//------------------------------// // Ch - 4 // Story: Frame of Mind // by CCpone //------------------------------// Ch – 4: Sight left Unseen We sometimes forget about the beauty and richness that our culture brings. Forward we march into the unknown, brave faces never faltering when things turn sour. For we don’t just survive; we prosper. Through timeless sands, failure is met with success. The heights of our capabilities ever expanding as we grow stronger. The monuments we erect stand vigil as reminders for those that come after us. Pushing the boundaries of nature to bring forth plentiful bounties. It’s easy to lose sight of the greatness we hold. Yet, through it all, we come out the victors. Just the thought that I could overlook something so blatantly obvious, made me question my frame of mind. The gloomy outlook I have on the world was unjustified. The harshness every day holds are there not to act as a deterrent or an excuse, but a reason to push forward. As I look out of the window in my room; I’m reminded of this. Beauty on a recently thought impossible scale laid before my very eyes. Cars traversing the asphalt roads and the planes scarring the skies above. All of which are shining brightly in the night. No other time can you take in how far civilization has come. *** “See something?” Came Luna's voice behind me, causing me to jump in my spot. “Jesus Christ!” Looking behind I can see Luna looking at me with a curious expression on her face. “Oh, it’s just you.” The change in her expression is almost instant, instead of a curious look, it now displayed annoyance. “What do you mean just me?” Luna prods shuffling up next to me in order to partake in the viewing of the outside world. “I’m not used to anyone being in my house, let alone sleep in the same bed. I was just surprised that someone was talking to me this early in the morning,” I state returning my gaze to the desolate streets, the occasional car passing by every so often. Luna nods at my response, “Ah I see, so why are you up at this time? Is it normal for humans to wake up this early?” Luna asks turning to look out the window as well. “For some yeah, but a majority of people wake up much later. As for why I’m up, I don’t want Alex barging in here,” I state flopping down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. The course texture of the ceiling filling my view. I always wondered why it was like that, or if it held some kind of purpose. My statement seemed to have sparked interest in Luna as she prodded further into the subject, “There are some people that stay up all night? What could one do at night that can’t be done better in the morning?” “First thing that comes to mind is work. I have the night shift on Monday at the market. So, I just wake up really late to stay up at night. When my shift finishes I just go to bed when the morning comes. At least for me, it’s easier that way. Some people are astronomers, which means that they have to work at night. I night-fish sometimes when I have the night shift. Not to mention that humans love to party, and the time for that is almost always at night. Lastly, I have seen a lot of people in this city simply stargaze in the park or in their lawns.” I relay pondering if there was another reason people stayed up at night. No answer came from Luna as she continued to look out the window, a long look in her eyes. Deciding not to disturbed her thoughts I got up and headed to the apartment's main room. Looking back towards Luna I see her still looking out the window. Assuming that she’ll be like that for a while I exit the bedroom and enter the apartment's main room. As expected at this time, Alex was still sound asleep. Then again it was 4 in the morning, I wouldn’t expect anybody to be up at this time. Moving across the room I enter the kitchen and open the fridge. Taking out a carton of orange juice I take a quick swig. The acidic taste hitting my tongue immediately making me recoil a bit before placing it back into the fridge. Looking back over the darkened apartment I come to see Luna peaking her head out of the bedroom. At this time in the day, I really couldn’t care less if she came out. Alex was a heavy sleeper, and if I know him, he’ll be out for another eight hours. Hell, it was rare seeing me up this late, usually, I’m worse than Alex with sleeping. “Hey, Ari?” Luna asks in a hushed tone. Snapping back to reality, I look down towards Luna, “Yeah?” “You said people in this city just seem to stay up and stargaze for the fun of it,” Luna states looking around the room, her eyes never landing on mine. Nodding I reply, “Yeah, lots of people like to stargaze.” I really don’t see where she’s getting at with this. I’m too tired to really process anything at this time. “Would you like to go back to the roof and look at the stars?” Luna asks. Seeing as I’ll probably never be able to get back asleep, I nod, “Yeah, sure wait one second.” I state walking back into the bedroom. I’m only there for a couple seconds before I exit with two hoodies in my grasp. It’s been years since I have last stargazed, I was actually quite excited to once again gaze at the beauty the night gives. Luna looks at the hoodies in hands with confusion then worry, “What are