//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: Farewell 
// Story: My Little Luna 
// by Alcatraz 
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	It is time.

I wandered how long it would take Celestia to get to earth to take Luna back to Equestria, and that time was now. It was a month after the visit from the Doctor and River, I went outside to check the mailbox but didn't take two steps outside the door. In the middle of the driveway was a bright blue, tall oval-type ring hovering above the ground. You couldn't see through the ring, the middle of it was all white. I'm going out on a limb here and assume this is Celestia's portal.

My heart sank, I knew what this meant. "Luna. You might want to come out here. Like, now."

Suddenly there was a pop and a bright flash next to me, and there stood Luna. Oh yeah, gotta love teleportation.

"Dad... Does this mean what I think it does?"

"I'm afraid so. Lets just see what happens from here on out."

As if on cue, a horn appears out of the portal, followed by a head, a long slender neck and multicoloured mane, two front legs, a gorgeous well kept body, and finally the rear legs accompanied by the same multicoloured tail. There she stood. Seven feet tall of pure alabaster beauty.

There was a long awkward silence before anyone spoke.

"I..." Began Celestia. "I've come for my sister. Just please understand I don't want to make this any more difficult than necessary."

"You make that sound like you're a judge handing out a sentence." I sniped.

Celestia was taken aback my my verbal outburst, hanging her head slightly. "I understand you will be upset, but I don't understand how else we would handle this situation."

"You can start by explaining how Luna got sent here in the first place." I replied flatly, my gaze fixed on her every move and word.

"Yes, I do owe you that at the very least."

I sat down on the concrete steps leading up to the front door, as did Luna.

"It began during a storm. A rather unusually large one at that. We had the weather pegasi out trying to ease the thunder and lightning, but they weren't having any luck. Luna volunteered to aid the pegasi that kept getting near misses with lightning. Figuring she'd protect them with a spell that would avert the lightning away from them, when Luna began to charge the spell lightning struck her horn and she vanished in mid air."

"That... makes sense, but not a whole lot of. You see, when I found her she was but a filly. I found her when I was walking to work when a bolt of lightning struck a building nearby. I investigated and found an unconscious Luna inside. I took her home, and things continued from there. I've essentially taken care of her for in excess of a year."

The look on Celestia's face was all I needed to see, the expression was all of awe, shock, and amazement. "I see. But for me it has only been about five weeks or so. Admittedly time differentials are hard to keep track of, but that's besides the point. I don't know how to ask this properly, but... I must take Luna home."

I look up at Luna who was wearing a blank expression. "Luna, what do you want to do?"

Looking between me and Celestia for one long minute, she finally speaks. "This is my home." Both Celestia and myself drop our jaws. You'd need a spatula to scrape them off the ground. "But..." She continues. "I also have a home on the other side of the portal too. This is too difficult of a choice to make. One cannot simply have their cake and eat it too."

I look up at Luna with a smirk. "Luna sweetie, what good is cake if you can't eat it?" A little off topic, but it does well to lighten the mood somewhat, and even earning a chuckle from the two alicorns.

"I've spent too much time here to simply let it all go. I am not choosing to stay, I am not choosing to leave." Luna's voice got bitter as she said "So please, do with me what you wish Tia. I simply cannot abandon what I hold near and dear in this place."

"I am sorry to have to do this to the both of you, I sincerely am. But Equestria needs Luna back." With that, Celestia's horn light up with her trademark golden glow, which envelops Luna, lifting her off the ground. Instantly, Luna droops all limbs and head and begins to sob profusely. I can feel my throat tighten with emotion as I too begin to weep, falling to my knees as Celestia turns to leave, taking a sobbing Luna away in her glowing golden aura. 

"Celestia please! First it was Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy, now Luna! How many other times has this happened? I know how heartbroken you left the other two people who took care of them, I found her, raised her, fed her, I even kissed her cuts and scrapes! I beg of you Princess, she calls me father, dad, HER DADDY!" Celestia stops dead in her tracks, inches away from the portal. "You know, after my parents died in an accident, I took Luna aside and said to her; "No mater what happens to you I will never, ever leave you." And you know what? I made that a Pinkie Promise too. You know what they say about making Pinkie Promises. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. If I break a promise to Pinkie Pie, I can kiss my flank goodbye."

