//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2; This is awesome  
// Story: A Leon, Luna, and Eddy side-story; Final Fantasy IV adventure 
// by Fireheart 1945 
//------------------------------//

	
Leon didn't know quite what to make of Edward Stanton. The Englishman - or rather, an English subject in his late teens - wasn't the stereotypical Briton. He obviously wasn't the type to dress in a tuxedo with a top hat and sip tea all day, although he'd admitted he liked the stuff. The guy was about eighteen years old, with a haircut that was a mix of tidy in one way and messy in another. 

He also looked strong enough to rip somebody in half if they pissed him off. Glad I met him over the internet, with all the times we got under his skin, he thought a little nervously. 

Ed wasn't in the mood to do that right now, though. "Good to meet you in person, Leo," he said, extending his right hand. 

"Likewise," Leon said as he took it and shook, setting down his bag as he did so. 

"Got here after eating a healthy, hearty breakfast, thanks to Miss Magic, and guess what I arrive just in time for? Bloody breakfast, that's what," the English teen continued. 

"'Miss Magic'?" Luna said indignantly. 

"Just kidding, Luna," Eddy said quickly. "Glad to be here." 

"And well you should," Luna said, still looking slightly upset. Deciding to put aside her feelings at the moment, she went on, "This is the room where all my online conquests take place. It's here that I first met both of you, and it's here that our friendship blossomed. I've wanted to show you this place for so long." 

All three of them walked over to a red couch in front of a massive T.V. Next to it was a desk with a computer set upon it... as well as numerous picture frames. 

Leon stopped, then walked over to it. 

"Oh!" he heard Luna say as she noticed. 

He picked up one of the pictures on the desk. It was one of him, a photo he'd sent to Luna one day when she'd asked what he looked like. It was several months old, but it had been placed in a frame of pure gold. Setting it down, he saw other photographs, one clearly being that of Ed, apparently from whatever the British equivalent of a High School Prom was, considering he was quite handsomely dressed and his hair combed, a stark difference to the mane that adorned him at this moment. 

Other photos, mostly of the Mane Six and Pip, adorned the area around Luna's computer station, and, he now noticed, around her gaming television as well, similarly placed in golden frames. Under each photograph was an inscription, the same for all of them; 

My Dearest Friends. 

He felt a tear come to his eye; he had no idea how much he, or Eddy or any of the others, for that matter, had mattered to her. Ed simply looked on, his mouth slowly opening.  

"Oh, dear, is something wrong with the framing?" Luna asked. "I could have more jewels added to them, or have them set in platinum -" 

Leon turned around and hugged Luna around her neck, burying his face in her fur. He heard her gasp in surprise, then felt her hoof touch his back lightly. 

"God bless you, Princess Luna!" he said as he brought his head away from her neck.  

Luna was still surprised that one of her friends had suddenly and without warning hugged her. "Well... I... " she said, her cheeks turning pink rapidly. "Er... May He bring the same tidings unto you," she finished finally, still unsure of what exactly to say. 

Ed walked up to Luna and placed his right hand on her mane. "Thanks, Luna old girl," he said, wiping his eyes with his other hand. 

Luna turned to face Eddy as Leon released her, though his left hand was still on her mane. "I could hardly do any less for my friends," she said at last. "You don't know what it's like, to be alone for a thousand years, with only... her for company. To have real friends, and not just a nagging voice saying how forgotten and unappreciated you are... it's just wonderful." Her voice filled with emotion. "These remind me that there are others out there who do care about me, and who I care about." 

Leon felt a surge of friendly affection for Luna. She really did care about them, to a point he hadn't fully understood. He earnestly patted her flowing mane, resisting the urge to hug her again. He saw a tear form in her eye. 

Luna coughed, then rubbed her eye with a hoof. "Ahem, well, yes, erm... shall we?" she asked. 

"Yep," Leon said, at the same time Ed said, "Yeah." 

"Oh, and Leon," the Princess added, turning her head toward him, "although that feels incredibly good, I would like for you to refrain from patting my mane without my permission." 

"Uh, okay," he said, pulling his hand away. 

Just then, Luna's mane began flashing; it changed from her normal, watery-looking style back to the blue hair she'd had originally. It went back and forth for a few seconds, then the blue hair suppressed the other completely. 

