//------------------------------//
// 2 - A Long Way From Home 
// Story: Shadows Within the Light 
// by Oddling 
//------------------------------//

Mathew’s eyes slowly opened. He immediately hated his life. His stomach was swimming five ways from Sunday, his brain felt like a jagged railroad spike was lodged through it, and every nerve in his body buzzed – like when his foot fell asleep, only ridiculously spread everywhere from his neck down. With a long groan, overflowing with his bountiful annoyance, Mathew rolled onto his side.

His eyes focused a bit more and he realized that he was on a bed. The sheets were incredibly soft and were a vibrant red color with white and gold accents along the edges. The room was quite the sight, as well. Each wall was painted in two tones of light lavender with borders of cream. The bed also had an elaborate eggshell colored curtain on the three sides – pulled back and tied to the posts to let the light of morning in.

The rest of the room was decorated with carefully crafted end tables, stands, and a chest of drawers. It gave the impression of money well spent for the best of comforts for guests. Mathew never really liked fancy things, though. The room had the effect of adding salt to iced tea… it left his bad mood with a lingering aftertaste of meh. A soft click suddenly drew Mathew’s attention.

Luna entered the room. She seemed to hold her breath as she looked at Mathew. He could tell that something had given her pause, but he was not sure what it was. The last thing he remembered, before waking up in the soft bed, was – oh it was enough to make him shudder – the extreme pain and suffering he had gone through before losing consciousness. He wondered what had happened to him after that.

For Luna, the experience was a bit more unsettling. The human’s appearance had changed after the magical outburst. It was amazing that he had even survived the ordeal – since he had coughed up a lot of blood shortly after he had lost consciousness in the containment room. It had taken numerous spells to keep his heart beating (it had stopped multiple times before he stabilized). Once Mathew’s heart had regained the strength to keep beating… a troubling development began to take effect.

Even now, Luna had trouble looking upon the poor human. She could tell that he had just awoken, since she had placed a trigger spell to activate once he woke up, and rushed to him immediately. He had no idea that his hair had changed; turning to a silvery grey with light blue highlights mixed in and it had become much coarser than before. His eyes had also turned into the same pale blue as the mysterious gem, while the rest of his body had stayed the same (from what they could tell during the examination from the royal physician).

Luna closed the door behind her with a small touch of her magic. “How art thou feeling?” she asked. 

Mathew, having watched her every move, noticed that she held a deeper concern for his health than she wanted to show. He sighed gently and gave her a slight grin in a small attempt to relieve her of worry. “I’m not in as much pain, now. I don’t feel normal yet, but I think it’s a big improvement over what happened in that big room I ended up in.” Mathew said. “Although… I can’t recall anything after that. Can you enlighten me as to what happened to me – if it isn’t too much trouble?” he asked with as much consideration as he could.

Luna had sighed in relief when she heard he felt better, but after he asked about what happened she cringed on the inside. She knew she had to tell him… but with him being an unknown species, it was not easy for her to decide on the best way to go about explaining things. She did not wish to offend him or cause unneeded stress. “Well,” she said after a few moments of careful thought. “You lost consciousness after some form of magical interference. We are still unsure how it happened, but you had a reaction to the… um… the object responsible for bringing you here.”

Mathew’s curiosity perked up from that. “So… what did bring me here?” he asked.

Luna took a breath before revealing the crystal’s existence, as well as what they had tried to do. Much to her relief, Mathew seemed to understand their reasons for trying to seal the thing away. He even smiled and said that he probably would have done the same to something potentially dangerous to an entire country. Of course, since he did not know much about the subject, Mathew wound up asking the inevitable question, “So who, or what, is Nightmare Moon, exactly?”

“Nightmare Moon…” Luna began, “was a mistake. When I was younger, that is to say, a little over a thousand years ago, I allowed myself to fall victim to my own childish selfishness. I gave in to my inner darkness and… started a short but drastic conflict with my sister, Celestia. Nightmare Moon was my desires made manifest and I nearly succeeded in plunging Equestria into an eternal night.”

