I think we're lost

by Poetic Brony

This is going to be a problem

Arron sat on the grass in the back garden, the palace was bathed in a soft silver. The fountain in the center made a soft bubbling and trickling sound. The scent of flowers mixed with a cool night breeze filled his nostrils; he smiled when he noticed that the pollen wasn’t bothering him like it normally did.

He rested his head against the rough tree he was using as a backrest, his right leg was angled over his left and his hand was atop his knee. His AR was at his side, the scope sitting on the pica-tinny rails had a green tint to it. The reticule cross-hairs was on its lowest setting. He wasn’t worried about the battery life; he could easily pick up a few when he got to the human world, or at least the pony version of the human world.

Luna was watching Arron from her balcony. The Lunar Princess was much too upset to watch over the dream realm, only stopping in for a brief moment to make sure that there were no terrible nightmares among the pony population. She floated down behind the tree so that Arron wouldn’t notice her.

She was motionless when she heard a soft song emanate from the man, at first he hummed a tune then the words drifted out into the night.

The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;
"Land of Song!" say’th the warrior bard,
"Though all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

The Minstrel fell! But the foe-man's chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he loved ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free
They shall never sound in slavery!"

After the last verse was finished Luna crept around the tree. She saw Arron staring up at the stars, tears stained his cheeks in the moonlight. His eyes were closed while he sobbed and hummed the tune again.

“I am sorry to intrude,” Luna softly spoke, Arron smiled, though he didn’t open his eyes.

“I have been told that songs are meant to be heard even if it is an audience of one.”

Luna lowered her head, “Our apologies.”

Arron shook his head and chuckled. “I was actually referring to myself,” he cracked open one eye. “But I don’t mind if you listen in to my horrid self.”

Luna reared back and gasped. “Thou art not horrid, twas a beautiful melody even if I didn’t quite comprehend some of the lyrics.”

“The Minstrel Boy is a rather old song,” Arron sighed. “It was used by both the North and the South during the Civil War.”

Luna tilted her head in confusion. “War’s are anything but civil.”

Arron opened both eyes and stared at her before bursting out into laughter. “I can’t argue with that,” he explained to the wide eyed princess.

“We wonder how your people survive with so much bloodshed on your planet?”

Arron stopped laughing and frowned. “To put it bluntly my people are idiots!”

Luna trotted over to the tree and sat down next to Arron. “I am sorry, but we do not think that you are an idiot.”

“No,” Arron leaned back against the tree and stretched his right hand to the sky. “I mean generally, not necessarily me personally,” he clenched his fingers forming a fist. “Though there are times when I can be…”

Luna furrowed her brow. “Are all of the people where you’re from so self deprecating?”

Arron lowered his hand resting it on his thigh, tapping it in thought. “I guess you could say that all humans who actually think about their actions and compare them to what God has commanded of us, then yes we should all be a bit self deprecating, though it’s more of self reflection, in an attempt to be honest with one’s own soul.” He glanced at her and stroked her cheek. “I am a natural man and therefore an enemy to God, yet I try to put off the natural and just be a man who tries to emulate God, though I may fail I have faith enough that God’s son will make up for my shortcomings.”

Luna pouted when Arron removed his hand, though its warmth lingered for a moment. “I don’t believe we have ever met any creature like you.”

“I should hope not,” Arron quipped. “If there were more than one of me roaming around Equestria that would be terrifying indeed,” he folded his arms and nodded.

Luna laughed, that wasn’t what I was talking about, she thought.

Midnight was watching from the shadows, she was about to run over to Arron in order to stop Luna, but her curiosity outweighed her jealousy, even though Arron didn’t give her the answer she longed for she was also sure that he did have feelings for her, but his past prevented him from saying what she knew he felt for her.

“Are you going to join us Midnight,” Luna asked. “Or are you going to continue to stand in the shadows and eavesdrop?”

Midnight shook a bit, her mane shimmered in the moonlight, and she noticed that Arron was smiling at her which made her blush though he probably couldn’t tell in the dim light.

“How long have you been there,” he asked more to Luna than Midnight herself.

“Long enough,” Midnight answered, trotting over to Arron who adjusted his legs to accommodate her allowing her to lay in his lap. She gave Luna a quick smirk making the princess frown.