"Ah," Luna said calmly, as though used to this. "It must be that day again. Hold on." Her horn glowed bright blue for a moment, then flashed. Her mane went back to the star-spangled river it had been before.  

"Wow," Eddy said, impressed. "So that blue hair is your real mane, is it?" 

"Well, yes," Luna admitted. "It is. Celestia's real mane is pink. She ended up inventing a spell that allowed her mane to flow as it does, looking almost ethereal. She taught me how to do it, and I worked on the colors until I got it just right." 

"It's beautiful!" the Englander exclaimed. 

Luna blushed again. "It's really not all that complicated," she said. "It requires a little renewing now and then, and it doesn't really change the actual hair. It's all cosmetic." 

She turned to the various consoles sitting under the T.V. An Xbox 360, a Playstation 4, a Wii and Wii U there, all ready to be used. Leon's eyes were drawn to a Super Nintendo off to the side. "You didn't tell me you had one of those!" 

"I wanted it to be a surprise," she answered, grinning. 

"Wow." 

"I'm impressed," Edward said quietly. "Nice battle station." 

"Thanks," Luna said sincerely. "Now let's get to using it." She turned back to Leon. "I believe you brought something for us?" 

"Hmm?" Leon remembered the Nintendo 64 he'd packed into his bag. "Oh yeah!" he said as he hurried over and got his bag. "Right here." 

"Oh, an old En-64," Eddy said as Leon unpacked it. "Guessing you're a Mario fan?" 

"Mario beats Sonic, and I don't care what Death Battle says," Leon replied, hooking the wires together. "Mario never gives up."

"Neither does Sonic, mate, and he's a hell of a lot faster." 

"Mario has better power ups. Fire, boot, invisibility, metal, and wing caps, invincibility star, all that." 

"Sonic has power rings, and that's all he needs."

"Alright, both of you," Luna said, trying not to laugh, "Please stop. I don't think this topic will have any proper answer anytime soon." 

"Yeah, I guess we can do COD Vs. Halo," Eddy suggested. 

Luna facehoofed.

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"Party time," Leon said, in sync with his blue-colored infantryman on-screen. 

"Oh, don't tell me you got a bazooka," Eddy said in discomfort. 

A loud explosion as Eddy's tan soldier died gave the answer all too clearly. "Oh, that's just great," the Englishman said. "Now we have a maniacal teenager on the loose with a rocket launcher." 

"Oh, come now, Edward," Luna said comfortingly, "there's no reason to... DIIIIIIIIIIE!" she screamed as she leaped out of cover to attack Leon with a shotgun.  

Leon turned around. "FIIIIIIIIRRRRRE!" he yelled right back as he doused her green soldier with a flamethrower. Luna squawked indignantly as her character ran around uncontrollably before falling down and melting. 

"Oh, that is just..." Luna huffed, trying to find a word that would describe the situation. "Abominable!" she finally decided upon. 

Leon laughed in response. 

"You've owned the game longer than we have!" Ed pointed out. 

"So?" 

"So!?! Is that all you can say as you blast us to pieces?" Luna asked as Leon used a mortar on her. 

"Yes," he answered, giggling a little. 

Eddy and Luna looked at one another behind Leon's back and nodded to one another. Then they went back to facing the screen. Currently, all three of them were playing on a level featuring a couple of bathtubs and the floor between them. Right now, Leon had gotten five kills, while Eddy had only one and Luna had two. Having owned the game since his childhood, he knew how to play the game quite well, whereas the others had less experience. 

Leon took cover behind a bar of soap and started sniping at Eddy's character on the other side of the map. He missed the first couple of shots, then drilled the plastic enemy through the head with the third. 

"Yes," he breathed quietly, just before a grenade burst behind him, killing him. 

"What the?" 

"You should not be so self-confident," Luna said smugly. 

Leon respawned. Okay, now you guys are really in for it. He grabbed a machine gun and took aim at Eddy, who was currently trying to rush him and instead got mowed down in a burst of plastic bullets. He looked around for Luna, only to have his blue head blown off by a well-placed sniper round. 

"D'oh!" 

"Success!" 

"If I'd known I'd be playing the part of decoy..." 

That told Leon all he needed to know. So that's the way it is, huh? A team up? HE grinned, but only on the inside. About time you guys did something to make this interesting. 

