Get Him!

by TJHoofer


Luna Wins

Chapter 17: The Winner is…

There was an intense silence in the air. The dust slowly began to settle as the shadowy image of a pony pileup became visible. All the other ponies moaned and groaned as they rubbed their head trying to shake away the dizziness. Twilight, Celestia and Luna stared with their mouths wide agape at the incredible sight, with their horns still lit.

Somewhere beneath that pile of ponies was Alex, the weight of all of them having knocked the wind out him. Unsure of which of them had their magic locked on to Alex, the two monarchs and Twilight simultaneously lifted Alex off the ground, pushing away the ponies above him. As soon as he was in view, everyone’s eyes widened with more surprise and disbelief.

Nopony had grabbed Alex!

This only meant one thing. That one of them had claimed Alex ahead of the others. With controlled excitement, all three levitated Alex towards them.

Twilight bit the tip of her hooves with anticipation. Luna was nervous as well and did the same. As Alex drew ever closer, he started to float in the direction of the spell caster. Twilight and Luna gasped. Celestia smiled and cleared her throat.

“The hunt is over! The winner is… my sister. PRINCESS LUNA!

“Aaaaw…” the other ponies groaned with disappointment.

“YAY!” cheered Pinkie Pie.

I AM VICTORIOUS!! HUZZAH!” Luna cheered loudly as she danced around her prize while still keeping him levitated in the air. Alex gulped. Out of all the ponies (except from Celestia), he would’ve rather have been caught by them than Luna.

“Congratulations sister!” said Celestia. The other ponies joined in as well, trying to hide their disappointment in losing Alex to her.

“Thanks ye sister!” said Luna while gracefully bowing her head. “And thank ye all for this exciting hunt. Truly, this has been quite invigorating. It’s but a shame it had to end so soon.” Some mentally disagreed with her, thinking it could have gone on a bit more just so they could catch him. “Now, if thou would excuse us, young Alex and I have a very important engagement that needs to be immediately taken care of.”

“Engagement? What kind of engagement?” asked a curious Twilight. The others were curious as well, aside from Celestia who looked on quietly.

“Something I’ve been meaning to give him ever since he got here…” Without further explanation, Luna and Alex suddenly disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the others slightly confused.

“Now what was that all about?” asked Rainbow while scratching her head.

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight looked to her mentor.

Celestia was quiet for a moment before earning Twilight her attention. “Don’t worry my little ponies.” she said with a reassuring smile. “I’m certain that whatever she has in mind for him, she’ll take good care of him.” She looked in the direction of Canterlot and a faint look of concern appeared on her face.
‘Lulu… I hope you know what you’re doing…’

*****

Alex suddenly found himself back in Canterlot with Luna. He was quick to recognize his surroundings as they were back in the Royal Gardens, standing by a rather familiar pillar.

“Now Alex…” she gestured to the pillar. “If thou would be so kind…”

Alex sighed heavily as he looked at the pillar. He looked pleadingly back at Luna with big puppy-dog eyes, silently begging her not to go through with it. Luna however just urged him to climb the pillar and assume the position. Alex sighed again and solemnly climbed it.

“Excellent!” said Luna and began to charge her horn. “Now, if thou would just…”

I DON’T WANT TO BE A STATUE!” Alex suddenly yelled, startling Luna. “Please… I beg you! Don’t do this! I’ll do anything you want, but please… Not this!” he sobbed.

Luna suddenly felt a lump in her throat. She saw the intense fear in his eyes. “Alex… I know thou ist afraid. But I promise thee, with all my heart, that thou shall be safe and unharmed. This is not some punishment or a sick, twisted sense of humor solely for my amusement. It’s protection. And a gift I wish to give thee.”

“A GIFT?!!” Alex dried his tears. “How is turning me to stone a gift?! What the Cockatrice did to me was hardly a gift.”

“This is nothing like the curse of the Cockatrice!” She cantered over closer and looked him in the eyes. “Look at me Alex and listen. I swear! I’m not going to harm thee! What I’m offering ye is something much more than what a lowly beast like the Cockatrice could ever offer.” She gently placed her hoof on his leg.
“Alex… I’m giving you my world.”

Alex couldn’t quite understand it, but something in her eyes seemed to tell him that she was being sincere. Looking further, he began to see things. Wondrous things, as if her eyes became dreamlike portals to the great vastness of space itself.
Still, he didn’t feel entirely convinced.

“I understand that thou have no reason to trust me, let alone forgive me for what I did and what I’m about to do. But once thou see for thyself the world I give thee, then perhaps thou would reconsider?”

Alex took a moment to carefully think about it. Once again, she seemed very sincere about this. Was this world she talked about real? As much as the thought intrigued him, the idea of him being stone to see this world wasn’t that inviting. He slowly kneeled down and grabbed Luna’s hoof and looked her carefully in the eyes. “Will it hurt..?”

“No.” Luna answered truthfully.

Alex let go of her hoof and, much to her relieved surprise, assumed his position. “It was this way, right?”

Luna smiled and charged her horn.

Alex gulped and closed his eyes. ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this…’

*****

Alex had his eyes closed the whole time as Luna cast her spell and everything around him suddenly got deathly quiet. He barely felt anything. He only heard a loud ‘Zap!’, felt a tingling sensation and then… nothing.
Daring to finally opening his eyes, Alex was met with a most peculiar sight.

“This… This is new…”

The Royal Garden was gone. Alex was now standing in complete nothingness. Everywhere he looked there was only white. It was like standing in a dimension where time and space didn’t exist. For some strange reason it reminded him of that movie about some matrix. Even Luna was nowhere to be seen.

“Luna..?”

