Frame of Mind

by CCpone

Ch - 5

Ch – 5:
Respect where Due

We all know that quote, we all understand that quote. As people put forth pride in their race, they also have to come to terms with the darkness that it holds as well. From every age, we’ve had fighters, people willing to risk their lives to save the lives of others. War is a word that bathes our history in blood and shrouds our beautiful culture in darkness.

Yet this darkness is a necessary evil. It pushes the mighty engines of our civilization to levels previously unimaginable. For those wishing to have pride in humanity, they must first come to accept what we have done to get here.

The crimes we’ve committed, the atrocities we’ve created, and the lives it has affected. The world is not perfect and nor will it ever be. As always in these types of things, you have to give respect where it’s due. Acknowledge the ones before you that gave you the ability to do the things you do today.

My life, as I have come to find it, was very dull before Luna came into it. I was contempt with it but always held that cynical view. Yet the more I come to show this world to Luna, the more I start to find myself wrong. Why did I look at the world like I did? Will I change my frame of mind? What is going to happen when she is gone from this world?

Waking up from my slumber, I slam the top of my alarm clock before it could go off. The same rough textured ceiling looked back at me as I recall the events of the weekend. Yesterday was chaos with Alex finding out about Luna, but at least everything is sorted out now. Alex has his own apartment -surprisingly on the same level as me- and Luna is back to sleeping on the couch.

Knowing full well that I have to get up, I push my body to the edge of the bed. Letting out a loud yawn I swing my feet over the bed and plant them on the ground. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I breathed in and stood up.

With the hardest part of the day done I walk to the entrance of my bedroom. Picking up my phone in the process. “Morning coffee, then I’ll get ready for the day,” resonated around in my mind as I opened the door to my room.

“What the hell are you doing Luna?” I ask walking into the apartment's main room, or at least what was left of it. For some odd reason, there were hundreds of pieces of paper scattered all around. Each one adorning a weird symbol. I have my speculations on what was going down, but sometimes it’s better to ask the source.

Luna looks at me with a joyful expression, “Ah Ari, perfect timing! I think I have figured out a way to get myself back home.”

“And that would be?” I question looking at the symbols. I really should get my morning coffee going before I start agreeing to anything.

“Black Magic!” Luna states triumphantly. If I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn I saw lightning flash off in the distance, but that’s impossible. There wasn’t a single cloud outside the window.

I take a look at her, then to the papers, then back to her, “You’ve finally lost it, haven’t you?” I more of stated then asked as I maneuver around the papers.

“This can really work Ari; black magic isn’t like conventional magic. Instead of manipulating the magic of the world, you create it. Theoretically, even if this world has no magic, I should be able to complete this ritual that will open a portal to Equestria!” Luna lectures as she walks over to me by the coffee machine.

She then enters this awkward silence; the only sound is the coffee being brewed. What makes it awkward was not the silence. No, what made it awkward was that she was staring right at me. This continued for a few minutes till my coffee was done. Picking up my cup of joe I take a long sip from it.

“Okay, what do you need me to help you with, in this ‘black magic’ stuff?” I could already feel the regret settling in. The name itself seemed to scream dangerous.

“Hold out your hand and close your eyes,” Luna commanded.

Taking another sip from my mug I do as she says. “Alright, now wha-ha-ha-haaaaat!” I scream out as I feel a blade come across the palm of my hand. Shooting open my eyes I come to see a large gash along the surface of my palm. The coffee that was once in my other hand is now all over the floor.

“What the literal fuck Luna! That fucking hurt! Are you out of your fucking mind?” I yell at her as I run towards the medical cupboard. Luna herself was wiping up some of the blood up off the floor with a piece of tissue paper. Before I could even bandage up my hand, Luna was already standing in the middle of the room chanting something, in some weird unknown language.

Rolling my eyes, I move my attention back to my hand as that’s the part that’s got me worried the most. With a quick flick of the wrist the medical cupboard opens up portraying a small, but well needed first aid kit.

Reaching up I take the kit in my hands and throw it onto the counter. It took some time fumbling with the latches, but eventually, I got it to open with one hand. Inside was what one would expect to be in a first aid kit. There was the first aid guide book -which I promptly, all but threw away from me-, a couple bandages, gloves, tape, tweezers, scissors the whole kit and caboodle.