He took aim at Luna, who was running for a bazooka, and successfully knocked her guy down in a hail of M16 bullets. A whistling sound from above caught his attention, and he rolled to the right seconds before a mortar round landed where he had been standing. Another sniper bullet was enough to finish the tan soldier's hash. He jumped down from the bathtub onto the floor and began looking around. Seeing Luna near the door, he grabbed a grenade launcher that was nearby and ran at her. The blue alicorn let out a gasp of surprise as two grenades landed nearby, narrowly missing her. In panic, she ran for a corner of the room, only to be followed by a laughing blue soldier. 

"Any last words?" Leon asked as she turned around to face him. 

There was a knock on the door. 

"Who is it?" Leon called, firing blindly as he turned his head to see, only to hear his character cry out in pain as a shotgun blast from the green soldier he had cornered cut him down. 

"Oh come on!" 

"Next time, don't take your eyes off the screen,, Luna said, grinning. "Yes, who is it?" she said, not turning away from the T.V. 

Leon heard the door open as he machine-gunned Eddy again. "Oh, hey guys," came the familiar voice of a small, purplish dragon. "Afternoon, Princess Luna," Spike added. 

"Salutations, Spike," the Lunar Princess answered. "It is good to have you here." 

"Thanks!" The young dragon jumped up onto the couch. "What are you guys playing anyway?" 

"Army Men; Sarge's Heroes," Eddy answered. Then, grinning, he added, "I'm winning." 

"Like hell you are!" Leon exclaimed, turning to face him. "That's the eighth time you died!" 

"So?" 

"Ugh," Leon said, leaning back. 

"Let's not have any swearing, gentlemen," Luna reminded them. "We have a child present." 

"Hey! I'm not a child!" Spike said indignantly. 

Luna winked at him. 

Spike sighed. Then, watching the game for a few seconds, he asked, "Mind if I play?" 

All three of the current players exchanged glances. "Um.... the rating is technically teen-rated," Leon said at last. 

"Oh, come on! I'm like, eleven and a half. Besides, this doesn't look very violent or graphic," the dragon pointed out. 

"Hmmm," Luna hummed, thinking for a moment and tapping her chin with a hoof. "I guess I could technically have it re-rated E in Equestria, seeing as I am a Princess, after all." 

"Yes! Thanks, Princess," Spike cheered, hugging her leg. 

"You are welcome." Then, turning to Leon, she said, "Please restart the session for four, if you wouldn't mind."

Leon turned off the game, reached into his bag, and pulled out a fourth controller. He plugged it in and restarted the game, this time setting it for four players. He chose the color blue again, and Luna and Eddy kept their own colors. That left Spike with the color gray. 

"Not much choice, is there?" the youthful reptile noted. 

"Not much," Leon agreed. "The original colors were green, tan, blue, and gray. Other colors were added in later games, but this game is from the late 90s." 

"Ah, well." 

Leon chose a map with a sandcastle as the setting. He began looking for better weapons at once. 

"What the?" Ed gasped as his tan trooper suddenly died. 

"Wait, did I do that?" Spike asked, just as bewildered. 

"Dang, the kid actually got one," Leon commented, amused. He wasn't smiling a moment later, as Spike gunned him down. "How did you do that?" 

"I don't know! I just held down the trigger button and your guy went down!" 

The next fifteen minutes were an... interesting time. Spike wasn't only holding his own, he was racking up kills like no tomorrow. The kid didn't even bother holding down the aiming button, he just fired away, and the game's auto-aim did almost all the rest. 

"Come on, he's right there!" Eddy yelled as he was melted with a flame thrower. 

"I got him, I got him, I got him!" Leon yelled as he fired a bazooka at the gray-clad infantryman, only for his shot to be wasted against a parapet. A moment later, he was wasted himself as a mortar round blew him away. 

"Boys," Luna teased. "Always thinking problems can be solved through fast, slap-dash actions and getting upset at the slightest... HOW IN THE STARS IS THAT POSSIBLE!?" she screamed as she herself met an untimely end. 

"Yahoo!" Spike yelled as he mowed down Leon and Eddy in short order. 

Just afterwards, the game came to an end. Spike had gotten thirty kills and had died only five times, mostly when the others teamed up to kill him. Leon had fifteen, mostly from picking off the others while they were otherwise distracted. Luna had fourteen, and Eddy had eleven. Everyone but Spike just sat there, stunned and open-mouthed at the disparity in kills. 

