//------------------------------// // Night Sky // Story: Short Hand // by Andrew Joshua Talon //------------------------------// Short Hand A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfic By Andrew J. Talon Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan based parody. MLP:FiM is the property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Please support the official release. - - - - There were some nights I just couldn't sleep. I just couldn't relax, and I just couldn't get all those dark, dour thoughts out of my head. The 'hour of the Wolf', as the Russians called it. The time of night when all you could see were the problems and the worries and your fears, that just wouldn't go away. And there wasn't enough hard alcohol in Equestria to silence them. And after a while, you were tired of trying to numb the pain and there was nothing else to do but suffer through it. So in short, I was sitting on the roof of my house and looking up at the night sky. Lying on my blanket as I stared up into the gorgeous infinity of the universe. The stars were utterly foreign to me in almost every way, not a single recognizable constellation. Even the flow of the galaxy across the sky looked foreign, and the moon was so different too. All suddenly so alien and unfamiliar, without the comfort of the skies I knew. Yet I couldn't look away. I felt a presence land next to me, and I looked over, startled. There was a tall alicorn, dark blue, with a wavy main and turquoise eyes. She gazed upon me with familiarity. It took some time for me to recognize her, but I figured it out. "Princess Luna?" I asked. I made to get up to bow or something, but the alicorn held up a hoof. "Nay, there is no need for you to rise," she said gently. She gave me a shy smile. "It has been some time, hasn't it, Shepherd the Human?" "Uh, yeah, yeah," I said with a nod, sitting back down. I sighed and leaned back, my eyes again drawn to the sky. I felt the princess kneel down next to me, and clear her throat. She didn't say anything though. It was very awkward, if I'm being honest. Even with the majesty of the heavens overhead. "... You're... Feeling better?" I asked, feeling stupid. Luna nodded. "We are," she said formally. "It has taken time to recover our strength, but we are... Better." She bowed her head. "Again, we feel we must apologize for our treatment of you," she said. "And we felt it best to do it in person." I looked over at her, and shook my head. "It's all right," I said. "I mean, it wasn't you, right?" Luna was silent for a time. I sensed I'd tread on a sensitive topic, and I grimaced. "I'm sorry. Is that too personal?" I asked. Luna took a deep breath, her eyes wandering again. "In a sense, it was, and it wasn't," she admitted quietly. "Our anger, our jealousy, our despair, our fear... All those things made the Nightmare Moon. The entity that overtook us used those... Made those worse. Made us... Into a monster." She looked aside. "We were not helpless in its rampage, and yet... Now all we have when we look upon the past is regret." I looked over at her. Luna let out another long sigh. "We would retake our throne, and yet..." She trailed off, and looked at me. "Would our ponies... Even accept us again?" I didn't know how to answer that. Not without some thought. Still, helping her took my mind off my own problems. It made me feel like I wasn't just alone and stupid. "It's been a thousand years," I said. "I think they're just as confused about how to relate to you, as you are to them." I managed a small smile. "I think though, if your ponies can accept some weird alien like me, they can accept you." She stared at me for a time. I shook my head. "Not that it will be easy," I said quickly. "There are always going to be people-er, ponies, who don't accept you. Who even fear you," I admitted, looking back at the sky. "And you'll wonder... You'll wonder if it's even worth it, sometimes, to go out." "This has been the case with you?" Luna asked. I nodded. "Yeah," I said. I shook my head. "I mean, before coming to a weird alien world and being seen as a monster." I looked up at the sky, and shifted uncomfortably. "Not that it compares to being locked in the moon for a thousand years-" "No, no," Luna said quietly, reaching out a hoof. She awkwardly placed it on my elbow. It wasn't a hand over mine, but it felt... Comforting in that moment. I stared at it for a while, before looking back up at the sky. I coughed. "It's... Well... When I was eight, my mother died of cancer," I explained. "We were so close, and to lose her then..." I let out a soft sigh, tracing the stars overhead with my eyes. "It felt like my whole world was destroyed. Like, I wasn't really a child anymore, but I was. That made it hard to fit in with everyone else." I paused, working my jaw. "I loved reading books, too. I got that from her, and my dad. And my dad... He worked so hard to try and keep me and my little brother happy. He was so forgiving, so caring, so strong. I felt so guilty when I had trouble in school, or had health problems he had to pay so much for. Because I knew