Celestia stops and droops her head and pained sniffling can be heard.

"She's your sister. Think of the harm someone else could have put her through for all that time had I not found her!"

Celestia breaks down in tears, talking through broken sobs. "You are right. I did leave those other humans heartbroken. They raised the other two ponies like their own daughters. It, it brings me great pain to have to do this yet again." 

"I ask only this in return for taking care of your sister for so long. I... I..." I stammer, struggling to get out the sentence, afraid of what Celestia's reply will be. "Since I Pinkie Promised... I wish to come back to Equestria with the both of you."

Celestia turns her head in shock at my request, tears matting the fur around her eyes. "Human, because you took care of my beloved sister for so long, and it pains me to have to wipe the memories of both sides again, I shall grant your request for you to come back to Equestria with your daughter, and to say thank you personally, I will grant you your own bed chambers next to Luna's room. If that's what Luna here would like?" Celestia gently puts Luna down on the floor next to her, suddenly Luna fly-tackles me to the ground and sobbing profusely on my shoulder. "Oh thank you, thank you sister, We would not have it any other way!"

"If you don't mind, can I pack a few things?" The goddess lets a slight chuckle.

"Sure, take as much time as you need" she replies.

I go to my bed and pull out my suitcase, filling it with clothes, and the little box that my grandad made me for a birthday. I keep a lot of things in there; valuables and photo albums so I can remember my family, I never want to forget them. When that's full of clothes and the like, I turn to a large backpack and start filling it with incidentals; a few books, a folder with writing and drawing materials, my ammo can full of my knife collection, (Note to self, keep these out of harms way!) and last but not least, a bottle of my favourite whisky.

Celestia walks up to and places a hoof on Luna and myself. Her horn glows a strong, deep yellow. "What ar..." Suddenly there's a flash, a weird tingly feeling washes over my body and everything goes black.


XXXXXXXXX


I'm not sure where I am or how long I've been here. It's a rather large room with a small bookcase, desk and other amenities. I sit up and get hit with a pounding headache, falling back down a taking a pained  gasp through clenched teeth.

I hear the door click and creak open ever so slightly. "May I come in?" It's Celestia.
Looking around I make sure I'm decent, slowly sitting back up and leaning back against the headboard of what I now see to be a medium sized canopy bed.

The door widens and the princess walks in accompanied by another pony levitating a tray with some water and fruit on it. "Here," she begins "eat this. Such a spell I used to bring all 3 of us back to Equestria would certainly have had unknown effects on humans, luckily it appears to only have slightly weakened you." I snicker. "Yeah, and a bit of a throbbing headache too!"

Celestia motions for the maid to put the tray on the bedside cabinet and leave. It was a simple spread of  sliced apples, pineapple and a few other fruits I couldn't immediately recognize, with a jug of water and a glass to boot.

"How long was I out for?"

"About a day, give or take. Your fatigue would have cleared by now had it been two or three days."

Just great. Another two days of dealing with a painful headache.

"What about Luna, how is she?"

"My sister is doing well, she's resting too."

I had to let out a little giggle. She was quite the big sleeper back on Earth.

"I came here to talk briefly, it's about the other two incidents like what happened to you, but with..." I finished her sentence "Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, I am aware."

"Yes, well. You made me realize that taking children away from their parents like how I did with Rainbow and Fluttershy must have been very devastating to the other two people who raised them."

"If I may, Princess?" She gives a nod. "Home doesn't always have to be where you were born or grew up, nor does it need to be a house, and family doesn't always need to be related either."

"Such wise words. Which is why I have decided to return the memories of the parents of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and give them a choice; the opportunity to be reunited with their daughters. Pardon my poor choice of words here, but the biological parents of Rainbow and Fluttershy are aware of what happened to them, and are welcoming to the idea."

"Just... one more thing, Princess. How does the Doctor fit into all of this? Why did you have him give me that envelops and the cube?"

