New York City8:45pm
James was a man who has dealt with a lot of pain from his past. He wished he had an answer as to why he was being treated the way he was treated now. It all started when he was younger; there was a huge fallout in his family. Apparently, his father didn’t want him, so he was severely against taking care of James. His mother was shocked that those words came out of his father’s mouth. ‘I don’t want him, I wish he was never born,’ his mom filed for divorce. As James grew up, he started to notice that his mother was becoming more aggressive towards him. She started drinking alcohol, getting drunk right in front of him whenever he came home from school. She would start slurring her words, saying ‘you are the main reason why my husband doesn’t want me.’ As soon as he turned 18, he was kicked out of the house, and ever since then, he had been homeless. He was wearing tattered clothes, had a long black beard, really long hair, and at 22 years old, he had no one to take him in. He was sitting on a bench in the middle of the night, leaning his body down to look up at the stars. He had grown to like the stars a lot; they always calmed him down whenever his past got to him. As he was looking at the stars, he saw a shooting star go by and quickly made a wish. “I wish to be somewhere happy where no one can judge me and befriend me for who I am,” he said in a sad tone. When the shooting star was gone, he quickly drifted off to sleep.
Back in Canterlot…
The princess of the night, named Luna, was coming out of her night court duties to retire for the night. ‘I just wish I had somepony to be friends with. Don’t someponies know that I am reformed? I’m no longer the pony who I used to be, but every time I say that, everypony just runs off, still scared of me because they see me as Nightmare Moon,’ she thought depressingly. As she trotted slowly to her room with her head down, she made her way to her balcony, looking at her work—the night sky, looking at every single star. Until she caught one star in her eye—a shooting star. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and wished, “I wish to find somepony to be friends with who won’t run away from me.” After she headed back to her room, she went to sleep.
The next day…
Gasps
“What type of creature is that?”
“I don’t know, but don’t go near it.”
“What’s wrong with its clothes? They’re all scratched up.”
James was rudely woken up by voices all around him. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a bunch of colorful ponies. His face went pale as everypony was looking at him with those big eyes darting at him. James didn’t know how to respond to this, so instead, he fainted from shock. The ponies didn’t know what to do until a certain pony by the name of Twilight and her friends came bustling through the crowds to see what was going on. “Alright, coming through everyone, what’s going on here?” Twilight asked as she stopped to see a human on the ground. “Twilight, darling, do you know what it is?” Rarity came up behind her. “Umm, what do you think it is, Twilight?” Fluttershy said from behind. “I don’t know, girls, but from what I can guess, we haven’t seen their species in a very long time.”
Meanwhile, in Canterlot…
Luna woke up when the sun was beaming at her face. Her eyes winced in irritation. She rolled out of bed, began stretching her hind legs and forelegs, then headed out the door, going to see her sister at the dining hall to eat breakfast. “Luna, you look absolutely exhausted. Did my sun accidentally beam at your face again?” Her older sister said, taking a sip of her tea. Luna shook her head, obviously lying to Celestia, but she wasn’t slick with her lies. “Luna, I can tell when you lie. You don’t have to lie to me,” she said. The princess of the night sighed, using her magic to pull up a chair to sit next to her sister. A waiter came into the dining room with a big plate of pancakes and a pitcher of tea. Her breakfast was handed down gently on the table, and the waiter poured tea into her cup. The waiter bowed its head, saying ‘enjoy your breakfast, your highness,’ then left the dining room. “Yes, your sunlight was doing that, but that’s besides the point,” she said with her voice slightly cracking, clearly stressed. Her sister was about to ask her if she was all right, but she continued. “Everypony that I try to be friends with always runs away from me and still thinks of me as Nightmare Moon. I’ve already kept apologizing to the ponies and Ponyville. I’m not that person anymore. I’ve changed,” she finished, burying her face with her hooves. Luna felt a pair of hooves wrapping around her. “They will soon open up to you, but they can’t be afraid of you forever. Just give it time,” Celestia comforted as she began to nuzzle her sister gently.
Back in Ponyville…
James woke up again, but this time he was not outside surrounded by ponies. Instead, he was inside in a random building that someone brought him into. He took a look at his new surroundings—nothing but books on every shelf. As he was curiously looking around, a voice jolted him, making him spin around to see a purple pony with wings and a horn on the top of its head. “Are you all right? I take it that you’re not used to seeing ponies talk before?” James scratched his head then said, “Where I’m from, you guys are not like us. You don’t talk like us or even act like normal human beings, unfortunately.” Twilight was taken aback when he said that. “So, on your HomeWorld, our species is not like you, just completely dead-brain ponies?!” James shrugged his shoulders then nodded his head. “I hate to tell it to you, but yeah, it’s true,” he said. Twilight then stepped forward. “Well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.” James smiled then introduced himself to her. “My name is James Winters. I am from New York City in the United States. My mom kicked me out when I just turned 18, and I had nowhere else to go. I was homeless.” Twilight gave him a sympathetic expression then said, “You were homeless? How come your parents didn’t take care of you?” James sighed ultimately, regretting his decision to talk about his past. “Because they never wanted me in the first place. In fact, maybe they’re right,” he said as he closed his eyes. He felt a pair of arms wrapping around him. “Don’t you ever say that again. You are more than just that. What your parents did to you wasn’t right,” she said, nuzzling against his cheek. James was feeling a little bit awkward by that sudden affection but decided to let it slide. “So, what should we do now?” he asked. Twilight released him from her hug, slightly blushing. “Let me take you to meet my friends. They are super friendly, trust me,” Twilight said as she led him to the living room to meet her friends.