Luna paused for a moment and lowered her eyes to the side, feeling the shame of her past. She had found the strength to forgive herself for her poor decisions in the past, thanks to Twilight and her friends in Ponyville, but it still stung just a little to be reminded of such faults. “My sister prevented me from accomplishing the eternal night… exiling me in the moon for a thousand years.” she said, but a warm smile spread across her face as she got to the next part. “Of course, upon returning from my exile, I encountered a group of ponies that helped me turn back into my true self. They used powerful elemental gifts, the Elements of Harmony, as we call them, and rid me of Nightmare Moon’s influence. So… to answer your question, you could say that Nightmare Moon was a part of my darkness and jealousy, but I still do not know exactly what or where it came from.” she said with a regretful shake of her head.

Mathew eyed Luna curiously for a moment. He had been summoned by an item that possibly had a connection to Nightmare Moon, and learned a surprising story of the Alicorn’s past, but there was something nagging at the back of his mind. He tilted his head and asked, “What happened to me back in that room? Why was I in so much pain?”

Luna’s eyes widened slightly, but she calmed herself quickly to reply. After all, the human did need to know what they had thought about his predicament. “We do not have solid proof of it, but we believe that your body was changed by the gem. We… we thought that you would… not survive… at first. After the magic had subsided and you passed out, you began to cough, quite violently, and a lot of blood came out. By the stars, you lived through the ordeal, but… there is magic within you now.” Luna explained.

Mathew was surprised to hear that. It was one thing to know that magic existed, but for him to have it within himself was… well, almost absurd. Magic was supposed to be nothing more than a gimmick, smoke and mirrors or slide of hand, simple entertainment for people who wanted to be impressed. He was skeptical and it showed in his raised eyebrow.

“I know it seems like a mere jest, but I assure you that it is truth.” Luna said when she noticed Mathew’s look. “We were quite shocked about it, but I can feel it within you. In fact, from what we can tell, the magical energy is what allowed you to recover so quickly. Even with healing magic, our physician said that your body should have taken days to recover – yet you have healed almost completely in mere hours.”

Having heard that, Mathew’s skeptic expression shifted to stunned. Had he been that bad? It seemed he had gotten pretty lucky, considering everything so far. Seconds passed in silence. Much as Mathew did not want to really believe it he was still stuck in a foreign world. He sighed heavily and looked to the canopy above the bed, slowly sinking deeper into the pillow.

Luna tensed. The absent look on Mathew’s face and the deep sigh made her think that she had upset him. She quickly lifted a hoof in concern. “O-oh, forgive me. I am truly sorry for all that has happened, I-“

Mathew chuckled and shook his head. “No, it’s not that I’m upset.” He assured her. “It’s just a lot to take in. I mean… reality, as I know it, has been flipped upside down and redefined. I just need… time.” Mathew sighed again, not as heavily as before, but still enough to show his stress. He turned a tired gaze back to Luna and smiled weakly. “Is there anything else I should know?” he asked.

Luna sank slightly. She was not thrilled to see his reaction to what she had in mind, but she felt it was best to say it then rather than leave it for Mathew to find out later on. Her ears drooped back on her head and she gave Mathew an apologetic glance. “Well… there is something else you should know about. You’ll see it in a mirror the next time you look at one, but your appearance has been changed… in a few small ways.” she said.

Mathew rolled his eyes and sighed. He knew he was about to regret it, but hearing those words gave him a reason to push himself into his first steps forward. He sat up. His head throbbed a bit more, but it was tolerable. He went to remove the covers from the rest of his body, but stopped when he realized that he had been stripped of his clothing. Mathew turned his head toward Luna, ready to panic about his newfound dilemma, but it occurred to him at the last moment that his pony acquaintance had no idea about the nudity taboo for humans.

His cheeks turned a little pink and he cleared his throat. “Um… Princess Luna?” he said awkwardly.

“Yes?” Luna replied, noticing the blushing expression on his face.

“Uh… what happened to the clothes I was wearing?” he asked.

Luna cocked a curious brow. “Clothes? Does thou mean the strange cloth that you had covering your body?”

Mathew nodded. “Yes.”

Luna inclined her head, glad that she knew what he was asking about. “Oh, they had been stained with your blood. I had the castle staff take them to be cleaned. We were unsure as to what they were at first, since we know next to nothing about your race. I had a feeling it was a type of clothing, but I wasn’t sure why you would wear so much of it.” she explained.

Mathew smiled awkwardly and shifted uncomfortably under the sheets. He cleared his throat again and forced a brief laugh as he thought of how to explain why his kind wore clothing. “Well, you see… humans are a bit funny when it comes to being seen without clothing on. There are a few different reasons for it, but many humans are very embarrassed if we’re seen without clothes on… it’s like a taboo that’s engraved into us right after we’re born.”