you planning on doing with those?” Luna asks backing away from me when I approach her. Glancing at the hoodies I let out a chuckle, “Oh right, I tied you up in one of these didn’t I. Their just sweaters to keep us from getting cold. After all, it still is spring, and up here the nights aren’t warm.” Looking down to Luna I contemplated if she even needed a sweater. With all her fur, she might already be fine. Yet, as the phrase goes, ‘better safe then sorry’. As I say this I place one of the sweaters on. Seeing that they are no threat, Luna steps towards me and allows me to place the hoodie on her. Funny enough as it is, the hoodie seemed to fit just fine. Pulling the hood over her head I walk passed her and out of the apartment. Luna obviously follows me in walking all the way to the roof. Holding the door open for her I place a piece of wood between the door and the frame. It would be really bad if we got stuck up here. After ensuring our safety, I turn back around and find Luna already sitting at the edge of the roof looking up at the sky. Following in suit I sit down right next to her and join in on the fun. Thankfully, the skies were clear displaying a lot of the stars. The light pollution the town brought seemingly doing nothing tonight. “It’s so different,” Luna states looking intently at the sky. I let out a small chuckle, “I would assume so, who knows how far away you are from your world.” Luna doesn’t respond, instead, she keeps her eyes locked onto the sky. Our hoodies flapping in the wind, time itself seems to halt as we just sit back and enjoy the view. It really is sad that I don’t do this more often. “That’s the big dipper,” I state pointing to said constellation. If anything, I hoped I could break the ice a bit more with her. If she really likes the night, then what better way to do it then to talk about it. “The ‘big’ what?” Luna questions looking at me with a confused look on her face. “The big dipper, look,” I say pointing towards it once again. Luna leans in close to see what I’m pointing to. I then move from one star to the other till it draws out the dipper. “Ah, a constellation.” Luna states with an amused look on her face, “what others do you have here?” Luna questions leaning up against me. And thus, I start pointing out and describing different constellations to Luna. Time no longer held no value to me, I found myself enjoying this way more than I thought I would. The only thing that stopped us from continuing on forever like this was the sun. It’s golden glow erasing the stars from view. “Oi! Get the fuck out of here!” I yell tossing a small stone at the sun. Luna starts to laugh at my actions, “I think we better head back before your friend Alex wakes up.” “Yeah, your probably right,” I reply getting up from the spot and heading back towards the door. What I see, however, stops me dead in my tracks. Not paying attention to where she was going, Luna bumps into the back of me, “Why did you stop?” She questions rubbing her muzzle. “The fuck is that!” came the yell of Alex. It has seemed like he has woken up early for once. A pleasant surprise on any other day. Hearing his voice Luna walks to my side to see the event unfold. There was no way I could get out of this one. She’s wearing my sweater for crying out loud. Any lie I could come up with would be moot. “Now, now Alex I can explain everything,” I lie as I slowly walk towards him. My hands in the held out in front of me. I could only imagine what is going through Alex’s mind, he’s now for the first time seeing Luna. Alex just scoffs, “How the fuck can you explain this?” He says pushing me aside and marching towards Luna. His left eye twitches with each step he takes. I guess that not all people can handle seeing a talking horse. By the time, I’m able to regain my bearings Alex has Luna backed up into a corner, and by a corner, I mean the edge of the building. Luna’s eyes once again dilate as her ears pinned back. “What have you done to Ari!” He yells out to Luna. His march halted when Luna’s at the very edge. “We’ve done nothing towards thy friend!” Luna yells back bringing out her old English again. It must be something she does when she doesn’t know the person, or maybe she just does it to sound intimidating. Trying to back her up I add in, “She hasn’t done anything to me Alex. I know things look really fucked up, but this is not how I thought you would react. What the hell's gotten into you?” I really don’t even need to ask that question, I’m pretty sure I already know the answer to it. Nevertheless, I used it to gain more time. Alex gets closer to Luna, his face cracking a wicked smile, “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you-” And that was all she wrote for Alex as I clobber him in the back of the head with a piece wood that held the door open. Once Alex falls to the floor, I come to see Luna staring at me with fear and shock in her eyes. She looked like she was about to cry. “Well, I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to that,” I comment throwing the piece of wood down next to Alex’s sleeping form. I bring my hand up to scratch the back of my head as I release a large sigh. “You think that swing was enough to make him have temporary amnesia?” I ask