I, however, was only after three of the many items. Taking the bandages out I place them to the side along with the scissors and tape. Looking back at the cut I attempt to see if I severed any arteries. Thankfully, it was a shallow cut and it didn’t look that bad to patch up.

Taking the roll of gauze in my hand I quickly wrap it around my wounded hand. In all honesty, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. I just know a bandage is a good way to stop bleeding. I’m sure that if I actually took that first-aid course in high school, I would be way better off right about now.

Sadly, I wasn’t one for taking extra courses after school. So, long story short, here I am wrapping this gauze bandage ten times around my hand before taping it shut. With the cut now bandaged I realized something. I really should’ve cleaned that cut.

Rolling my eyes, I tear the bandage off and bring out the alcohol wipes from the kit. Looking at the wipes than to the cut I visibly cringed. This was going to hurt like a mother fucker. Probably more so then it hurt getting the actual cut itself. Nevertheless, this was for a greater cause. I didn’t want my cut to get infected.

To tell the truth I was actually quite traumatized by this whole event. My hand was bleeding pretty badly, and Luna's demonic chanting in the background wasn’t helping the situation at all.

Inhaling a large sum of air, I quickly dab the alcohol wipe against the cut. Oh, how I wanted to scream, but that would require my man card to be revoked. Who am I kidding, that shit really fucking hurts. The least I could do was hiss as I continued to dab the wipe across the cut.

With the cut now clean, I re-bandage the wound with another ten wraps with the gauze. When the final wrap was done, I sealed it with the tape. Looking around for the first time after the incident, I take in the mess I caused.

Coffee was spilled all over the floor, the mug shattered, blood across the counter and by the fridge from my bleeding. It kind of looked like someone had a fight with their coffee machine and got shanked. An interesting image to have in your head.

Not wanting to deal with this later I immediately bring out the broom and mop. Quickly with the broom, I swipe up all the little shards of glass from the mug. Later I will have to come back with a vacuum just to be sure I got it all. Next, I took the mop out filled a bucket with soapy water and started going to town cleaning this mess up. After about twenty minutes I had the entire kitchen looking good as new.

The chanting has long since stopped and I have yet to hear Luna nor see her. Glancing over to where she was performing her ‘black magic’, I come to see her sitting in the middle of the papers looking down at the floor. It seems her spell didn’t work after all, not really a surprise here really. After all, magic is just a word that describes the unknown here on earth.

Now keep in mind, I was just cut by this mare deliberately. I was not the happiest camper right now, “Care to explain to me your actions?” I half-yelled at her.

Even from this distance, I could see her visibly cringe at the sharpness in my tone. I was having none of it, though, this was just unacceptable. God, I’m sounding more and more like a parent every day?

“Well? Have something you want to say to me?” I questioned her further as I walked up behind her.

“We’re sorry!” Luna yelled out half sobbing as she got up and ran towards the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Well, now I feel like a real asshole. The guilt of making her cry grew stronger within my stomach, was it really worth it? Did that sedate my anger, or did it fuel my ideology that maybe she’s really unstable right now with her life being turned upside down. Who am I the one to question how someone in her shoes may be feeling.

Thinking about it for a while I finally came up with the answer. It was so simple, Luna was feeling lonely. None of her kind is around, the thought that she may never see them again probably echoing around in her subconscious.

While she was in the wrong for cutting me, she still had her reasons. Hell, I would straight up sacrifice someone if it had a chance to bring me back home from an alien planet. The instinct to survive is a strong one that not many people can overcome, and this pony was able to hold herself back.

Walking to the bedroom door I lean my ear against it. The quiet sobs could be heard clearly through the door. The guilt for pushing someone over the cliffs of depression really hits you hard. Never in all my life, did I think I would have to worry about things like these. Yet, here I was, my soul duty to make this mare's stay, and or transition, as easy as possible.

Having heard enough of the sobs I opened the door. Why knock when you have full intentions to enter anyways no matter what she says. As per usual when I entered the room I got a full verbal assault on why that was a bad idea.

“We do not wish to speak with thou!” Luna half yelled in her old English way. Sitting on the bed her eyes locked onto mine, hers streaming with tears, mine full of guilt.

The heat of the moment sure makes taking the wrong path easy and that’s what I did. Nonetheless, I was going to fix my mistakes. The only thing holding me back would be Lunas willingness to open up and acceptance.

