.
Then, he noticed a brilliant light just outside the store. Having nothing else to do, he passed to the other side of the counter and stepped outside. He looked around for the source of the light, but he saw nothing. 'Must have been a cop,' he reasoned. With a shrug, he walked back inside the store.
A soon as the door closed, Marc stopped dead in his tracks, blinded by a sudden flash of bright light.
Marc rubbed his eyes, trying to regain some ability to see. When he could finally distinguish shapes, he saw something he found weird.
On the counter was a girl, looking to be thirteen or fourteen years old. She had a petite body typical of an earlier teenager, and she was probably five feet to five feet four inches tall. She wore a light blue dress made of a light and somewhat see-through cloth. She had a silver choker and silver-coloured boots. On her head was a small, silver tiara. She had skin white as snow and hair black as night with bluish highlights under the proper light.
Marc shook his head and acted. First, he approached the girl and gingerly took her wrist, looking for a pulse. When he found one, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. He then reached over the counter for the phone. As he was about to dial 911, he heard the girl groan.
Marc then realized something. His body was over the girl's. Not wanting to have a misunderstanding, Marc put the phone back on its stand and straightened up. The girl slowly sat up, putting a hand to her forehead.
“Ugh... I shan't take too much Moonshine when Sister holds aother little 'get together',” the girl said.
Caroline chose that moment to come back. “Marc, j'savais pas si tu voulais du smoked meat ou aut'e chose, faque—” Caroline left her sentence hang in the air as she looked from Marc to the girl and back several times. After several tense seconds, Caroline looked at Marc with a serious expression and said, “Tabarnak... She's adorable.”