Alex looked himself over. He didn’t find any visible marks of any kind and felt fine. Was he stone? Or did Luna take pity on him the last second and he was just simply zapped into another dimension of some kind? Whichever it was, it didn’t really brighten the situation. Wherever he was, he was now trapped in a world where there was nothing but a great void of white all around him, stretching as far as the eye could see. He was completely alone.

“What I wouldn’t give to see some guy in the distance shouting compliments at me…” he sighed.

“Why settle for some guy when thou hast me?” Alex was startled to suddenly see Luna standing right beside him and smiling. “And I’m definitely not going to be standing far away.” she giggled.

“Princess Luna…? What is this place? I thought you were going to turn me to stone.”

“I did.” answered Luna. “Thou is still in the garden. I’m visiting ye through thy dream.”

“Dream?” Alex blinked with confusion. He again looked around at the empty void. This was a dream?

“Hm… I expected your dream to be more… ‘imaginative’ than this.” said Luna rather unimpressed as she too beheld the white void.

“This is really a dream? But I feel wide awake.”

“A small side-effect of the spell.” said Luna. “Because thou art now petrified, thy sub-consciousness has thrown itself into a forced dream state. The line between dream and reality is mixed, fooling the senses into believing thou art awake when in reality thou art dreaming.” Alex looked more confused. He then pinched his hand.

“Ouch! Hey! You’re right. I felt that, but I didn’t wake up.”

Luna giggled. “While in a dream, thou can’t really feel pain. Thou merely imagined it and your mind reacted to it as if it was real.”

Alex kept looking at his hand. “Creepy…”

“So what’s with all this dull white scenery?” She gestured to their surroundings. “Thou know ye can dream up something better this, right?”

“I… I can?”

“Of course! It’s thy dream.”

Alex blinked before realization finally sunk in. This WAS his dream. The only reason there was nothing but an empty void now was because his mind was momentarily blank. Alex stepped a bit away from Luna and closed his eyes. Using all of his concentration, he dreamt of one thing. The easiest thing he could ever dream of…

Opening his eyes, Alex and Luna suddenly found themselves floating freely and surrounded by the great vastness of outer space. “Holy… It worked!” Alex shouted. He couldn’t believe it. Even if it was a dream, it looked and felt so real. The only thing that said otherwise was the fact that they could breathe. Luna just smiled.

“This… This is all me?” A small shooting star suddenly sailed past over them at that moment. Without really knowing why, Alex suddenly ‘willed’ it to change direction. It flew about and danced around them before finally touching down on his hand. He didn’t feel any pain from the intense little fireball, confirming that Luna was telling the truth and that he was in fact in complete control of this dream.

“It’s beautiful…” uttered Luna as she too gazed upon it.

“Yes… Yes it is.” Alex smiled and gently blew at it, sending it off on its journey through space. “So… This is my dream?”

Luna smiled. “Yes. This is your dream.” She looked out across the vast universe and extended her hoof. “This is thy universe. Here, thou art the master of thy own reality and I’m but the mere observer. Thou can do anything thy ever wanted and create fantastic wonders with the power of your own imagination just like thou would any dream. Try it. Think of the most beautiful thing thou knows and make it real.”

Alex closed his eyes again and concentrated. Holding out his hands, a myriad of stars from the universe were suddenly pulled into his hands and began to take shape. With one thing in mind, he managed to conjure up the most beautiful thing he knew.

“A… A cat?”

“What? Cats are beautiful.” Alex plainly said, patting it as it purred and nuzzled his chest..

“I don’t know… I assumed a human with thy artistic talent would imagine something a bit more… spectacular?”

“Hold on…” Alex used his imagination and to Luna’s sudden amazement, the cat’s body turned into a pop-tart and blasted off into space with a trail of rainbow behind it. It zoomed across space, zipped past and between them. It floated briefly before Luna, meowing before vanishing into deep space. “How’s that?” Luna was speechless. “Corny I know, but…”

“That… was… SPECTACULAR!!” exclaimed Luna loudly, her Canterlot Voice nearly sending him tumbling into space. “I mean…” Luna continued in a low voice. “That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like that!”

Alex merely shrugged. To him that was practically nothing. He was amused by how easily entertained she was. “If you liked that, then you’ll love this!” Feeling in the zone, Alex reached out and actually grabbed the stars themselves. Collecting them, he then made them into a shape. Luna watched with great curiosity as Alex created a miniature star version of Luna herself. He then made it come alive and she watched as it spread its wings, leaving Alex’s hands and flying up to Luna.

Luna was fascinated with the flawless details. The miniature Luna mimicked the actions of the original for a few moments before it began to fly around her in a playful fashion. It then soared high above them and exploded into a beautiful firework that showered over them like snow before vanishing..

“Alex…” Luna floated up next to him. “I was right about thee. From the moment I first saw thee, I knew.” She then unexpectedly gestured him to get on her back. “Climb on.”

Alex blinked. “You… you want me to ride you? Even after all that I-” Luna hushed him and snickered.

“That’s in the past. Please. Thou hast my permission.” She patiently waited until he eventually found the courage to mount her. With Alex secure on her back, Luna spread her wings and began to soar through space with great speed. Alex held on tight as they flew through space. As he did, he felt the softness of her coat against his skin and it was unlike anything he had felt before. It felt cool and yet so incredibly warm. He felt the compulsion to hug her.
As he hugged her, he then started to feel that Luna was suddenly getting bigger. She went from being big as Celestia to suddenly becoming larger than normal. And this was not his doing.

“Wha-? Luna? What’s going on?”

“Alex… Do you trust me?”

Luna’s voice got louder the bigger she got. Alex just looked at her rather unsure. “Why? What’s going to happen?”

“Please Alex. Do you trust me?”

“I don’t understand.”

Suddenly, she dived. Alex quickly lost his grip and tumbled aimlessly through space before he managed to stabilize himself. Looking around, he realized he had lost sight of Luna.

“LUNA?”

“Alex?”