"I can't simply enter and leave the Astral Plane, or, as Luna calls it, The Dreamscape at will. I found the Doctor when his box crashed here and had guards escort him back to the castle to see me. It was here that the Doctor stores for safe keeping, and explained how his blue box worked to my understanding. When Luna went missing, I asked him if his machine could go to the Dreamscape, then gave him enough of my magic for a return trip. The cube was one of two. One I gave to the Doctor to use as a significant power source to break the barrier between universes, and the other was given to you after I put a tracker on it and imbued it with Discord's and my magic; as creating and sustaining a portal across universes uses an insurmountable amount of magic. The magic that resided in you was wiped when we went back through the portal. Anyway, I must go collect the other people."

"Alright, I'll see you when you get back."


XXXXXXXXX


Celestia approaches a stand-alone house at the end of a road. Knocking at the door the lone occupant open the door.

"Yeah, what do y..." He never finished his sentence before his jaw hits the floor. "Y, you! But, I, HOW!? Why are you here, how is it even possi..." Celestia put a hoof to his mouth. Not saying a word, she leans forward, touching her glowing horn to his forehead, whereupon he collapses.


XXXXXXXXX


I'm sleeping comfortably in my bed when I'm wakened by knocking. "Are you awake? I am back. I bring good news and bad news."

"Lets start with the bad news so we can finish off with something better." I say.

"Yes, well I went back to earth to collect the other two people, but..." She trails off for a second. "Fluttershy's father couldn't join us because of, how shall I say? He has an unfortunate permanent residence and has been there for quite some time."

"I gotta give credit where credit is due, Princess, that was rather creative way of saying... Ahem. Anyway."

"Now time for the good news. I did locate Rainbow Dash's father, and he eagerly elected to join me. He is resting further down the hall, and I put him to sleep with my magic for a few days so he won't have the headache like you did."

No fair, why didn't she do that for me?! Hmph.

Everything turned out for the better. I'm living in a castle in magical land filled with magical horses, some of which can fly too, with my alicorn princess of a daughter. Ok, that is one sentence that I thought I would never ever ever be saying.

Sitting out of bed with my shorts and t-shirt on, pulling my flask out of the backpack near my bed I twist it open, take a large swig and close it. Yeah, life is great. Time to go see how Luna is doing. I grab her blue blanket and sonic screwdriver and open the door to the hallway. I have never seen such a big corridor before! It wasn't much to look at, just some vases and paintings every so often. Walking down the hallway and turning the corner, further down I see an alcove. To my surprise I see a blue box sitting in it. Ah, so this must be where he keeps it.

Taking a deep breath I knock on the door. A familiar face answers. "Oh hello, it is you! How are you! it has been a while. Well for me at least, I don't know how long you've been waiting, time is just..." I cut him off and finish his sentence "all so relative?" He chuckles.

"Yes, right. So what can I do for you?"

"Doctor, I just wanted to say thank you for the trouble you went through to find Luna and I in the Dreamscape to give me the letter, and finding us on earth. Also, I must thank river for the frame. She can have it back, I wont be needing it anymore."

Another familiar face pokes its head out the door.

"Are you sure? You don't have anything else you want to remember?" She questions, raising an eyebrow.

I realize what she meant. "You know what, I think I might hold onto it for a little while longer. So as I was saying. Thank you, Doctor. I owe you one. I'm round the corner and further down the hall if you need anything."

"I thank you for your kind words, and will take you up on your offer at some point in time. Literally speaking."

I let out a chuckle as I turn to leave. "I'll see you later Doctor. River."

Both wave goodbye as I walk down the hallway. Arriving at Luna's room and knocking on the door only to hear no reply. I gently nudge the door open, peering in to see Luna sleeping quietly on her be. Stepping into the room and quietly closing the door, I place the blanket at the foot of the bed with the screwdriver on top. Finding a seat in the corner of the room, I sit down in it to await my princesses awakening, and fall asleep after some time. When I come to, Luna has her nose pressed against mine staring into my eyes so deep you'd swear they're penetrating my soul. "Hi dad!"

"Oh shi-!" My eyes shoot open as I try to find something to grasp to prevent myself falling onto the floor, but I inevitably do anyway. "You scared the living daylights out of me, Luna!!!"

Giggling, she stands me up using her magic. Woah, that felt weird; I can't say I've had magic used on me before.

"Come father, I've much to show you. Today is just the beginning of many fantastic adventures to come."


THE END