“That’s, where you’re wrong Luna. This is the time you need to speak to someone the most.” I started walking up to the bed and taking a seat on it.

Luna looked away, “We know what we require, time alone mends everything.” Her soft sobs stopping as she puts forth a front of determination. She’s strong I’ll give her that, but being alone is not the healthiest way to solve your emotional problems. I would know because I’ve been doing that my whole life. Only just recently, had I started talking to my friends about my problems.

Sighing I pulled Luna into a nice warm embrace, saying the one thing every person needs to be told at least once in their lives, “Everything’s going to be alright,”

And that is when the floodgates opened. I don’t think I have ever heard someone cry as much as Luna did then. To be honest, I do not think Luna will ever forget the lesson she learned today. Everyone needs someone to talk to, whether it’s a friend, family member, or even some random guy on the internet.

Her cry lasted another two minutes before she calmed down. By ‘calm down’ I mean she fell right asleep on my shoulder. It was really cute at first, but then she started to drool all over my shoulder.

Deciding that I would rather not have a sleeping Luna on me for the rest of her slumber; I slowly lowered her onto the bed. Getting up, I took a couple clothes from my closet and exited the bedroom for her to get some rest.

Exiting the bedroom, I immediately picked up all the papers and stacked them neatly on the kitchen counter. After all, I did spend all that time cleaning up when Luna arrived, I would be crazy not to try and keep it that way.

After stacking the papers on the kitchen counter, I pulled out my cellphone from my pocket and gave Alex a ring. Since he was just down the hall from me, I decided that I would go visit him while Luna was out. Work wasn’t until 9 pm today seeing as I had the night shift, so I basically had the whole day off.

“Yo,” Alex stated answering the phone, no hint of tiredness in his voice. The fact that he was starting to get up now was pretty concerning. Nevertheless, I continued on with the conversation.

“Hey, you mind if I come over? Got some things I want to talk to you about,” I ask walking over to one of the sheets of paper and writing a quick letter on it.

Alex paused for a minute before answering, “Yeah sure, just a mess here with all the moving boxes and what not.”

“They came in today?” I asked.

“Yeah, I really am starting to think what would have happened if you and Matt didn’t get me this place,” Alex commented as I hear him rustling through some box.

“Probably would have had one pissed off Matt. Either way, I’ll see you in two.”

“Yeah, maybe you can help me unpack?” Alex asked.

I laughed, “In your dream, me and Matt paid for the apartment. I’m just going to watch you unpack.”

“Don’t be an-” And that all Alex said before I hung up.

Friends, aren’t they awesome to fuck around with? Either way, with my meetup scheduled I quickly finish off the note, place it on the counter and dress into my everyday clothes. Having nothing left keeping me here I open the door to my apartment and walk over to Alex’s.

One knock on his door and Alex answered, his speed something I was always jealous of. “Dick move man,” Alex stated as he looked at me with a disapproving glare.

“You do it to me all the time,” I reply looking into his room.

He wasn't lying with the boxes, he’s literally got them everywhere. I never knew Alex owned so much. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t stay in touch for over a year. Nevertheless, I digress from the real reason I came over to Alex’s.

Closing the door behind me I speak my mind, “I’ve been noticing that Luna has been really depressed lately. I think it’s due to her being on earth rather than her own home. I have been trying to figure out a way to get her out of the house but nothing ever comes to mind. How the hell do you hide something like her to the rest of the world?”

“I really don’t know, but maybe we can think of something while we unpack?” Alex states

I roll my eyes at him, “I thought I made it clear that I wasn’t going to help, this apartment wasn’t cheap you know. Especially since you kind of sprang it on them last minute.”

“Yeah, but you’re my friend and I know you’re easy to guilt trip,” Alex states as he starts lugging a heavy box around, “Jesus this thing is heavy. If only I had someone to help me.” He continues with a fake sad expression on his face.

I chuckle at his antics, “you know that just makes me want to watch you work more.”

“Fuck you man, just come and help me already,” Alex commands as he places the box down and starts to go through it.

Since I’m not an asshole, I grab another box and started to go through it. The box contained nothing special, just some Tupperware containers and plates. It seems like the boxes stacked here were all his kitchen supplies. A quick look at the other boxes around here resulted in cementing my thought.