“I still don’t know how I feel about you Midnight,” Arron said stroking the back of her neck and shoulders. “I mean I do like you,” but more like a pet that can communicate, he thought. Though, I don’t have the heart to tell her that.

Midnight closed her eyes. “That’s good enough for me,” for now.

“So,” Luna casually glanced away from the smiling unicorn who was beginning to infuriate her. “Are you going to see AK’s acquaintance tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan,” Arron shrugged. “I hope that they can tell me how much my coins are worth and hopefully exchange them for bits.” He leaned down and hugged Midnight. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here nor do I know if I’ll ever be able to get home, so it would be nice if I had enough money to support myself while I’m here.”

“I think you have more than that,” Luna smugly replied though she didn’t mean to and the look of confusion Arron gave her made her turn her head away and cough into her foreleg.

The ponies were a bit confused when Arron suddenly turned his head as if intently listening to something, he even shushed Midnight when she started to ask what he was listening to.

“Do you hear that,” he whispered.

Luna and Midnight twitched their ears and concentrated trying to remove the sounds of the night insects and other background noises.

Free mee… the voice was there, like a harsh whisper on the wind. I feeeel you out there child of God… I neeed to knowww diddd wee win?

Midnight quickly got off from Arron’s lap when he abruptly got to his feet. “I guess my money problem will have to wait.”

“What was that,” Luna shivered with anxiety and excitement.

“That,” Arron turned toward the south. “Was probably the demon I need to free.”

“Free from what,” Luna’s question fell flat when Arron turned to her with a conniving grin on his face.

“Do you think that you can teleport us to the Pie rock farm?”

Luna glanced from Arron to Midnight they were both smirking and even chuckling a bit. I wish they would share what is so funny, “If I must…”

In a flash of magic the trio were in the midst of a field filled with rocks of all shapes and sizes.

Arron adjusted his AR and headed toward the dim lit house, one of the Pies was still awake, but Arron didn’t bother to ask for permission to be there he headed right for the giant rock sitting like a great black egg in front of the home.

Midnight trotted beside Arron while Luna, hung her head down and muttered indecipherable curses under her breath while she slowly trotted behind.

“Luna,” Arron turned his head making her snap her head back up.

“Yes,” she replied as politely as she could.

“You do know that I am supposedly friends with demons?”

“Twilight told me something about that,” Luna tilted her head. “And what does that have to do with the Pie family rock farm?”

Arron and Midnight glanced at each other, and laughed.

Luna slightly irritated at their shared knowledge that they apparently had galloped up to Arron and bumped his side making him stagger a bit, still he didn’t let up on his chuckling if anything he was laughing even harder at her apparent angry outburst.

He pointed at Holder’s Boulder, “Luna what does that rock look like to you?”

She turned her head to look at the rock he was pointing at, “A rock why, I have heard that it’s like a Pie family landmark and has adorned the farm for several generations.”

Arenn shrugged, “That is not what I asked, I asked,” He stepped up to Holder’s Boulder and placed his hand on it he could feel something powerful within. He let his hand slide across the smooth surface several times his hand ran over, warm lines inscribed upon the usually cold exterior, a sharp contrast to what the ponies considered to be nothing more than an unusual shaped rock.

“Is he really in there,” Midnight also placed a hoof on the rock and looked up into Arron’s still smiling face.

“Who,” Luna looked over Holder’s Boulder with a bit more concern, “You mean there is a demon in there,” she shouted pointing at the boulder.

“Shhh,” Arron and Midnight both turned around, and hissed covering their mouths with fingers or hooves.

Luna rolled her eyes, but the dim light grew brighter and several more turned on.

“Oh, great,” Arron, slumped. “We woke up the Pies.”

Right when he said that a very perturbed looking Limestone Pie burst through the front door.
“Alright who’s out there,” she screamed while the rest of the Pie family appeared behind her. She immediately balked upon seeing the group of trespassers.

“Princess Luna,” the rest of the family gasped, they all emerged from the house, made a semi-circle around the princess and gave her a slight bow.

“So sorry for waking you,” Luna glared at Arron for a moment, when he shook his head and shrugged she gritted her teeth for an instant. “You see we have pressing business here on your farm.”