Alex jumped as the soft yet now massively booming voice of Luna called out from the vastness of the universe. Alex looked around but he couldn’t see her.

“Luna? Where are you?”

“I’m here Alex.”

Alex looked behind him and was startled by the sudden appearance of a large eye looking at him. He quickly distanced himself away as the eye suddenly became two eyes. They in turn distanced themselves from Alex and he was rendered completely speechless with awe. Luna was a titan! Almost as big as the whole universe. Compared to her he was but a tiny insignificant ant. Her long blue dark mane flowed magically in the empty vacuum of space and seemed to go on for eternity. Her body looked translucent and was covered in stars. Alex was breath taken by her majestic figure.

“Art thou alright?”

I-I’M FINE LUNA!” Alex yelled. “ CAN… CAN YOU HEAR ME? WHY ARE YOU SO BIG?!

Luna giggled.

“You don’t need to shout. I can hear you quite well.”

“Sorry…” Alex blushed sheepishly and scratched his head. “So… What’s going on? Why are you so big?”

Instead of replying, Luna suddenly leaned closer. Alex got nervous but was still in awe over how beautiful she looked as she regarded him with those large, emerald eyes of hers.

“Alex… What I’m about to do, do not be afraid. Just relax and trust me. I promise that everything will be fine.”

“Luna..? Wha-”

“Please! Do you trust me?”

Alex saw the plea in her eyes but still felt confused and uncertain. So far she had been true to her word, but now she was being more enigmatic than ever. What was she planning?

He swallowed nervously and clenched his fist as he made his decision. “I… I trust you.”

Luna smiled and slowly withdrew herself from him. Then she closed her eyes, tilting her head back slightly and her horn suddenly began to glow intensely with magic. Then she leaned towards him again, this time opening her mouth wide.

“LUNA?!”

Before he could fully grasp what was happening, Alex suddenly found himself floating inside Luna’s mouth. He heard a rumbling sound and watched with horror as her jaws suddenly snapped shut behind him.

“LUNA!”

Alex panicked. He began to breathe erratically as the darkness began to surround him. There was a loud humming sound and he was suddenly jerked forward into the darkness, traveling at great speed. He felt as he was being pulled by some invisible force and was for some reason unable to stop.
It seemed to go on for hours but it only lasted a few short seconds. He then caught glimpse of a small light in the great darkness before him. His speed now intensified and the light began to grow bigger and brighter the closer he got. It almost looked like a star.

“LUNA!!!”

Alex closed his eyes and braced himself as he was just seconds away from crashing into it. Then everything went dark…

BOOM!

*****

‘GAH!’ Alex exclaimed with a fright as he opened his eyes. ‘What happened?!! Luna!?! Where are you! Did you just..?’ Alex gasped. ‘Wait… Am I outside?’

For reasons he couldn’t quite understand, he was now suddenly back in the Royal Gardens of Canterlot. But something wasn’t right. While he could see, for some reason he could not move.

‘Why can’t I move? I’m outside but I can’t move! What’s going on?’

What made things even more bizarre, was seeing the statue in front of him.

‘But… But that’s me!’ Alex gawked. ‘Why is there a statue of me? Seriously! What is going on?!’ He then regarded the statue more closely ‘Hm… I look good...’

“Thou sure do...” He was startled as he suddenly heard the voice of Luna. But he couldn’t see her and was still unable to turn his head.

‘Luna? Where are you? What happened? Why am I outside? Why is there a statue of me? Why can't I move? And… Did you ‘eat’ me just a few moments ago?’

Luna giggled. “Well… Yes and no... I merely transferred thee into my subconscious.”

‘Come again?’

“Simply put; I absorbed thy spirit into myself.”

There was an awkward moment of silence. ‘What are you saying? That you ‘swallowed my soul’ or something..?’

Luna blushed. “That would be the ‘crude’ term, but yes…”

‘Excuse me if I find that really hard to believe.’

“Probably best I show thee. Hold on…” Alex finally began to move, but it was not on his own accord and not in the direction he wanted. He watched as he ‘walked’ towards the nearest fountain. He looked into the fountain and saw…

“Hi.” The smiling reflection talked back.

‘Luna? Okay, now I’m more confused. What’s going on?’

“In answer to thy first questions; Thou art still stone. The statue thou art looking at is really thee.”

Realization slowly began to sink as it all began to make more sense to Alex. ‘So… If that statue is really me... Then the reason I’m outside is because..?’

Luna giggled. ‘Thou art seeing Equestria through my eyes. This is what I meant by giving thee my world. Whenever ye want, I can let ye see the wonders and beauty of Equestria through the safety of my eyes.’

‘Like a passenger on a plane tour! Neat… Wait! Are you actually- no, SERIOUSLY telling me that I’m literally inside your head?’ Luna nodded. ‘But if my mind is here…’ Alex suddenly got worried. ‘Does… Does that mean my body is-?’

‘NO!’ Luna quickly exclaimed. ‘Heavens, no! Thy body is unharmed! I merely removed thy consciousness from it, and I can easily put ye back if I wanted to.’

‘Phew! For a minute I… Wait… Your lips weren’t moving. Was that your thoughts I heard?’

Luna smiled. ‘Yes. That way I can communicate with thee without having somepony think I’m a lunatic.’

‘She traps me inside her head and is worried about being seen as a lunatic? That’s just looney!’ Alex suddenly realized something. ‘You… heard me just now didn’t you?’

‘Indeed I did.’ Luna replied with a frown, sounding somewhat offended by that remark. ’But I forgive thee.’ she smiled.

‘This is SO weird…’ Alex was utterly dumbstruck. He never expected to wind up inside a horses’ head, let alone a royal alicorn one. ‘Isn’t it a bit strange having a voice in your head?’