Closing the boxes, I pick the first one up and brought it over to the kitchen to start unpacking it. Alex was doing the same thing, except instead setting up the kitchen, he was setting up his computer.

A wave of nostalgia hit me when I saw it. He still had the same case and everything, “still have that old thing? Must be out of date by now?” I ask seeing as it was over seven years old now.

“You would think that,” Alex stated plugging in his surge protector into the wall, “but I actually upgraded mostly everything in here. New power supply, graphics card, and even the CPU. The only thing that’s the same is the motherboard.”

Placing the plates and Tupperware containers in one of his many cupboards I reply, “We have to play together again like the old days, you know those mini LAN parties we used to do.”

“Those were some good times, Quake and Warcraft 3,” Alex states as we both get a long look in our eyes, those were some good times. “We definitely need to do that again, hell I even got a switch to plug all our computers into.”

I nod in agreement, “sometime, right now let's focus on getting this place set up.” I comment.

Putting away all the items I once again head back to the boxes. Each one holding something different. Picking a random box, I open it up to see some sort of fur. Curious I take it out of the box to reveal a dog costume with a leash and collar to go with it.

“Why the hell do you have this?” I state chuckling to myself. I can only imagine Alex wearing something as ridiculous as this.

Alex looks at me and lets out a large laugh, “Oh that brings me back. It was my Halloween costume a while back. My parents said I looked adorable in it and forced me to go out trick-or-treating with it. Man, I was so pissed, I refused to talk to them for a week.”

As Alex relays this story, my lips curl upwards into a devious smirk. Alex looks at my reaction and seems to hatch the same idea. “There’s no way Luna’s going to let you put that on her. Even though she’s an alien, she has standers bro.”

“It’s the perfect way to get her out of the house, though. Nobody would even bat a second glance at this thing.” I claim turning it over to see the other side. It was in perfect condition for being so old. “Why keep it though? If it made you so embarrassed to wear it?” I asked.

“It’s a good memoir of the past. That and every now and then I get a good chuckle out of seeing it.” As Alex comments that, we both turn our heads to the knock at the door. Alex has a confused look in his eyes, while I place the costume back into the box and move it to the side.

Opening the door, Alex is greeted by Luna standing in the hall. Taking a deep breath in Alex is the first to break the ice this time, “Hey, Luna, what are you doing here?”

“Ari left a note saying that he came over to help you unpack and if I wanted to join I could,” She stated looking past Alex towards me. I wave to her as I take another box of kitchen items and head to the kitchen.

Alex looks at Luna for a moment before replying, “Yeah, sure the more the merrier.”

With a small smile, Luna steps into the apartment and immediately walks towards me, “So where can I help out.” She claims seemingly not wanting to talk about what happened literally two hours ago, man time flies when you’re helping a friend unpack.

I point over to the pile of boxes in the corner of the room, “Just pick one and put it where you think it belongs.” I state leaving my own box and walking with her over to the boxes, “But first I want you to try something on.”

Luna looks at me with a confused face while Alex starts cracking up at the mention of ‘trying something on’, “here we go,” Alex states as he looks over to me and Luna.

“What is it that you want me to try on?” Luna questions.

I give her a nice warm smile, “I thought that since you’re cooped up in the apartment all day, that maybe going outside and seeing the world first hand would interest you.” Luna starts to smile herself as she nods, “Well, I found the perfect way you can do that without raising any suspicion.”

Luna seems to be taking in everything I say, while Alex, on the other hand, is containing his laughter. Reaching into the cardboard box I separated from the rest, I pull out Alex’s old dog costume.

“Tada!” I claim holding it up in front of her.

Luna’s smile instantly fades, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” She states looking at me with the most unamused face I have ever seen. Hell, the queen of England would have a go at her money with Luna around.

“Come on give it a try, it’s your one-way ticket to seeing the world with your own eyes,” I comment pushing it towards her. Luna was definitely not having any of it and hooves it back towards me.

“Not even my sister herself could get me to wear such humiliating clothing,” Luna stated with a scowl on her face. I could already tell that there was no way she was going to try it on here. But maybe back in the privacy of my apartment she might.

Letting out a little chuckle, I take the costume back and place it in the box. “well if you aren’t going to wear it then get back to work.” Alex stated like he was some kind of boss. I and Luna, however, didn’t argue as we went back to work unpacking.

