//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Son of the Moon: Nightmare of a Child 
// by Unending Suffering 
//------------------------------//

The moon rose high into the sky, as the horizon transitioned from a beautiful orange to a rich violet eventually fading into a pitch black, only to be lit by the radiant light from the moon and the stars painted beautifully onto the night sky. The disappearance of the sun signified the end of another day, as ponies and other creatures got ready to sleep, one particular midnight blue alicorn's night was only beginning. With a sigh Princess Luna; co-ruler of Equestria and younger sister to Princess Celestia, turned from her balcony on her tower in the castle of two sisters. As she made her way through her room, she donned her royal chest piece and crown, giving herself a once over in the large standing mirror she deemed her mane and tail to be in good condition. Walking over to her oaken door, she gave one last thought to simply going back to bed. But she could not, for Princess Luna was in charge of night court; which was a chance for her subjects to bring forward any issues that were not taken care of during day court. Or it would be, if anypony actually showed up. Instead it normally turned into several hours of sitting on a throne hoping somepony might bring forward a complaint or request.

As she made her way through the hallways, she saw several servants and maids pass by, most likely on their way home, she greeted a few of the ones she knew and nodded to the others. Her subjects gave a short greeting or a tired bow, she could not blame them, the day shift had been working from sunrise all the way to sunset. Still it hurt her to know that even the ponies under her employment would be sleeping through her night.

Reaching her destination, Luna took her seat upon the throne in the room. Time trickled by as she awaited to see if any of her subjects would show up. As time passed by and the moon traveled higher into the sky, Luna decided that tonight would progress as every other. Slouching a little so as to relieve the pressure on her spine, the princess of the night began to meditate.

While Luna surely could have brought something to do, she was worried what it would look like to her subjects if they showed up and she was distracted. Instead she found that she could use this time to do her second job; dream walking. Princess Luna was in charge of keeping her subjects dreams safe from the demons lurking in the dream realm; a place that connects the physical and spiritual worlds.

As Luna was attending to her subjects dreams, she suddenly felt a surge of fear and power wash throughout the dreamscape, thinking that a pony was under attack from a powerful nightmare she made her way over to the dream from which the fear was emanating. But when she got there what she saw confused her, or rather what she didn't see, in the spot where the fear had been emanating only a moment before there was nothing. No dream, not even the trace of a consciousness could be found. This worried her, taking a moment to actually look at where the dreamer may have been she found that the dreamer would have to have been inside the castle grounds considering how close it was to her consciousness.

Deciding this needed to be looked into, Luna started to pull herself from the dream realm, as she was returning back to her body, she distantly heard a guard trying to get her attention.

"pr.. cess"

"Prin ... es"

"PRINCESS"

"WAH, DO NOT SCARE A PRINCESS AS SUCH!" Yelled Luna, she had known the guard was there she had not been expecting him to have been yelling right in her face.

"I'm truly sorry my princess" Said the thestral guard, quickly giving a bow. "But there is an emergency and you were unresponsive."

"Emergency? What is going on?" asked Luna quickly getting up from her throne, her guard joining her.

"In the gardens, we found something, and we thought it best to get you or your sister." Explained the guard as they trotted risky through the hallways.

"That will be quite all right, I can handle whatever this problem may be." Said Luna, she knew she should tell her sister, but she wanted to prove at least to her guard that she was fit to co-rule. She wanted to show she was just as capable as her sister.





'I have made a grave mistake' thought luna as she looked at the scene before her, what she had been expecting was a grand battle, maybe against a dangerous beast like a manticore. What she was not expecting was her guards to be surrounding a small wicker basket, with a crying bundle of cloth inside, or more accurately a crying infant of some sort. Had it not been for the bright intelligent eyes, she may have mistaken it for a pet of some sort.

"Tis just an infant, nothing to fear. Somepony must have forgotten it, yes that is it, if we put up a found poster somepony should come retrieve them." Her guards seemed to stand down, but she knew despite her words that this was not the case, deep down she knew that something magical, something strange had happened.  Moving closer she saw that the creature had some black hairs on its head and bright sea green eyes.

"You are but a wee thing, I wonder what your name is?" As if to answer her question she noted a piece of parchment inside the basket. Levitating it to herself she read:



 
To Whomever finds my baby,

Please take care of my baby, he comes from royal blood but he will not be recognized by his father. He is illegitimate, made from the mistakes of a drunken girl and a lustful prince. Now this prince is a king and he does not want me tainting his reputation, he would rather kill me and my son then support us.

I have gotten the assistance of a great and powerful mage to help me, and I am unsure as to where he will go, so for the sake of being thorough;

This is my son, he is a male. His or rather our species is called Human. We eat both vegetables and meat, and it is required that we get enough meat to sustain us. He is past breast feeding stage so milk is only an option not a requirement. 

Oh and his name is Jack his last name does not matter, and no matter what please keep my baby safe.

Thank you.




As Luna read the note she saw that it had wet spots on the paper, as if the writer had been crying. Looking over to the now silent infant she saw that it was looking at her. Thinking over what she had just read she realized something, this child had been abandoned, it had no one coming to look for it and no one to go looking for. The child of a mistake; unwanted, despised, unloved. She wanted to help, but what would she do? Put it in an orphanage? Where it would likely never be adopted, eventually running away only to die alone and cold? 

No, she would not let this happen, she would raise it herself if she had too, but she would be damned if she let this poor child be ostracized, just like her. It then occurred to her that this child had a few things in common with her, and that maybe just maybe this child was exactly what she needed.

Looking back to the note she read the last sentence over again in her head, 'Please keep my baby safe' coming to a decision within her self, she made a silent promise. 


'I promise I will keep your son safe'