Luna giggled. ‘Believe me, I’m no stranger to that.’ Alex didn’t really know how to respond to that remark. Instead he decided to change to a more important subject.

‘You really scared me you know.’ Alex frowned. ‘You told me to trust you and then you pull this weird stunt…’

‘Forgive me.’ Luna shamefully lowered her head. ‘It was the only way to get ye inside my mind. Had I told how I was going to do it, thou would’ve never allowed me to do so.’

‘And you’re right! I wouldn’t! You scared me practically half to death! It felt like I was being swallowed by a nightmare!’ Alex yelled. Luna cringed at that and lowered her head more shamefully.
He eventually calmed down and sighed. ‘Okay… Well, I’m inside your head. What happens now?’

Luna quickly raised her head and suddenly smiled. ‘Thought thou would never ask! Now comes the good part.’ She suddenly spread her wings and immediately took to the sky. Alex, watching through Luna’s eyes, was utterly amazed as they ascended high above ground. While the action startled him at first, he quickly remembered where he was and relaxed as Luna soared between the high towers and spires of the royal castle, ascending higher and higher into the twilight sky until she reached the very clouds themselves.
Alex shouted as she suddenly dived, straight past the castle and down the cliff face of the mountain, straight towards the valley below. Alex was screaming as it looked like they were about to hit, only for Luna to suddenly pull up at the last second. They soared over the trees before finally slowing down and hovering.

‘Art thou okay Alex?’

‘I’m… I’m fine…’ Alex panted. ‘Man… What a rush…’

‘Sorry if I startled thee. Thou liked it?’

‘Liked it? That was incredible!’ Alex exclaimed.

Luna smiled. ‘And it gets better!’

She soared up into the skies towards the direction of Ponyville, giving Alex a birds-eye view over the town below. Alex couldn’t believe how high up they were. Luna increased her speed and gained more velocity. Through Luna’s eyes, Alex watched as she flew through the clouds, doing random aerial maneuvers and tricks along the way for his entertainment. This was way different than being inside of a plane.
She travelled over the Everfree Forest, across the vast mountains beyond, down the depths of what was known as Ghastly Gorge, to the beautiful desert plains and even as far as the borders of the Crystal mountains, with sparkling beauty of the Crystal Empire clearly itself seen in the distance.

All throughout the flight, Alex watched with silent amazement at the natural and magical wonders of this crazy and yet beautiful world of ponies.

*****

After much flying later, Luna touched down on a cloud looking out across Equestria. They both watched as Celestia’s sun slowly settled down in the west. ‘I have saved the best for last.’

Once the sun was gone, Luna reared back and summoned all of her magic as she raised the moon, ushering in the night. Alex was once again utterly amazed.

‘Incredible! You weren’t lying when you said you could raise the moon. I mean… I never said you were lying, I just hadn’t seen it before now…’

‘It’s alright. Thank you. I trust this experience has finally convinced thee that thou art safe in my care?’

Alex was suddenly silent.

‘Alex..?’

‘Luna… There is something I want to talk to you about... But not like this. Could you perhaps come in here so I can see you? Please..?’

Luna closed her eyes and with her magic transported herself and Alex back into Alex’s dream, now located deep inside her own subconscious. They both found themselves again separated and now in a completely different dream scenario. It had changed from a wondrous universe, to an endless windy field of grass.
Luna now saw the serious look in Alex’s eyes.

“What is wrong Alex? Wasn’t it to thy liking?”

“Don’t get me wrong your Highness. It was amazing! It was like a magic carpet ride! It’s just…” Alex sighed. “I’m sorry Luna. But I can’t accept this…”

“What?” Luna cantered over to him. “But why not? Thou can have everything ye need here. In here there is no pain or suffering. And thou hast me! I can show thee lands thou hast never dreamed of. Creatures thy world has never witnessed.” She then looked out across the field of grass. “Thou even hast thy own world where ye can create whatever ye want. Think of all the fun and grand adventures we would have together. Why wouldn’t ye want this?”

“That’s all well and good but…” Alex sighed. “I guess I have to show you…” Using his imagination, Alex slowly shaped the dream around them and turned the grassy plains into a dark but beautiful forest. It was nighttime. The moon was high in the sky, with the sound of an owl hooting somewhere among the trees. Beside them was a dark pond covered in lily pads, with the moon reflecting over its still surface.

“What manner of place is this?”

“This is an image of my world.”

“Your world..?”

“I’m going to show you something now. Promise me you won’t interfere no matter what.”

“I don’t understand. Why are we in a forest? What-”

Luna’s ears twitched as she heard a gurgling noise. Suddenly, the head a dark, moss-like creature emerged from the dark pond, causing ripples to form around it and disturb the previously calm water. Luna recoiled at its monstrous visage as it opened its eyes, which glowed with a haunting yellow color as it scouted its surroundings, clearly unaware of their presence.

“What manner of beast is that?”

“It’s called a Water Spirit.”

“A… Water Spirit..?”

“More commonly known as a troll...”

“A troll?!” Luna was familiar with trolls. They lived in dark caverns and caves below the deep mountains to the far north. While slow and dimwitted, they were always considered a threat if nopony was too careful. “How can there be trolls in thy world?!? I thought thy world had no magic!”

“And we don’t. At least, not like that. In my world trolls are a myth, but in the ancient days however, people believed them to be real.”

“I still don’t understand… Why art thou showing me this?”

Luna watched closely as the Water Spirit swam towards the edge of the pond. It stopped just a few short strokes from the edge, its body still submerged and concealing its grotesque visage. Its eyes suddenly glowed brighter and Luna was nearly blinded as an unearthly light covered the dark pond. Once it faded, the ghastly creature was now suddenly gone. Instead, there was a beautiful white mare in its place.

“Wha..?”

“Water Spirits were said to have the ability to change their appearance, anything from a beautiful jewel to a young maiden. The most popular one was that of a white horse.”