"Wow, that was amazing!" Spike said as he set the controller down. "I wish you guys had asked me to join earlier, that was great!" Then he noticed their faces. "Uh, guys?" he asked nervously. 

Luna was the first to recover. "I suppose there's a reason that game was rated teen," she said quietly, shaking her head in disbelief. 

"Yeah, we just got our ass handed to us by a kid," Eddy said, still staring at the screen. 

"Shh!" Luna said irritably. 

"Sorry," the Briton apologized. 

"I think it's time we moved on to another game," Leon suggested. 

"Agreed," the Princess concurred. "What do you think we should play this time?" 

"I have Mario Kart, Mario Party 2, Battletanx; Global Assault..." Leon said as he rummaged through his bag.  

"Hmm, we haven't played Mario Party lately," Ed noted. "Might as well try that." 

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The game was fifty turns long, and some parts of it were brutal. The typical friend-and-not-friend system came up quite often, and Leon lost almost as much as he won. He was playing as Mario on Western Land, and in one stroke he'd sent Eddy, playing Wario, back to start after hitting him with the train. He walked up to Boo; with fifty-eight coins, he had a pretty good idea of what he was going to do. 

"Yeah, steal his star, steal his star!" Eddy urged, referring to Spike, who was playing Luigi. 

"Oh yeah, I will certainly be stealing his star." Leon chose Wario and Boo went off immediately to collect. 

"What?" The Englishman yelled in disbelief. "You can forget about a birthday present from me next year!" 

"It's not like he's been the only one to wrong you this game," Luna remarked, who was playing as Princess Peach. "I've stolen three items from you this game, including a Magic Lamp." 

The end of the game came as no surprise; Luna, who had gathered the most stars, won, though it was close. They watched the cutscene as Peach gunned down Bowser with a cork to the belly. 

"Well, that was fun," Eddy remarked as Leon shut off the game. "What's next?" 

Luna thought about that for a minute. "I suppose we could try a Halo 3 cooperative campaign, but that would leave Spike out of the lurch." 

"Why?" 

"Because it's a mature-rated game," the Princess replied to the young reptile. "And I'm afraid that, unlike a game about plastic warriors, this one has it's reasons for being so." She thought for a moment. Then, to their surprise, she smiled. "I think I have just the solution. A classic, one that has caught my eye." Her horn lit up with blue light. 

"What're we going for? Super Mario, F-Zero, Frogger... Star Fox?" Eddy asked, very eager on that last one. 

Luna just smiled as a cartridge slipped from the cabinet under the T.V. 

"No way! Final Fantasy IV!" Leon exclaimed. 

"No freaking way!" 

"Yes way," Luna replied, grinning at their astonishment. "I bought this quite recently, for this occasion. I was hoping you'd like it." 

"Wow," Leon breathed. 

"Yes. And it's a copy made in Equestria." 

"Oh?" Leon scratched his chin. "Why would they work on a game from twenty years ago?" 

"Because the gaming industry and technology in Equestria was closer to your 1990's when we initiated contact with your world," Luna explained. "We have been working on getting more modern gaming technology, but it's an ongoing process. This is a copy of the J2E translation, with most if not all of the raunchy stuff taken out. It still leaves some of the more memorable stuff." 

"Well that's an accomplishment and a half," Leon said. "But how does it solve the whole four-player issue? Last I heard, this game was a single-player." 

"It still is," Luna agreed. "But I thought we could take it in turns of about thirty minutes or so." 

"When do we start?" Leon asked. 

"After dinner; after I raise the moon, to be more precise," Luna responded. "Please forgive me, but I wanted to start playing this when I am... in my element, I suppose you would call it." 

"That's fine by me," Leon remarked. Eddy looked a little let down, but nodded in understanding. 

"Well, what do we do in the meantime?" Spike asked. 

"I have a collection of comics in my room," Luna answered, "some of them from here, some of them from the human world."

"Wow! I've never read human comics before!" 

"You will have your chance within the next few days. For now," Luna said as she used magic to switch the cords to the Wii, "I'd enjoy a good game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl." That got a round of smiles from everyone. 

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Leon gritted his teeth as Mario was again flung into distant space, to explode on the horizon and respawn at the top of the screen. Bowser, Eddy's character, made a pose, only to be blasted into infinity himself when Yoshi crashed into him as an egg. 