@@@


The girl sat at the table in the back-store, Marc sitting across from her. He had taken the Pepsi can Caroline had bought him and had offered it to the girl. The girl hadn't said a thing since she awoke.
Marc looked at the girl, and the girl looked back at him with her overly huge, unnatural turquoise eyes. It felt as though those eyes had seen a thousand and one wonders, and one could almost feel lost in her gaze.
The door to the back-store opened loudly, letting Caroline in. She took a folding chair from a corner and sat down beside Marc.
“What do you think, Marc?” Caroline asked.
Marc shrugged. “I dunno.”
Caroline thought for a few seconds before speaking again. “You think she's lost? Or that she even speaks English?”
Marc shrugged. “I dunno.”
“What if—“
“J'SAIS PAS, TABARNAK!”
Caroline cringed at Marc's tone of voice. “Sorry.” She stayed silent for a few more seconds before she said, “She looks like she came out of an anime...”
“Yeah, she kinda does... And she's only missing goth style clothes and she'd be a Goth Loli.”
Caroline chuckled smugly. “I bet you'd love to see her in a Rory Mercury costume.”
Marc turned to look at Caroline's smug face. “Va chier,” he told her in French.
“Who's Rory Mercury?”
Both Marc and Caroline looked at the girl with flabbergasted expressions. “So you do understand us,” Caroline stated.
The girl chuckled. “Of course. I am not newborn foal.”
What the girl said caused Marc and Caroline to pause and look at each other. “'Foal'?” Marc said to no one in particular.
“Yes, foal. I am a pony after all.” The girl looked at her hands as if they were alien to her. “Well, was a pony. My name is Luna. May I inquire as to your identities?”
Marc hesitated, giving Caroline the chance to introduce herself first. “Hi Luna. My name's Caroline, and that lazy ass over there‒” she pointed at Marc “‒is Marc.”
“On devrait pas appeler la DPJ?” Marc asked Caroline in French.
Caroline looked at Marc like he'd grown a second head and it spoke in a hellish language. “Naw. J'pense pas qu'ça soit une bonne idée.”
“Why?” Marc inquired further.
“Because reasons.”
Marc gave Caroline a flat looked at could have blown tires apart. “You jus' wanna play with her like she's a doll...”
Caroline shook her head. “No...” she said, unconvincing.
Marc sighed. “She doesn't seem to be an adult, Caro. She's a friggin' teenager.”
“I am not a teenager, and I haven't been one in years,” Luna said.
Caroline and Marc both gave a deadpan stare at the girl. “Yeah, right. And I'm the Prime Minister of Québec and I managed to get the province's independence with over 70% of people voting 'yes',” Marc said sarcastically.
“Don't listen to him.” Caroline glared at Marc. “He's jus' bein' an ass, as always.”
“I can prove I am not a child,” Luna said confidently.
“Do it,” Marc challenged.
Luna smirked and closed her eyes. She focused on the background magical field, trying to gather power. She was surprised when she felt the magical field; it was much stronger, and much more violent and unruly, than Equestria's. She tried to gather a small bit of magic, but the field didn't even yield anything. She tried harder, with the same results.
She was sweating by then. Once more, she tried to gather magic. This time, however, she tried to use all her might and brute-force it into a coherent spell. There was a bright flash and the sound of an explosion, and Luna was sent flying into the wall.
Caroline and Marc rushed to her side. Caroline began fussing over Luna, muttering incoherent things in French under her breath. Luna opened her eyes, feeling dizzy and disoriented.
“Note to self, never, EVER brute-force the magic of this universe into submission. It will fight back and win.”
“WHAT THE SHITTING FUCK WAS THAT?!” Marc yelled.
“I tried to use magic to change myself back into an alicorn, but...” Luna said sheepishly.
“Magic?” Caroline quit fussing over Luna and was now staring at her, starry-eyed.
Luna chuckled. “You remind me of Twilight Sparkle, a friend of mine.”
Marc stared at Caroline, shaking his head. “Will you ever change, Caro?”
“Nope.”
“That's what I thought.” Marc sighed. “Anyway, I believe you‒”
Caroline was in Marc's face in a second. “Who're you, and what have you done to Marc?” she asked seriously. “Marc would never admit defeat that fast.”
Marc shoved Caroline aside forcefully. “I know, and I have my reasons. Like I was trying to say before being interrupted‒” Marc levelled a deadpan stare at Caroline, “‒I believe you are telling the truth when you say you are not from here. But I still think you're a young teenager.” 
“And what are those reasons?”
“'Magic'. I dunno how she's done it, but she's done something that caused the flash and the explosion.”
“Ah.” Caroline looked sheepish.
“Anyway,” Marc said as he turned towards Luna, “do you have an idea of where you'll be staying while you're in town?”
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but closed it immediately upon realizing something. She could say she was a princess and use that as an excuse to stay for free at an hotel while she researched a way to go back home, but, like Marc had demonstrated, it was unlikely to work, and she didn't feel comfortable asking those nice people in front of her for a place to stay. She sighed.
“You can stay with me!” Caroline said in a hyper voice, jumping in place.
Luna opened her mouth to say something, but Marc beat her to it. “Nope, you're not, Caro. You're just gonna treat her comme une poupée.” Marc raised a finger to forestall Caroline. “Besides, I'm sure you don't have any clothes that would fit her.”
“'Cause you do?” Caroline asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I do. I have a niece that's about the same size as Luna, and there are clothes for her back home for when she stays at my place. She can wear those, and sleep in her bedroom, at least for the time being while she has no other clothes than what she's wearin' right now.”
Caroline pouted. She hated it when Marc made more sense than her, and she wanted to have the adorable girl to herself so she could dress her, brush her long hair, braid it...
Caroline blinked. 'Marc's right, I would have treated her like a doll...' she thought.
Luna closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she said, a little relieved at having a place to stay, at least for a night or two.