Luna was quite captivated by what she was seeing. Even though she knew what it was, she couldn’t help being stunned by how beautiful it now looked.
Suddenly, there was a new noise coming from behind them. They both turned their heads and saw a young boy walking through the woods towards the pond, alone. He was dirty and seemed lost and afraid.

“Poor child… Alex, what’s a boy doing this far out in the woods?” asked Luna.

The boy then spotted the white mare. The Water Spirit in turn spotted the boy and calmly trotted out of the water towards him. It stopped right in front of him. The boy seemed terrified at first until it gently nuzzled his cheeks, as if it was trying to comfort him. It seemed to be working as the boy now began to feel more relaxed and started to giggle.
The creature then turned around and gestured the boy to climb on its back.

Now Luna became concerned. “What is it doing? Alex?”

“Water Spirits were said to steal children that came too close to their ponds. It would either drown them or...”

Luna suddenly flared her wings and snarled at the creature. “Monster! Leave that boy alone!”

Her threats fell on deaf ears as the Water Spirit lowered itself just enough for the boy to get a good grip and lift himself up on its back. The creature suddenly reared and let out an unearthly neigh. The scared boy now clung to its mane for dear life as the Water Spirit charged towards Alex and Luna in the direction of the pond. Luna was about to intercept until it jumped straight over them, right into the dark and deepest part of the pond.

“NO!” Luna exclaimed and aimed her horn at the creature. Despite what Alex told her, Luna was about to save the boy until… In that one brief moment, both the creature and the boy suddenly changed. A now shocked Luna suddenly saw herself, with Alex on her back. She froze and watched as they both disappeared into the pond together.

SPLASH!

Bubbles rapidly rose from the pond for a while before they eventually ceased and everything went silent. The pond was still again, with no evidence of the creature, or the boy, remaining.

Luna just stood there and was shaking. “Wha… What did I just see?”

“What did you see?” asked Alex curious.

“I saw… I saw me. I was jumping in, with thou on my back! I was… stealing thee away…” Luna gasped and looked at him, her eyes visibly shaking. “Alex… Is this how thou see me? Am I the Water Spirit? Am I the horrible troll that stole thee away?”

“Well… Aren’t you?”

Luna paused and sadly looked away. “I… I suppose I am... I didn’t mean to do so. I only wanted a special friend I could talk to. To share dreams with. To play games with…” Tears started welling up in her eyes. She angrily gritted her teeth and stomped her hoof on the ground. “I never wanted to steal thee away! I just wanted to borrow thee!”

“To borrow usually implies to receive something temporarily and then expecting to return it.”

“And I would have! But the mirror broke! I thought thou could never return home! And when Celestia suddenly talked about using thee to get to thy world I-”

“You blamed yourself for inadvertently dooming me and my world, so you decided to protect me by drowning me in a pond of dreams and endless wonder?”

“I… I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”

“Luna… Your Highness… I understand what you are trying to do. But no matter how fun and exciting this all is, you can’t keep me here forever. You can’t keep me locked inside your head.”

“Thou would not survive if not…”

“You don’t know that. Please Luna. If you really want to be my friend, then give me my freedom. You asked me to trust you. Trust in me to survive in your world. If you still want to protect me, then do so when I sleep. Let me live.”

“Thou are… correct… I’ve been a foal to believe that I could keep thee here. I shall do as ye wish. I shall return thee to thy body in Canterlot and remove the stone spell. I only pray thou can forgive me acting so callously…”

“Thanks Luna…” said Alex with a gentle smile. “But before we do that, there’s but one thing I’ve wanted to do for a while ever since I meet you.”

“Of course! Just name it and-”

POP!

Luna’s ears perked at the strange sound and suddenly noticed that Alex holding what appeared to be a gun of some kind.

“You see Luna…” Alex slowly paced towards her. “Ever since I got here, I’ve had a pretty bad and crazy day thanks to you.” Luna suddenly had a bad feeling where this was going. “Since then, there’s something I’ve been itching to do but, being SUCH a ‘nice guy’, I haven’t had the heart and means to do it out there.”

POP!

Suddenly, a new gun materialized and levitated right in front of her.

POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!

It was joined by an untold assortment of guns and rifles that materialized out of thin air, including machineguns, bazookas and cannons, all locked, loaded and aimed towards her. And standing right where Alex stood, was now a large and frightening tank. Its top opened up and Alex popped out from inside the tank, smiling deviously down as the now surprised and uneasy Luna.

“And since everything that has happened to me has been entirely your fault, I would like to express my ‘gratitude’ for your actions.”

CLICK!

Luna’s eyes widened and her pupils shrank as the sound of loading guns echoed all around her. She gulped. “Um… Alex?”

“And since this is MY dream, I don’t have to worry about seriously hurting you for real. I’m definitively going to enjoy this.”

“Uh oh...”

*****

Back in Canterlot, Celestia, along with the Mane Six and the Crusaders, were standing in the Royal Gardens. They all (except Celestia) gazed with confusion and wonder at the newly erected statue of Alex as he stood tall and proud on the pillar.

“Such detail!” exclaimed Rarity with awe. “You can almost feel his actual presence!”

“Ah must admit, Alex sure looks pretty dashing.” said Applejack.

“Maybe not as dashing as me!” replied Rainbow. “But I have to agree he looks pretty cool.”

“I don’t understand Princess. Where’s is Luna and Alex? And why is there a statue of Alex in the Royal Gardens?”

