//------------------------------//
// Settling In 
// Story: Embracing the Night 
// by NightInk 
//------------------------------//

	Knock-knock-knock
“Oh, shiiiit…”
“What is it?”
“I forgot, I had a friend coming over to study for the upcoming exam.”
“… Aaaand?” She raised her eyebrow like someone walking in and seeing her would be no big whoop.
“That’s it! Ponies don’t talk here on earth! They also don’t have magical horns, wings, cutie marks, or purple fur!”
“Oh.” Her eyes grew wide, I guess at the thought of such boring equine roaming around.
I sighed. “Crap. Ok, stay here, I’m gonna go get rid of her.” I ran to the door just before she knocked again, but only opened it far enough to stick my head out. “Heyyyy. Ashley. Hows it going?”
“Uh, fine?” The tall blonde obviously expected a different greeting. “So, you did remember we’re studying today, right?”
“Yes! Of course I did! I just… didn't… forget the… book?” God, I was acting like I was in every cliché awkward movie moment with a door.
“So, are you going to let me in?”
“Um, no, I was thinking that the studying could be done through osmosis. You know, stuff flowing against it’s concentration gradient? Because we’re already smart, so more knowledge would go into our heads… Of course, I’m a friggin’ idiot right now, so it would be regular diffusion. Your smart, though, so it’d be against the gradient.” (in case you haven’t figured it out, I ramble when I’m nervous.)
“You know, you always ramble when your nervous. Is everything ok? Please tell me you remembered to put pants on.”
“Oh, God, am I really coming off as that much of a buffoon?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“All right then. Well, either way, I’m not going to be able to study today. I’ve got psych to do and communications to… ponder. Sorry, I’ll text you when I can. Really soon.”
She just kind of laughed, but I think I was beginning to scare her. “Well, ok then. I’ll see you later then.”
“Ha, ha. Ok then. Bye!”
I went back to my room to find Luna seconds away from doubling over in laughter. “Was that amusing to you?”
“Oh, GODS, yes!!!” she yelled as her calm broke. “I haven’t seen anything so pathetic since Tia got her horn stuck in the chandelier of the great dining hall!!”
“Fantastic. I’m a multi-dimensional loser. Lookit this guy. Whoo.” I just embarrassed myself in front of LUNA. As in best pony. Maybe she should have zapped me earlier.
“Oh, don’t worry any. Dating is difficult,” she said. “Especially after a thousand years magically tethered to a bucking moon.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I imagine so!” Thank goodness she was at least feeling more comfortable and less murderous.
“Speaking of which, you need to tell me how you know about me yet,” she said, her face growing more serious again. I’m beginning to think I have no private thoughts anymore.
“All right, let me get to my computer.” It didn’t take long to cue up my videos, and I just hit ‘play’. It didn’t matter what episode I played, this was going to be a bombshell for her.
…

Forty-four minutes later we had watched the first two episodes. Luna didn’t say anything, just sat there staring at the screen. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to break the silence. After five minutes, though, I felt like something needed to be said.
“Say something?”
She just blinked slowly and took a shaky breath in. Finally, she quietly said, “So, in this world, ponies like us are nothing but a television show?”
I kind of felt bad for her. I mean, I’d personally be elated if I was a show character in another world, but I’m weird that way. “Umm, kind of. But not just a TV show. You’re a bit of a… huge hit among certain people. Theres a group of us who really love you, and really wished you were real, and if you were that you would come here.”
She breathed in again, slowly, like she was practicing so she didn’t forget. “Ok then. I can live with this. I’ve dealt with worse than being admired by people in another world.”
I had to say something to make her feel better. “Well, if it makes you feel better, I personally think you’re the best pony.”
She looked at me and I could see her eyes trying unsuccessfully not to tear up. “Really?” she practically peeped.
“Um, yeah.” I could feel myself turning as red as Big Mac. “Trying to be truth-some here, the way your kind of socially awkward and keep switching from formal plural and casual manners of speaking is… really great..”
Her face relaxed and she began to smile. “Yeah, I guess. Well, I’ve been working on it. I’ve been using osmosis to try and speed up the learning process.” We both had a good laugh, and I couldn’t help thinking, ‘I’m sitting here casually flirting with Luna!!’
I might squee.