“In the middle of the night,” Limestone quizzically eyed her.

Igneous Pie stepped in front of his daughter and put his hoof in front of her. He shook his head in disapproval. “We know not why thou hast come hither this night, but we know that thou hast a good reason.”

Arron stepped up making the ponies cower a bit, but they relaxed when they saw Midnight and Luna weren’t intimidated by the big bipedal creature.

“This is Arron,” Luna calmly said, “He’s big, but he’s harmless.”

“Unless you’re a bad pony,” Midnight quipped, making everyone turn to her.

“Anyway,” Arron bent his knee to look the ponies in the face. “I have to know how old do you think Holder’s Boulder is?”

Limestone spoke up for the group, “If my sister were here she would tell you exactly how old Holders Boulder is, and what it’s made from, the minerals within it, and a lot more useless info.”

Igneous suddenly coughed.

“It’s old,” she flatly stated after taking her father’s hint.

“And, what about what’s inside,” Arron asked with a knowing grin.

That made all of the family confused.

“It’s just a rock.” Limestone noticed the frown on her parents and siblings muzzles. “It’s a very strange and pretty rock, but it’s still only a rock.”

“It isn’t only a rock,” Midnight trotted over to Holder’s Boulder and gently rested her hoof on it. “It contains my boyfriend’s friend.”

“When did I become your boyfriend,” Arron asked at the same time Luna said, “When did you get a boyfriend?”

“Wait, what,” Limestone, Igneous and Cloudy Quartz all said simultaneously. Arron wasn’t sure if they were referring to the bit about being a boyfriend or the fact that there was something inside of their old rock.

Arron sighed before turning around and placing his hand on top of one of the lines that ran along the sides of holder’s boulder. I know you’re in there, he thought while closing his eyes and trying to communicate with the demon trapped within. But how do I get you out?

A stream of jumbled questions hit his mind like a flood he was forced to withdraw his hand and clutch his forehead, sweat poured down his face while he gasped for breath.

“The Frak,” he screamed, “Are you trying to give me an aneurism?”

So, sorrrry, everybeing in the vicinity felt the chilling thought.

Arron didn’t realize that he had cut his finger when he abruptly withdrew it, so when he slapped the stone again the lines running along the outer surface of holder’s boulder began to glow a bright red.

Luna teleported over to Arron and grabbed both him and Midnight with her magic, teleported over to the Pie family and put up a protective shield. A few seconds later Holder’s Boulder exploded sending derbies and chunks of rock in all directions.

“What have you done,” Marble Pie yelled while bits of rock still deflected off of Luna’s shield.

“Me,” Arron pointed at himself.

“Who else!” Marble Pie punched him in the leg. “You blew up Holder’s Boulder!”

“I didn’t know it was going to explode just from touching it!”

“I didn’t think I’d ever get out of that damnable prison,” all person’s and ponies turned to the chilling voice. They saw the silouet of a human shaped being with large wings protruding from his back. Two glowing red orbs with slit pupils, much like Sombra or Queen Chrysalis have peered through the settling smoke.

With a wave of a hand the area cleared giving the group a good look at the demon. He was taller than Arron and well muscled, his dark red skin was adorned with black thorn like designs. After stretching his arms above his head and tilting his neck back and forth he casually walked over to the group and with a single claw popped Luna’s shield like a soap bubble.

“Athur,” he walked up to Arron, “It’s been a long time!”

Arron didn’t have time to respond before he was roughly picked up and embraced, several strands of jet black hair fell down and tickled his nose.

“Uh,” Arron tried to break free but the demon held him fast. “I know you think you know me, but I don’t remember you…” Arron gasped. “And could you please put me down, my ribs can’t take much more.” His AR was between him and the demon and the pica-tinny rails were digging into his chest and side.

The demon abruptly dropped him, his fangs showed when his mouth hung agape. “Wait did that fraking moron wipe your mind?”

Arron, pushed his AR behind his back and shrugged. “I guess so.”

The demon sighed… “That’s going to be a problem…”

Author's Note:

New chapter and yes I have been writing. I just haven't uploaded anything until I've made sure all of the errors I see are fixed.