Celestia sighed and glanced down at Twilight. “That’s a question only Luna can answer. I hope everything is-” Her ears perked as the faint sound of wings were heard. She looked up and soon enough spotted Luna as she flew in their direction for landing. “Ah! There she is! She’s-”
Celestia’s eyes widened. Luna looked like she had been through a war. Her mane was ruffled, her beautiful coat was covered in what appeared to be sot and… gunpowder? Even her eyes were utterly bloodshot.
“Heavens Luna! What in Equestria happened to you?” Celestia exclaimed as Luna landed before them. She coughed and rings of smoke flew out her mouth. “I’m fine Tia… Cough! Just a bad dream.” she giggled while slightly squinting her left eye. “Alex just… Cough! He had a few issues he needed to express… Squee!

“I see…” Celestia began to have an idea on what was going on.

“Where is Alex anyway? And why is there a statue of him?” asked Twilight.

“He’s here.” said Luna as she shook her head, along with all the sot and gunpowder from her coat and straightened her mane. “Or rather… he’s in here.” She pointed to her head and smiled sheepishly.

“He’s… in your head?” asked Twilight confused. The rest of ponies looked at one another and were just as confused.

“Really?” Pinkie suddenly appeared in front of Luna and opened her mouth wide, peering inside and down her throat. “ALEX?! ALEX!! ARE YOU IN THERE??!” she shouted, her voice echoing throughout Luna’s body, causing her to vibrate.

“FOR EQUESTRIA’S SAKE PINKIE!” Luna shouted as she shoved Pinkie away in annoyance. “Thou need not shout!” She cleared her throat.

“…I’m right here.”

“Alex?” Twilight and he ponies suddenly heard the voice of Alex and looked around. “Is that you? Where are you?”

“Hi girls.”

The ponies now stared back at Luna with great bewilderment and surprise as she suddenly spoke to them in Alex’s voice. “Alex?”

“It’s me Twilight. I’m talking to you all through Luna here. Neat huh?”

“How did you get in there?” asked Pinkie. “Did Princess Luna gobble you up? GASP! The legends were true!!”

“Relax! She didn’t ‘eat’ me Pinkie. Not in the traditional sense anyway… It’s… somewhat complicated and I would much rather not tell you like this. Luna..? If you please..?”

“Certainly Alex...” With a flicker of her horn, a bright star suddenly sailed out of her mane, floated towards the statue and disappeared inside of it. Then, Luna’s horn glowed more intensely as the stone spell was removed and Alex was revived. He staggered wobbly and dizzily around for a bit and was caught by Celestia’s magic as he tumbled off the pillar. He was placed gently back on the ground.

Alex rubbed his head as his eyes focused and mind could think straight. “Wow… That was…”

“ALEX!!” Everypony rushed over and hugged him, tripping him over.

“Thank goodness yer alright!” exclaimed Applejack.

“That statue was you all along?” asked Rarity before accusingly looking back at Luna. “Luna! Whatever in the world possessed you to do this to poor Alexander?”

“More importantly; how and why was Alex inside you?” added Twilight.

“He’d better have been delicious!” Pinkie joined in. Everypony stared at her. “What? I haven’t tried. And Rainbow won’t tell me.”

“Pinkie! Shut up!” yelled Rainbow.

“Everypony! Please! Calm thyselves and hear me!” pleaded Luna.

“We’re listening…” said Celestia and everypony went quiet.

Luna sighed as she began to explain. “I was the one who brought Alex here! In my foalish desire for a friend of my own, I selfishly abducted him from his home and trapped him here unintentionally. Due to circumstances beyond my control, he wound up somewhere outside of Ponyville and beyond my sight.” She then glared accusingly at the ponies. “By the time I eventually found him, I witnessed the horrors and hardships ye all had put him through because of me.” A surge of guilt went through everypony as they realized what she meant and shamefully looked away. “So, I took it upon myself to seek him out and hide him from you all and Equestria, somewhere he would remain safe…”
Her eyes then softened and she lowered her head in shame. “But, as young Alex revealed to me, I’ve been just as much a monster as any of you. No matter how severe my mistake was, I can’t just sweep Alex under the rug and control his existence. He has to remain free, and I, as a princess of Equestria, have to take responsibility for my mistake and trust him to handle himself without restraints.” She trotted over to Alex and lifted him back up on his feet. “Alex… I know thou hast already said it, but I need to hear it again. Dost thou forgive me?”

Alex smiled. “Of course Luna... NOW I do.”

“Alex..?” Twilight timidly spoke. “I… We are very sorry for everything we put you through. Luna isn’t the only pony here who’s acted foalish. I hope you can forgive us for what we have done and that you’ll at least give us a chance to become your friends.”

“WE’RE SORRY!” said everypony in unison.

Alex, touched by their apologies, smiled and scratched the back of his head. “Shucks… I just can’t stay mad at you guys. I suppose I can forgive you too.” Everypony smiled and hugged him some more.

“I’m happy that everything worked out between you and Luna.” Celestia smiled at Alex. “But what are your plans now? I’m regretful to say that your way home has now been lost to you…”

Alex sighed and just shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll think of something I guess…” Secretly, he was rather glad that his way home was closed. Whatever plan Celestia had in mind for his world, it was now out of her reach and he was now useless to her.

“But that will have to wait until tomorrow. It’s been a tiring day for young Alex here and he deserves a rest.” said Luna. She trotted over and wrapped her wing around his shoulder. “I’m personally going to make certain he gets a good night sleep.” She started to lead him towards the castle. “Come Alex. We have a room thou can sleep for tonight.”

“Thanks…” Alex yawned as he followed her.

“Indeed, this has been quite a day for us all.” added Celestia. She then looked to Twilight and her friends. “You are all welcome to spend the night here until tomorrow.”

“Really? Thanks princess!” said Twilight cheerfully. Everypony were gratefully as well and followed Celestia as she led them to their quarters.

Alex shot a quick glance back at the ponies and had a thought. “Luna? If it’s not too much to ask, I was wondering if you could do me a favor..?”