losing Mom hurt him just as much. Causing him pain, or disappointing him, felt like I was hurting him." I let out another sigh. It just kept coming. Kept bubbling up. "And you know, years of struggling in school, in college, at jobs of mine... Still stuck at home while everyone else moved on to have homes and families of their own? While I couldn't find a girl who loved me, or I loved... Until I found one I thought I loved." I snorted. "Then she cheated on me with some asshole, and just... Pretended like it was my fault." The anger was pretty dull there. All that was left was the pain. I took another breath. "And then, just when everything was looking up and I was finally getting my life on track... I ended up in some alien world from some freak accident. Where I'm the only one of my kind," I said softly. "In the Everfree Forest. I got chased by monsters and hurt and I was starving and half mad... And even now, among ponies, sometimes there's a glare, or a look or fear, or a snide remark. A reminder that I'm... Alone." I fell silent. As much as I tried to push it away, the memory of when Celestia had gently told me they had no way to send me home was just as clear. If it was in this cosmos, they had no way of locating it among the trillions of galaxies across the vast plane of space. Much less sending me there. If it wasn't, then there were an infinite number of parallel universes to search, and that would take a lifetime with no guarantee of finding my home. I had accepted it as stoically as possible, excused myself, locked myself in the nearest empty room in the palace and I'd... I'd just cried. I sobbed, trying to keep the sound as muffled as possible. I don't know for how long, but the tears just wouldn't stop. The worst part? Sometimes I still couldn't help crying. Sometimes I just couldn't get in private fast enough. I didn't want pity. Pity was horrible. It just came with the implicit insult. If I was alone, the only human being... Let me have my dignity. Please. Just let me be strong enough to carry on, and not a crybaby. Even now, I was fighting those tears back. I hated how weak I felt. Luna watched me, the only sound that of our breathing. It was almost synchronized. "And how do you endure it, Shepherd?" She asked softly. I looked from the stars, and caught sight of Sugarcube Corner. My gaze drifted, over Rarity's Boutique, the Golden Oaks Library, and Town Hall. My gaze drifted more, until I could spy in the distant moonlight the faint silhouette of Sweet Apple Acres. And beyond that, though too far to see, I knew would be Fluttershy's little cottage. I couldn't help the small smile that came to my face at the thought of them all. "... Same way as on Earth," I said, "with a little help from my friends." My smile grew, just a bit. "Fluttershy was the first being I met when I got here. I met her after... God, days of being on the run in the Everfree Forest. The first being that hadn't tried to kill me, or eat me, or scare me," I said. "I thought she was an angel, to spirit me away into Heaven. She hugged me, she promised that she wouldn't hurt me... She got me to her house and healed me. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity... They all helped out. So did the Mayor, and the Doctor, and... And Princess Celestia," I recounted. Even now, I could remember when I emerged from that terrible, lonely door. The princess stood there, and I tried to come up with some excuse and... She'd just hugged me. With those big, warm wings and her graceful neck. And I'd hugged her back, like I gained strength and peace just from her touch. "If it wasn't for People... Or Ponies who care about me," I continued, "I'd have... I'd have given up. Even when I can't imagine how they could, they do. All I can see are my flaws and all the bad things and failures in my life and..." I held a hand over my eyes. I know, I know, but I just don't like anyone seeing my tears. I took a deep breath, and calmed myself. "... They just see reasons to love me," I finished softly. "And I have to trust those are real." I didn't dare look at Luna until I'd wiped my face. I looked over at her, and the mare was smiling in a similar fashion. A bit of wetness was underneath her eyes, but she hid it away with her telekinesis. I didn't point it out. "... I see," Luna said softly. She bowed her head. "You have given us-I mean... You have given me much to think on, Shepherd the Human." She smiled, and gently extended her head out. She nuzzled me. "Thank you," she said gratefully. I wanted to say something smart alecky, to hide my feelings. Nothing came, as I returned the smile. "You're welcome," I said. Luna cleared her throat, again. "We must attend to our royal duties," she said formally, that wall back up between us. "Please... Enjoy the Night, Shepherd the Human." I nodded back to her. "You too, your Majesty," I said. "And thank you." Luna smiled, and vanished into ethereal mist. I was alone again. I looked back up at the night sky, a little smile on my face. Well... I was feeling a bit less stupid, at least. That has to count for something. - - -