Luna. “I-I thought I was going to die,” Luna stated, her voice completely devoid of all emotions. The same shock and fear in her eyes. Not only do I have to deal with one problem now, but two problems. Letting out a large sigh I crouch down next to Luna. It really seems like she got a wake-up call from Alex’s aggression. Looking her in the eyes I attempt the nice way, “You’re not going to die. Now come on and help me lug this guy back to the apartment. I need to find a way to introduce the two of you without him causing chaos.” Luna doesn’t answer, she just looks completely lost in her own little world. Without any warning, I slap Luna across the face. The sound the came out was a clear indicator that I was able to snap her out of her stupor. “WHY IS VIOLENCE THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN SOLVE PROBLEMS!” Luna yells out as she rubs her cheek. Not going to lie that smack hurt my hand a bit too. Fuck you Newton and your god damn laws. Rubbing my now sore hand, I give Luna a huge smile, “Welcome back to Earth, now you going to help me with this piece of shit or not?” I state gesturing to Alex on the floor. Luna scowls at me as she clamps down on Alex’s shirt. With her help, I was able to drag Alex all the way back to my apartment. Which was harder than it might seem, seeing as how we had to get him down the stairs and across the hall without making a lot of noise. Dropping Alex’s body on the couch I wander back over to the kitchen. My hopes rest solely on the coffee machine in front of me. Caffeine is almost always the answer and when it’s not, it’ll help you get to the answer. Looking over to Luna while my coffee brews, I notice she has the same long look in her eyes. Her ears were pinned down as she looks over to Alex. “Really shocked you that much huh? Guess being backed up into a corner will do that to a person, or, well, a pony in this case.” I state taking the coffee pot out of the machine and pouring myself a glass. Hearing my words, Luna looks over to me, “How, how do you do it?” She asks. Her eyes locked onto me, searching, no pleading for an answer. “How do I do what?” I ask. Grunting in annoyance Luna reiterated, “How do you cope without magic?” This gets a confused look to come to my face. Taking a sip of the coffee I walk up to her next to the couch. Before I can say anything Luna once again speaks up, “In Equestria, everything is bound to magic, it flows through the very air we breathe. Everything we do uses magic in some way or another. Without magic, I’m exactly what you stated yesterday morning. I’m useless here.” I seem to understand a bit more now. When she was backed up against a rock and a hard place. With Alex she was so used to having that third option of magic. When she realized that she couldn’t just simply pop her problem out of existence she became scared for her life. The basic principles of survival coming forth and showing themselves to her. It now made sense why she looked like she was going to cry after the event panned out. In the end, after analyzing it further she came to the conclusion that she’s worthless. A feeling that could be very devastating if not fixed right away. Hell, people go insane from that very reason alone. Yet, it is one of the hardest feelings to dissolve, even if you give them something to hold onto it takes a while for them to actually grab it. At this moment in time, actions stand out more than words. Setting down my cup of coffee on the counter I crouch down so that I’m on her level. With no words, I simply open my arms and look at her. Confuse Luna looks towards me. It was up to her to ask for help. If she wanted it then she would come and get it. If she didn’t, well, then this would end up to be really fucking awkward now would it. After a couple of seconds, Luna walks up to me and gives me a nice hug with her fore hooves. I can’t really tell from this position, but from the tight hug and shaking breaths I think it’s safe to assume she needed this. After all, who wouldn’t, you can only keep a mask on so long before it brakes down around you. She tried so hard to be herself in a place so different from her own. She tried to stray away from the comfort she needed to live healthily. Yet, all it took was this little event for Luna to finally realize the reality of her situation. She’s a long way away from home. “Thank you,” Luna stated with her shaky voice as she backed away. I was really impressed when I saw no tear marks running down her face. She must be a lot stronger than I had originally thought. Getting up from my spot I give her a small smile before picking back up my cup of joe and looking back towards Alex. His sleeping form resting peacefully on my couch. “So what are we going to do with him?” I ask trying to come up with a way to re-introduce Luna to Alex without him flipping out. “I’m assuming if I show myself to anyone else this is most likely the reaction I should expect to get?” Luna asks, her voice slowly returning to its normal tone. I nod, “For the most part if you showed yourself to a crowd I would imagine it would be chaos. Alone, I think you would get varying results. In the end, I’m glad you came to the decision to keep yourself hidden.” “I have been known to