Luna’s stare had grown wider over the course of Mathew’s explanation. She even started to blush, having realized that she, her sister, and the medical staff had unknowingly put the human through such an embarrassing thing while he slept. “I- I… W-We beg thine forgiveness! We knew not that such acts were so frowned upon by your race!” she stammered and averted her eyes away from Mathew.

Mathew chuckled and waved his hand in front of him. “Oh, no, don’t feel badly about it. Honestly that sort of thing really doesn’t apply to me. I don’t have a problem with being seen without clothes… I just wanted to bring it up to make sure it wasn’t a huge deal for… ummm… your ponies. Is that how I should call your race – as ponies? Horses? Or…?” 

It seemed that the tables had shifted and now Mathew was the one to be alarmed at offending Luna. She paused for a moment, realizing the ironic change between their points of view. She suddenly felt that there was some good within the human and that, if he could feel the same kinds of feelings as she did, they could get along. She brought her hoof up to cover a slight smile. “Ponies, please. There haven’t been any horses in Equestria for a very long time. Ancient lore hints toward the possibility that ponykind may have descended from them, but nothing substantial has been found to confirm or deny it.”

Mathew sighed and thanked Luna for clearing that up for him. He was grateful, to say the least, that the lunar princess had gone through the trouble to help him, even though he was still an alien to her world. His feet slipped down to the floor and he was preparing to stand, but Luna quickly ran up and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Be still, you shouldn’t try to walk just yet.” she gently advised.

Mathew stopped, but he could not suppress a small sigh as he looked Luna in the eye – a hint of unease in his eyes. “I need to see what I look like.” he said softly.

Luna kept her hoof on his shoulder, but only lessened the pressure of her touch. She nodded her head in understanding and turned her head toward the chest of drawers along the wall. Above it hung an ornate mirror in a silver frame. Her horn glowed and the mirror was wrapped in her silver-blue magic. It floated over to the side of the bed, but she kept it faced away. She pulled her hoof away and asked Mathew if he was prepared to look upon his altered body.

Mathew nodded and took a deep breath. Luna mirrored his action and then turned the mirror around for Mathew to see himself. His breath halted as his new look was absorbed into his eyes and etched onto his memory. It was a shock at first. Yet, it did not take long for him to find his new look slightly more appealing.

When he was satisfied he looked back to Luna and thanked her for showing him. Luna was glad that he seemed to take the change rather well, but she still felt sorry for him. Mathew laid back down and Luna floated the mirror back to the wall. They were silent for a minute. Eventually, Luna decided the time had come to end her visit. “I shall take my leave. Should you require any assistance, you may address either of the two royal guards outside your door.”

Mathew nodded and sank back into the bed. “Thank you, Princess Luna.” he said softly.

Luna eyed him for a moment, fighting with herself on whether she should try to comfort him. She eventually decided against it and walked toward the door. She paused just before it and turned her head back toward Mathew. “I’ll visit you again when my duties no longer require my attention… if you do not mind.” Luna said.

“I don’t mind.” Mathew replied as a small smile crossed over his lips. He was thankful for the intent behind Luna’s offer.

Luna bid him goodbye and exited the room. Her face managed to stay calm, but her heart fell when she took one final glance at the look of defeat on Mathew’s face, just before the door clicked shut. She sighed through her nose, keeping a regal look about her in front of the two guards to the sides of the doorway. She told them to keep an ear open in case the human needed any help. Then she was off. She new Celestia would want to hear of her visit with the human.




~~***~~




Celestia sat on her favorite cushion in her private quarters, slowly sipping on a cup of tea. It was one of her preferred flavors, an earl grey with a dash of lavender for a calming aroma and sunflower petals for a delicate flavor that warmed her like the sun on the inside. Given the events over the evening she really needed the perks, if only to keep her from acting on the fearful impulse bubbling in the back of her mind.

She was unsure of the human. He had been summoned to Equestria by a mysterious crystal that had traces of Nightmare Moon’s power within it. She knew nothing about his race. Why had something related to the dark entity brought the human to her world? Were humans dangerous? Could he be trusted? Were her little ponies going to be safe with such a strange being among them? Was he innocent in all of this, or was there a purpose for him in some, yet, unknown plan preconceived by the dreaded Nightmare Moon?