…

That was all a lot for her, so I didn’t press any questions about the threat on Canterlot. I didn’t want to make her worry. We just made small talk for a while and she seemed to lighten up. A nice relaxing night in a stranger’s room was just what she needed, oddly enough. Too bad I didn’t know what ponies or princesses did for fun. Write stupid laws and throw them out? No, that’s what Congressmen do, except they pass them…
“So, what do you humans do for fun?” Luckily she asked first.
“Well, I personally play a lot of videogames, read, watch TV… Sorry, I don’t go out much, and really you can’t right now anyways.”
Her eyes brightened up though. “Wait, you have video games here?” Oh, thank you sweet baby, adult, and every Jesus in between, I was sitting talking with not just Princess Luna, but Gamer Luna. “Yeah, we do,” I said with a smile. “I don’t have a lot for multi-players, but if you know how to use a GameCube controller, we can play ‘Smash Bros.’ or ‘Mario Kart’. Well, I can teach you, anyways.”
She shot straight up out of her seat on the floor. “We have those too! We have those too! We have those too! Let‘s play ‘Smash Ponies’!” I had never seen anyone, pony or otherwise, this excited about ‘Smash Bros.’, and certainly not ‘Mario Kart’.
Ten minutes, one of my controllers and a can of Mountain Dew were held firmly in her magical aura, and while she was getting used to playing with a human Mario she was telling me which games they had in Equestria that had apparently never been shown in the show. Most games and characters were pony-fied, and Pokemon was just Pokemon, oddly enough. It was surprising just how much was similar between our two worlds, and we were both feeling much more comfortable. In fact, she seemed to have pushed the whole ‘threat against Canterlot’ thing out of her mind in the belayed elation of being in a new world with ‘an unknown subject’, as she put it.
And she was good. Once she got past the whole ‘bipedal’ issue, she just couldn’t be stopped as Mario. My Young Link couldn’t hold up, which was odd for that match-up. The slaughter went on for hours. As she brought my lives to zero again, I voiced myself. “What the hell! How can you be this good?!”
She laughed, took a quick drink, and said, “We have a lot of time after we raise the moon and the-PONYFEATHERS!! I haven’t done that yet! What time is it?!”
I checked my phone and said “It’s 11:30, but you don’t have to-”
“Don’t have to what, perform our trusted duty that we had performed for ages prior to our imprisonment and for these few years since our release?!” she yelled as she opened the blinds and looked outside, priming her magic. “It’s-!”
“Not necessary!” I finally cut in. “Luna, here on earth the moon rises on it’s own and the stars are in a fixed position. It’s not all don’t by magic here, instead it’s science. See?’ I added as she realized I was right.
“But, how is it…?” She almost looked heartbroken. “How?”
“It’s a lot to explain, and if I were to do it I’d screw it up anyways. But the moon isn’t your responsibility here. You can relax, I guess.” Poor girl. It brought her back to the fact that she wasn’t at home helping protect against the threat against her home. I walked up and put my arm on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
She just kept looking at the night sky. “It’s strange looking up and thinking it’s not me or my sister helping keep order here. It’s strange not having anything to worry about, or having any expectations of me. You don’t need to be sorry.”
“Yeah, I know, I just hate seeing you upset.”
She got that cute mischievous grin back and looked sideways at me. “Wow, for not having any sort of way with girls, you try to move fast, don’t you?”
I turned Big Mac red again. “Oh, that wasn’t what I was… I mean, I wasn’t trying to… Goddamnit…”
She just laughed. “Don’t worry about it, you kind of cute when your clueless or embarrassed. For a human.”
“That’s pretty much all the time, you know. Being clueless and embarrassed is my thing.”
“I know.”

AUTHORS NOTE: So, a few things. I kind of apologize for the cracks against Mario. It’s not that it‘s a bad game, in fact they’re very good, and Mario is a pretty good Smash character. Zelda is just infinitely better in my opinion. So Mario jokes will probably be made if I get to do another game scene. Also, this may be a long story. I don’t feel like I can just skip right ahead to action and adventure without developing the romance part more. With any luck, we’ll think it turned out well. Lastly, this will not be a human-on-pony type of romance. One of us will change. Or maybe both. Who knows?