take precautions in the past,” Luna smiled at the compliment before walking into the bedroom. Curious as to what she was doing, I waited for her return. Which thankfully didn’t take that long. This time, however, it was my turn to give her a confused look. “How’s another sweater going to help out this situation?” I question downing the last of the coffee and placing it in the sink. “Remember what you did to me when you first found me?” Luna asks. Her smile turning into a devilish smirk when I start to get where she’s going with this. “So, you suggest we tie him down and force him to come to terms with you?” I reply. Luna nods as she hoofs me the sweater. Taking it in my hands I quickly walk into my room and fetch my office chair before quickly walking back out. Positioning the chair next to the couch I slowly move Alex onto the chair. Thankfully, he didn’t wake up and with help from Luna, we managed to tie him down to the chair with my sweater. Who knew they had so many uses. Taking a step back, me and Luna revel in our handy work. “We’re missing something,” Luna stated as she looks around the room. “Yeah, something’s not right,” I question as I look at Alex strapped to the office chair. I’m brought to my senses when I feel something prodding my left arm. Looking over I come to see Luna with the roll of gorilla tape in her mouth. Smiling I quickly snatch it up and take a rather large piece off. Moving towards Alex I place the tape over his mouth. It was kind of fucked up that I was doing this to a friend, but desperate times call for desperate measures. “Should we wake him up?” Luna asks. I shake my head, “Let him rest, he got hit upside the head by a plank of wood. He deserves every minute of relaxation he can get.” I comment walking passed the couch and towards the kitchen. “So, what are we going to do till he wakes up?” Luna questions as she walks up to the counter. Sadly, I don’t have many things to do in the apartment beside some video games, go figure. Yet, there was one game I always had on me, because no matter where you are chess is always fun to play. “Well, I have this one game call chess if you want to play. Rules are pretty basic so it shouldn’t be that hard to teach you.” I claim only to be answered right away by Luna. “You have the game chess here?” Luna asks, a little spark in her eyes. I nod, “Yeah, I’m assuming you have it in Equestria as well?” It was starting to get kind of weird that so many things were common between the two worlds. “Yes, I’m fairly good at it.” “Good, then I won't have to tone down my playing,” I respond walking towards the cupboard above the fridge. The main reason for the cupboard was for emergencies, the idea behind it was an emergency game for when the electricity went out. *** Sweat pours down the back of my back as I shakily place down my knight in front of my king. Looking back up I can see Luna looking at the board intently. It’s almost as if she can see every single possible move and how they will play out. Fairly confident in my placement I claim, “Your turn.” With one swift movement of her hoof her queen positions itself right in the path of my king. “Checkmate.” Luna states. Having nowhere to go as I’m blocked in on all sides I let out an annoyed huff. “You must be cheating there is no way I lost to you fifteen times in a row!” I exclaim leaning back in my chair. Luna smiles as she quietly packs up all the pieces as well as the board, “Well, when you have a lot of time on your hooves, one learns to master a lot of things.” “Really, by the way you explained Equestria, I would have assumed there would be a lot to do.” I comment as another question pops itself into my head, “By the way, how old are you?” My question seemed to catch Luna off guard as she once again starts looking all around the room. “You know it’s rude to ask a mare her age?” Luna states giving me a sheepish smile. One that I don’t return. “Come on its not like you’re a thousand years old, just tell me how old you are?” I ask again. Luna shuffles in her chair and ruffles her feathers a bit. Nevertheless, she answers the question “26 years old.” “Oh, wow we’re pretty close I’m 28, who would have thought,” I comment as I hear some rustling come from behind me. Getting up, I move over to where Alex is to see him start to wake up. Seeing this I motion over to Luna to stay behind him. Before long Alex opens up his eyes and looks over to me. With nothing being said due to the tape I rip it off. “Ow Jesus that hurt! What the hell happened?” Alex claims still out of it a bit. “You met Luna and freaked out,” I stated truthfully. My statement seemed to bring Alex back to the world of the living as his eyes shoot wide open. He immediately tries to get up, but due to me and Lunas tying, he goes nowhere. “What the hell? Why do you have me tied up?” Alex questions as he turns to look at me, “Because you threatened to push Luna off the top of the apartment.” I state rolling my eyes. “I thought you said Luna was you girlfriend, not some talking horse!” Alex yells at me as he struggles to free himself. The bindings, however, are too strong and he gives up shortly. “Can you just get me out of this shit.” A quick glance over to Luna I can see a soft blush adorn her