"Awesome!" Spike said excitedly. Just then, Princess Peach bashed him in the face with a beam sword, and Yoshi crashed into the camera. 

"Huzzah!" Princess Luna cheered. 

Leon (Mario) retaliated by grabbing her and tossing her off the screen. The cheerful look Luna bore changed to surprise and a little shock. 

It was Sudden Death, and they were fighting in the ruins of the Temple of Hyrule. Without the billboard of Pokémon Stadium to keep tabs on the score, nobody could say just who was winning and who wasn't. 

Leon found a hammer and grabbed it. 

"No, no, no!" Eddy yelled. 

"Run away!" Luna shouted. 

Leon grinned as he caught both of them and sent them into orbit. 

"No! No!" Please, I'm...." Whatever Spike was, he didn't have time to finish before hammer-wielding Mario caught him too and sent him off-screen to perish in a humongous explosion. 

"Five!" the announcer shouted. 

Mario got punched off-screen by a vengeful Bowser. 

"Four!" 

Yoshi gobbled Peach and laid an egg with her in it; which proceeded to fall off the edge of the map and blow up. 

"Three!" 

Mario respawned and caught Bowser in a Mario Tornado. 

"Two!" 

Peach came back, grabbed a Pokeball, and threw it, hitting Bowser in the face and sending him flying. 

"One!" 

Mario seized a mortar and peppered Peach and Yoshi with explosive shells. 

"Time!" 

The players all relaxed and set down their controllers as the game ended in slow motion. More than one of them sighed with relief. 

The score showed that Luna had come out ahead, though barely ahead of Leon, with Eddy coming close behind and Spike trailing, though not by much. 

"Well, that was a good game," Luna remarked, grinning. 

"Of course you say that, you won!" Leon countered. 

"Tis as I have said, it was a good game." Luna laughed as she finished saying that. The others followed suit, even Leon. After a few seconds of laughter, Luna looked up at the clock. "Oh! It's almost time for me to raise the moon!" 

That caught Leon's attention. "Do you mind if we watch?" he asked. "I've never seen you do it, and I don't think anyone else here has." 

Luna's cheeks blossomed a rosy red, and she looked surprised, as well as... what? Embarrassed? Shocked? Leon couldn't tell. "You... you want to watch?" she asked in a quiet voice. 

"Well... yeah," Eddy said. 

Luna didn't seem to know quite what to say. "If you truly wish to watch, them please follow me," she managed at last. 

Leon, eddy, and Spike followed her over to a glass door in the side of the room. Luna opened it using magic. Outside was a balcony, onto which they walked. 

"Please stand back," Luna warned. The others obeyed, giving her the needed space. 

Luna stood stock-still. bracing herself and gathering the needed energy. All at once, her horn began to light up; the light was faint at first, but it gradually grew in size and radiance. Soon, the blue energy completely covered her horn, and Leon raised a hand to shield his eyes. 

All of a sudden, Luna began to rise from the ground, the bright, blue light encompassing her entire body. As Leon looked up, the sun finally fell over the horizon, and, from the east, the moon rose, slowly rising to it's proper position in the sky. It was an awe-inspiring sight. 

Finally, Luna lowered herself down, breathing a sigh of relief. Her sides heaved with the effort of her work. She remained in this state for a couple minutes before finally sitting on her haunches. 

"Wow," Eddy said, the first to verbally react. 

"That was incredible!" Spike exclaimed. 

"You really think so?" Luna asked eagerly. 

"It was awesome!" Leon said, patting her on the back of the neck. 

Luna brought a hoof to her mouth as she blushed again. "It's really no different from the other times I've done it," she admitted. "And it's not as hard as raising the sun would be, as the moon is smaller and thus easier to move. It's just a little tiring, that's all." 

All four of them continued looking up at the night sky for a few more minutes. The stars twinkled and winked, just like back home. The moon shone brightly on the land, illuminating all that occurred under it's light. Luna wasn't a goddess; she'd admitted that to Leon and Eddy numerous times. Still, there was no denying that she was talented as it was. 

Finally, Luna looked around at all of them as her belly grumbled. "I suppose we shouldn't just stand here all night; let us go and feast in the dining hall." 

The responses to that were unanimous. The four friends walked back into the room and into the hallway, their stomachs taking the lead. 

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