The day seemed to fly on by as the three of us worked, by the time all the boxes were unloaded the time was already 7:30 pm. Having work in an hour, me and Luna said our goodbyes and left back to our own apartment. Luna empty hoofed and me carrying the same box that had the costume in it.

“I’m not going to put that on,” Luna stated, taking little glances at me.

“Never said you were,” I reply back as I open the door to the apartment. What greeted me made my mouth drop. The apartment was spic and span, compared to how it was when I left it.

Sure, I cleaned up the coffee, blood, and glass but looking at the room now made what I did look like child’s play. The counter was shined, sink completely empty, first aid kit put away as well with the sheets of paper. Generally shocked I walked into throughout the apartments main room to see every nook and cranny spotless. Even my bed was made so neatly I could bounce a quarter off of it.

“Surprise,” Luna exclaimed in her normal tone.

“You did all this?” I asked still wandering around the house. Every window was cleaned and the closet were all organized. “How the hell did you do all this in such a small amount of time?” I asked remembering she only had two hours to do this. Even then she must have been sleeping at least half that time.

“Once again one learns all sorts of things when they are alone for long periods of time,” Luna claimed bringing up the memory of this morning.

Looking back over to Luna I can see she’s having trouble saying something. Instead of interrupting her I let her work it out. “I just wanted to thank you for being there when I was being all stubborn and sad.”

Hearing those words, I let a smile grace my lips, “Any time Luna, as long as you’re here on earth, you can always come and talk to me about anything.” I state looking around the apartment. “Well, I have to get ready for work. I have the night shift for the next three days so I’ll probably be up all night when I get back.” I continue.

“Then I shall get some rest and join you tonight. I was quite accustomed to staying up late at night back in Equestria,” Luna commented as she walked over and sat on the couch.

“I would assume so, was your job astronomy back in Equestria? You did say you love looking at the night sky,” I stated walking into the bedroom to get my work clothes on.

“One could say that,” Luna stated with a little chuckle.

Exiting the bedroom again I look towards Luna as she gazed out the window. The sun was already way bellow the horizon and the Moon well on its way up. She really did like the night, I wonder what lead her to become so attached to it.

Turning my gaze away from her I come to see the cardboard box sitting by the door. Walking up to it I grab the dog suit and walk back to Luna, “you sure you don’t want to try it on?” I ask dropping the dog suit next to her on the couch. “I mean, we could go see so many things like museums, libraries, parks,” I pause for dramatic effect, “The midnight summer festival?”

Her ears perked up at the last one, I knew I had her there. If she really did, in fact, love the night that much, then she might actually wear the costume in order to come. As expected she looks towards the suit than to me before shaking her head.

“I said it once and I will say it again I will never put such a humiliating suit on,” Luna commented with a stoic expression on. Yet through her eyes, I can see the mental fight going on in her head.

I let out a chuckle as I move over to the kitchen to grab a little snack before my shift. The time was now 8:15 pm. It only takes half-an-hour to get to the S-market so I had some time to brew myself a nice cup of coffee and P.B and J sandwich.

As the coffee brews, I look over to Luna on the couch. She’s constantly glancing in-between the costume and the night that laid outside the window. It was pretty funny to watch her mind at work, she was obviously battling her pride. I knew as long as I was here there was no chance in hell that she was going to wear that costume.

Yet, I’m sure she will eventually come to and wear it, if only for the summer festival. Taking my mug out of the machine I take a long swig and bite a big portion out of my sandwich. It was almost time to leave.

Finishing up my coffee I place the mug into the sink and walk over to the entrance of the apartment. Luna was still facing the window when I placed on my shoes and grabbed my coat, my B.P and J sandwich still held by my mouth as I open the door.

Taking another bite, I call out to Luna, “See you at 1,”

Luna mumbles back a farewell as I close the door and step into the hallway. However, I did not move from the front of my apartment door. A couple of people gave me weird looks as I just stood outside my apartment door as they walked on by. I gave them no explanation, just a passing hi.

When a couple more minutes passed by, I turned around and looked through the eye-hole in the door. There standing up was Luna trying to get herself into the costume. I knew that she couldn’t resist the temptation when she was alone. It was all the proof I needed, I was going to take Luna the festival this Friday one way or another.

Walking down the hallway towards the elevator, I thought to myself with a smile; She may not be a soldier, but she sure is a fighter and that’s something I can really respect.