muzzle, “I only said that to get you off my case. That all went out the window however when you decided to wake up early. I’m not going to untie anything until you promise you’re not going to freak out and cause an even bigger problem.” “I won't, just untie me,” Alex says. “I will but first you have to prove yourself and confront Luna again,” I comment. If he can come to accept Luna, then I will feel more comfortable letting him go. Then and only then could I ask him to keep this all on the down-low. Alex goes quite for a minute, “She’s here isn’t she?” “Yeah, she is. You ready to once again see the sight left unseen by the public?” I ask Alex not really sure if he’s one hundred percent calmed down. “If that’s what it’ll take to get these bindings off then yeah,” Alex comments once again trying to free himself. I look over to Luna and nod at her to come into Alex’s view. It takes a couple of moments, but she accepts the orders and wanders in front of Alex. As expected Alex is once again speechless. However, this time it was his eyes that were dilating. The silence is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife. Thankfully, Luna steps in and breaks the silence, “I'm Luna, since you are Ari’s friend I am willing to forgive you.” Not only Alex was surprised at her response. I was quite proud of Luna taking the first step forwards in mending their first impressions on each other. “I’m Alex, I would shake your hoof but I can’t seem to move my arms,” Alex states as he gives me a dirty look. Then again, he had all the right to, I did everything but hog-tie him to the ceiling of the apartment. Stepping into the conversation I say, “So now that you aren’t freaking out. You want to finish what you came here to do?” “Dude, you got a fucking talking horse in your apartment and you're trying to change the subject?!” Alex exclaims as he looks between me and Luna. Taking out my phone from my pocket I reply, “yeah, I’m quite aware of that. Standing around and staring at her isn’t going to fix any of our problems, mainly yours. We have to make sure you have a place to live.” “You can do that any other day,” Alex quips. “Yeah, and same with asking a million questions about her race and how she got here,” I retort silencing Alex. He was in the exact same position I was two days ago, so I knew exactly how he felt. Letting out a large sigh, Alex turns all his attention towards me. “Alright, just untie me.” “Not until you promise not to tell a soul about what you’ve seen here. If she gets found out, it’s game over man. I’ll be thrown in jail for harboring an alien,” I lecture causing Luna to move her gaze from Alex to me. It looked like she was about to say something, but Alex came in first. “You have my word, I won't tell anyone. You can kick me out on the streets if I do.” “I know, and I will if you tell someone,” I state with a stoic expression on my face. “What about Matt? Does he know about this? I feel like Matt should know about this. I mean how long is she going to be staying here? If its long then Matts going to figure out eventually,” Alex brings up a good point. I shake my head, “No, Matt doesn’t know. This literally happened two days ago, at the supermarket.” “You found her at S-market?” Alex asks giving me a confused look. Walking over to Alex I undo the sweater tying him down and let out a chuckle, “Yeah, pretty weird spot for some alien to just pop in.” With Alex now free, he walks over to Luna. Seeing his advance Luna backs up, “You’re really real,” Alex comments crouching down to meet Luna's face. “I see she’s got your sweater on too, were you serious with the girlfriend part?” This question causes Luna to blush heavily before I respond, “I told you before, it was just a way to keep you from coming to the apartment. She didn’t want anyone to know that she existed. Her own words, not mine.” “Shame, she looks cute with it on,” Alex claims standing back up to face me. I let a chuckle escape my lips as I turn to look at Luna, “Yeah, she is kind of cute with that sweater on.” “I am right here guys!” Luna states completely flustered. Her face was beet red and to tell the truth, it was kind of nice to just joke around after all that stress. I could even tell that when Luna calmed down she seemed visibly more at ease. Alex turns around with a small smile, “Yeah we know. We’re just messing with you.” Luna looks at us with a none-too-pleased expression written across her face. Seeing this, Me and Alex approach the door to the apartment, “Just some harmless fun. I’ll be back in about an hour or two. Hopefully, they’ll have an empty room they’re not using.” I state opening the door and letting Alex walk into the hall. “If they don’t, then Alex will probably be staying another night here.” “Alright,” Is all Luna says as she attempts to take off the sweater. Sadly, with her hooves, it's a lot harder than it should be. Nevertheless, that should keep her company till I come back. Chuckling to himself, Me and Alex exit the apartment and make our way to the elevator. As the door closes behind us I take out my phone and give Matt a ring. Since he agreed to help Alex out, I’ll have him e-transfer some money over to my account. As the phone rings, I and Alex enter the elevator.