*****

The following morning, Alex and the ponies said their good-byes to the princesses and took the first train back to Ponyville. Everypony was thrilled and overjoyed that Luna had trusted to leave Alex in their care. They had all Pinkie Promised with all of their hearts and cupcakes to take good care of him and treat him as he was one of their own.
Alex had no real qualms in returning with them back to Ponyville, just as long as his new friends made certain that the Ponyvillians didn’t jump him the moment he got off the train.

With the exception of one mint-green unicorn, everypony kept their hooves off him and greeted him as a friend.

*****

Twilight never received her Hoofbel prize. Yet in spite of this, it didn’t stop her from learning more about Alex and where he came from. She visited him regularly and he would tell her all he knew about his world and its workings. She in turn would teach him all about Equestria and gave him free access to her library any time he wanted to borrow a book. She apologized for the hard time she, Spike and her friends had put him through and she especially apologized for hurting his feelings.
Using her magic for much better use, it didn’t take long before they both eventually became good friends.

Alex managed to pay Applejack back for the apples he ate by helping her out with some odd jobs around the farm. While she never got the chance to make a fortune out of him, she was impressed with his working skills. She apologized for her behavior and even wanted to hire him as a farm hand.
She even went as far as practically making him a part of the Apple Family.

Fluttershy never got the chance to care of Alex like she wanted, but she did however provide for him a house in which to live as a sign of apology. Moving it closer to Ponyville, it became a second home with all the comforts that he required.
Fluttershy would visit him regularly to check on him and see how he was doing.

Pinkie Pie never got to throw Alex his ‘Good Bye Human’ party. Instead she threw him a ‘Welcome Human’ party and it turned out to be a huge success. She apologized for her behavior and was happy to see Alex getting along with the other ponies and that they in turn got along with him.

Even though she had lost her pet, Rarity never gave up on her creativity. In an attempt to salvage her ruined dress, she unexpectedly created a design so unique and so retro that it became the talk around Canterlot. Needless to say, her dress earned her more than enough Bits to repair her boutique and buy more supplies.
Seeing that Alex had been responsible for ruining her dress in the first place, she gave him his share of the profit for the trouble she put him through. She even offered him a time at the spa as a sign of good will.

Rainbow Dash forgave Alex for the troubles he had caused her, just as long as he forgave her for acting like a real jerk. She felt really bad about her behavior and promised to never bully him again. She even went as far as wanting him to punch her just to make things even. Alex didn’t punch her, but instead forgave her and pranked her with a buzzer he had borrowed from Pinkie Pie.
Surprisingly enough, their wild chase had actually inspired her with some ideas for some new moves in which to impress the Wonderbolts with during their visit.

The CMC would visit Alex often, to play with him and tell him about their adventures in crusading for their cutie marks. They still didn’t earn any, but always remained in high spirit (much to the painful chagrin of Alex’s ears). At times they even invited him to join in and help them, often resulting in hilarious hijinks.
They apologized for the jar treatment they gave him, and Alex just found them too adorable to stay mad at for that.

With the magical tether binding Alex to the mirror gone, Celestia eventually admitted to herself that humanity probably wasn’t ready for her and her ponies just yet. Still, when she told Alex about her true intentions, he did feel rather embarrassed after that. Still, that didn’t mean all was lost. She continued her work on the mirror, and with new notes based on Luna’s actions, she believed the answer to cross the barrier safely was very close…
In return for him being a good sport in letting her and her ponies hunt him, Celestia let Alex ride her and he had her parade through both Canterlot and Ponyville, earning a lot of surprised looks from her subjects.

*****

“Hello? Is anypony there?”

Twilight was scared. It had been days since she and everypony returned back from Canterlot with Alex. Since then, everything had been pleasant and all had been forgiven.

The day today had been just your typical normal day where everything was peaceful. After spending a delightful day with Alex and her friends, Twilight had decided turned in early for the night. The last thing she remembered was reading a book on her bed while Spike was already fast asleep. Once done, she put it away, turned off the lights and closed her eyes.
Then suddenly, for reasons she couldn’t understand, she found herself deep in an unfamiliar and frightening forest, surrounded by dense fog and eerie noises. Lost and scared, Twilight had up until this moment been calling out for help and assistance to no avail.

“Hello? Please! Is there anypony? HELLO?!

“Twilight! Over here!” Twilight’s ears perked as she finally heard the familiar voice of Applejack. She galloped towards the voice and soon saw her and the rest of her friends galloping towards her in the opposite direction, looking just as confused and worried as her.

“Girls?” Twilight exclaimed. “What’s going on? What’s happening? Where are we?”

“You don’t know?” asked Rainbow. “We kinda hoped you did. The last thing I remember is going to bed and then I woke up here.”

“Same here!” replied Applejack.

“I as well.” said Rarity.

“M- Me too…” said Fluttershy in a frightened tone.

“Ditto!” said Pinkie Pie.

“What in Equestria is all this, Twilight?” asked Applejack. “Is it some kind of nightmare?”

“If so, then we’re all having it at once.”

“But that’s impossible!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “How can we all have the same nightmare? And what happened to Princess Luna? Isn’t she supposed to protect us from nightmares?”

“You’re right Rainbow.” replied Twilight worried. “She is the Princess of the Night after all… What if something happened to…”

FLASH!

“Welcome my little ponies!” The surprised ponies quickly turned towards the familiar voice of Luna as she suddenly appeared in a flash before them. The ponies were even more surprised to see Alex sitting on her back.

“ALEX? LUNA?”

Twilight slowly approached them. “Luna? Thank goodness! We all thought something terrible had happened. What is all this? Why is Alex here? What’s going on?”

“Forgive me Twilight.” Luna smiled apologetically. “But I’ve brought ye all here because I made a promise to young Alex that I swore to keep. He has something to share with thee.”

Everypony looked to Alex. “And what’s that?” asked Twilight.