@@@


The rest of Marc's shift had passed by at the speed of light. After everything had been settled for Luna, there had been several customers, more than the duo of clerks had ever seen at one time before. Luna had stayed in the back-store the entire time, being quiet and thinking about her predicament.
The sun had set a while ago, and the bright neon lights of store signs lit Sainte-Catherine like a Christmas tree. Marc opened the door of the store and turned to Caroline, who was still counting the money they had made that day.
“See ya, Caro.”
“Take care... And don't screw Luna!”
Marc groaned and Luna chuckled. The two left the store and began walking to Marc's apartment.
“Marc, can I ask you a question?” Luna asked.
“Well, you just did, but shoot.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Where are we?”
Marc frowned. “We're in Montréal, Québec.”
It was Luna's turn to frown. “Montréal? Québec?”
Marc stopped walking and looked at Luna like she'd used magic. “Where are you from? Another universe filled with ponies all the colours of the rainbow that can use magic and control the weather, the Sun and the Moon?”
“Yes, I do. I happen to also be one of the ruling princesses.”
Marc stared at Luna. “I was kiddin'.”
“And I am not,” Luna replied.
Marc then recalled what had happened earlier. He facepalmed. “Right, you're a pony. I forgot.”
They resumed walking, a companionable silence settling between the two.
After the twenty minute walk, Marc and Luna had arrived at their destination. Marc opened the door and went straight for a couch, letting himself fall in it. He grabbed his laptop and booted it.
Luna approached him and asked, “What are you doing?”
Marc turned to face her, and the words died in his throat. In front of him, Luna, with her thirteen year old body and adorable face, had her arms behind her back, her head was cocked slightly to the side, and she was leaning forward slightly, and it made her not only adorable, but the anime cliché of the adorable little sister/girl. He shook his head to regain control over his thoughts.
“I'm setting things so I can watch one of my favourite anime.”
In the next five minutes, Marc loaded the internet browser, went on his anime provider website, logged in, and brought up the newest episode of the anime. Marc took the remote and opened the TV, and displayed his laptop's screen on the TV via an HDMI cable.


@@@


The evening was well and truly gone, and the night was slowly crawling over the city, not that the activities of the city would stop.
Luna had watched the latest episode of 'GATE: Jieitai kano chi nite, kaku tatakaeri', and she had been transfixed by the show.
“That was amazing!” Luna chirped happily.
“Yeah, it is pretty awesome.”
Luna was almost jumping up and down in place. While they watched the episode, they had eaten lunch, which consisted of a salad with beans.
Suddenly, Luna stopped moving and yawned, making herself appear even cuter. 'Thankfully, Caro's not here. She'd have died by now,' Marc thought.
“I guess it means it's time to go to bed,” Marc said.
Luna pouted adorably. “But I'm not tired,” she whined.
Marc shrugged and grabbed Luna by her armpits. “HEY! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!” Luna yelled as she kicked, tossed and squirmed in an attempt to free herself from Marc's grasp. However, and unfortunately for Luna, Marc had had a lot of experience with handling kids who didn't want to go to bed thanks to his niece.
Marc brought Luna in the pink-walled room of his niece and dropped Luna onto the bed. “Okay, so you're gonna sleep here. Pyjamas's in the top drawer.” Marc left the room. “Good night.”
Luna looked around at the room. It was pink, there were plush toys everywhere, it was pink, there were several comfortable-looking cushions and pillows on the bed, it was pink, it was pink, and it was pink.
Luna let out a sigh. She had been in this world for less than a day, and she was already missing her sister. A part of her mind wandered and thought about what Celestia would look like as a human. “Looks like I'll be living here for the foreseeable future...”
Luna got up and went to get herself a pyjamas. “Top drawer, is it?”
She opened the designated drawer and looked around through the ensembles. She chose one and went to the bathroom, which happened to be right across from the bedroom she would be occupying, and cleaned herself. She came out fifteen minutes later wearing the pale blue, star-patterned pyjamas she had chosen.
All the lights of the apartment were closed, and she could hear a loud snoring from Marc's bedroom. Quietly, Luna went to bed and slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the world she wound up in, of Equestria and her sister, and, surprisingly, of cute, fluffy bunnies and pink butterflies.