There were so many questions, and few of them were pleasant for the sun princess. She sipped at her tea again, only to find the cup had been emptied. She sighed disappointedly and lowered the cup to the saucer. She lifted her head to call for another cup of the relaxing brew. Just before the words could leave her lips, Luna walked into the room.

Celestia smiled, she was so relieved to see her beloved little sister back and unharmed. Although, it was clear that something had happened that lowered Luna’s spirits. Celestia had seen that kind of sad thoughtful look on Luna’s face before. “Luna, it’s good to see you. How was the visit with the human? You seem to have something on your mind.” she said with a gentle smile. She had her worries, but she dared not make them know to Luna just yet.

Luna gave her big sister a small smile, but it faded when she acknowledged her sister’s question. “Mathew seems to be recovering from his injuries quite well. I must admit that it was surprising to see him handle the news as well as he did. He seems to have a good heart… but…” Luna trailed off as she thought about Mathew’s last expression as he gazed weakly at the ceiling.

Celestia leaned closer to Luna, her face just a bit more concerned than before. It was hard to tell, most of the time, what she was thinking. Being Equestria’s ruler for over a thousand years had given her near perfect control of her facial expressions. She had the ideal poker face for any situation with a smile that could never waver. “But what? Did something happen?” Celestia asked quietly.

Luna looked to her sister and gave a pitiful sigh. “Well… yes, and no. I told him about the crystal and how we believed he was brought to our world.” she informed Celestia. She told her older sister about the conversation with Mathew and how he reacted to everything. Though it was still embarrassing, she even talked about the issue of his nudity, which made even Celestia blush a little since it was her decision to have the clothing removed to begin with.

By the end of it, Celestia had relaxed a little. She felt that, for the time being, the human was not a danger to her little ponies – or her sister. Sadly, she still felt a lingering doubt about the one thing that kept her uncertain. She turned to Luna and let her smile flatten out. “Luna… what about that magic within him. Did you notice anything about it that might connect to the crystal?” she asked softly, yet seriously.

Luna sighed long and deeply. Her sadness seemed to grow more in her eyes. “Sister… it is difficult to tell. We both know that the power of that crystal had to have gone somewhere. It may be the source of the magical energy I sense within his chest. You were there, too, when the physician said he had found something strange fused to Mathew’s heart. It could be that it has combined itself to him in such a way that removing it may… may kill him.” she hated to say the last part of that sentence. The very thought of losing an innocent life to something she had allowed to enter Equestria made her heart ache.

Celestia sympathized with Luna. She, too, did not wish for such a fate to befall the human. She valued life and, different species or not, she wanted to protect any life she could. But she could not allow Nightmare Moon to hurt her little ponies again – especially her beloved sister and precious student and recently appointed princess, Twilight Sparkle. She offered Luna another warm smile in an attempt to reassure her. “I know, Lulu, it would not be fair for him to have to suffer, but we must still do what we can to help him. I will make sure we use every resource available to free him from this burden. However…” 

Celestia’s smile wavered, but she knew she had to say what she had on her mind – if only to ensure that Luna was prepared for such an event. “Luna… I know that you feel guilty about what has happened to him, believe me, I feel the same way, but… if any of Nightmare Moon’s influence becomes noticeable, we must be prepared to strike. It pains me to think of it, but if she is able to return…”

Luna shook her head, frowning deeply from her sister’s words. “I am well aware, sister, but I refuse to think that such a thing will happen – I will not permit it! Too many have suffered because of what I brought to our world. I shan’t let that foul thing get away with tormenting us, or anypony else, ever again. This I swear!” Luna declared firmly. Then her expression softened as her eyes looked up into some distant place. “I pity Mathew… we may not know anything about his kind, but I see a poor soul that has lost the way. Tia… I saw how fragile he truly is. Even if Nightmare Moon is behind this, I can never turn away from him. I had to deal with her influence on my own… but things may have been different if I had found someone to confide in. I’ll be there to support him through this. He deserves that much at the very least.”

Celestia was silent as she took in her sister’s words. She knew that the matter was more personal for Luna than for anypony else. Luna was adamant in her resolve. She would respect that decision, but Celestia would not allow herself to think along the same line of thought. To keep her sister safe, and the rest of Equestria, she would keep her senses alert. If the human was pure, then he could be saved… but should he become another tool for Nightmare Moon to use… Celestia would make sure to rid the world of her foul presence… once and for all.