Alex smiled. “First, Let me start by saying; Welcome to my dream little ponies. And… TO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!” he laughed villainously as lightning cracked behind him.

Everypony just tilted their heads to the side in confusion.

“Worst nightmare?” muttered Twilight. “Alex… What are you talking about”

“It’s a little something I’d like to call; Alex gives Ponies their Comeuppance!”

Twilight and the ponies looked at one another even more confused. “Com… uppance..? I’m afraid I don’t quite…”

“It’s quite simple Twilight… You are all here because you all wronged me. And now I want to settle that score.”

Everypony blinked.

Alex rolled his eyes and sighed. “I want revenge.”

WHAT!?!

“Revenge..?”

“That’s right! You see Twilight, when I first arrived here you and your friends gave me that rather ‘delightful’ chase and put me through a whole lot of trouble. I want for some payback for that.”

“But… We said we were sorry… You forgave us!”

“Yes, you did apologize and I did forgive you for it. But, in order to balance out the universe, I can’t let something like that simply be ignored. And while I promised Celestia I wouldn’t go completely mental on you all if you caught me, she didn’t say anything about me doing it in my dreams. And since Luna is a princess of dreams, she was more than happy to give me this one opportunity and make my wish come true.”

Everypony’s eyes went wide. He was going to punish them in their dreams like some boogeypony. “What… What are you going to do..?” Twilight asked nervously as sweat began to appear on her forehead.

“I’m going to do to you what you did to me…” A shotgun suddenly appeared in his hands as he smiled deviously at them. “I’m going on a hunt. And guess who the prey is…”

“Squeak!” Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow.

“P- Prey..?”

“Oh yeah?!” exclaimed Pinkie. “Well, you can’t get us if we wake up! And I'm going to wake up right… NOW!” She shut her eyes and made silly faces as she was… ‘trying’ to wake up. Everypony just facehoofed. “Am I awake yet?”

Alex and Luna giggled. “I’m afraid you’re going to find waking up rather impossible at the moment. This is my dream. You won’t wake up until I do.” Alex grinned.

“Now Alexander… Darling…” Rarity laughed nervously. “Surely you jest. I- I mean, we all can agree we did some rather silly and inexcusable things to you but you can’t punish us like this…”

“Yeah!” added Pinkie as she pushed herself in front of Rarity. “I mean, all we did was chase you, cage you, lock you up, box you in, shrink you, stone you, eat y-”

“PINKIE!?!”

“What? We did!”

“Luna!” exclaimed Twilight. “You and Alex are obviously doing this to teach us all a lesson. I’ll admit we all acted pretty badly, but there is no way Celestia is going to allow this!”

“Now, don’t you tell me what I can and can’t allow…” Twilight and everypony suddenly turned their heads towards the nearest cloud in the sky as they heard a familiar voice. Twilight was nearly rendered speechless. “Besides, this is Luna’s night. I rule the day.”

“C- Celestia?!?”

“Hi Twilight! I hope you don’t mind while I sit up here and help the Crusaders keep score? I’ll root for you all. I hope you last longer than the others, my faithful student.” She winked. Twilight looked as if her mind was about to blow.

“I… Huh..? Wha..?”

“Applebloom?” said Applejack.

“Sweetie Belle?” said Rarity.

“Squirt?” said Rainbow.

“What in tarnation are ya’ll doin’ here?”

“Oh hey Applejack!” Appebloom smiled and waved at her. “We’re keeping scores!”

The Mane Six gawked at them. “WHAT??!?”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “Yer ‘what’ now?”

“We’re keeping scores!” repeated Scootaloo with a smile. “We’re Alex’s personal score keepers. We just sit here and note the pony with the most ‘hit points’.”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “Gah..?”

“That’s right!” Sweetie Belle chirped. “And if we’re really good, we’ll probably earn a cutiemark for it!”

“CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS! SCORE KEEPERS! YAY!”

Alex shielded his ears and cringed. “Seriously… Cut that out!”

Applejack just pulled her Stetson over her head and groaned. Rarity nearly felt faint.

“Hey! No fair!” exclaimed Rainbow. “Why aren’t Celestia and the kids being punished? They chased Alex too.” She then noticed the looks on Celestia and the fillies’ faces. “I mean… No offence…”

“My dear Rainbow Dash...” replied Celestia with a playful grin. “Alex would never punish little fillies, right Alex?” Alex looked at Celestia and nodded. She looked at rainbow and narrowed her eyes. “As for me, I’ve already paid for that humiliation, remember?”

“Oh yeah…”

CLICK!

Before more protests could be uttered, everypony suddenly froze at the sound of Alex loading his shotgun. “We’ve got all night girls, so you’ll get a fifty second head start.”

“Now Alex…” Twilight tried to reason while nervously backing away. “Can’t we all just… sit down and talk about-”

“One… Two… Skip a few… FIFTY!

BOOM!

*‘YAKETY SAX’ PLAYING*

“RUN!!!”

“OUTTA THE WAY!!!”

“HEAD FOR THE HILLS!”

“Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear…”

“*SHRIEK!!!* NO! NOT MY HAIR!”

“WEEEE~! I DESERVE THIS!”

As the ponies fled into the woods, Alex leaned forward towards Luna. “Do you suppose they’ll forgive me for this when they wake up in the morning?”

Luna laughed. “Why wouldn’t they? After what they did, it’s only fair.” she snickered. “Besides, a bad dream is usually caused by guilty conscience, right?” She winked at him. Alex smiled back and laughed.

Luna then reared and quickly galloped after the Mane Six, with Alex’ s shotgun echoing throughout the woods, followed closely by pony screams.

“TALLY-HO!!!”

BOOM! BOOM!

*****

Throughout the night, Alex slept happily in his bed, dreaming his now favorite dream. As for the Mane Six… Not so much…



THE END