//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: A New Beginning in a New Land 
// by REDACTED99999 
//------------------------------//

	Luna could not be happier than she was in his forelegs. In one instance she had been granted everything she wanted. He had, understandably, not been too happy about being spied upon, and Luna had almost teleported away when he told her he could not forgive her. But then the most wonderful thing happened. He had hugged her, stopping her right in her track. He told her that he wanted to be friends with her, that by doing so he could forgive her. It was almost too good to be true, she could become friends with him and earn his forgiveness at the same time! She could barely contain her happiness now that she was over her initial shock. He was even stroking her mane! How long had it been since anypony had done that? It felt nice, it kind of tingled all the way down to her stomach.
She had been so nervous, she could barely contain her wings. They had unfolded almost by themselves when she entered the room and she had been so focused on simply entering that she barely even noticed. That had been hard for her, to actually enter the room. Then he had asked if it was because she was afraid of him... She knew how it felt to be feared, she did not want him to think that was the case with her.
The ease he had forgiven her for stepping into his dream unbidden was remarkable. If she had not been so afraid, so stupid as to spy on him, that would have been it in the forgiveness department. Instead she had built more distrust between them. She could however see the benefit of the current situation. She had received the hug she wanted and he expected her to stay to forge a friendship with him. 
Wait a minute… hug… 
She jumped back from him so unexpectedly that he almost fell on his face. He, thankfully, managed to stop himself with his forelegs.
“I am so sorry! Your burns… that must have been very painful for you.” She could have slapped herself. How could she forget his pain like that? She was surprised to hear his laughter.
“That’s okay, Luna.” He already called her by her name. It made her unreasonably happy. 
He slowly tried to get up, and she hurried over to offer her support, which he accepted with a smile. With her help he raised himself to the bed.
“I have a question though.” He said as he covered himself properly with the blanket.
“Yes?” She asked, suddenly nervous about what he would ask.
“How come your mane is the night sky? And why did it feel tingly and fluid when I touched it?” She was relieved that it was such a simple question.
“My mane and tail are directly connected to my magic. Should I become completely depleted of magic, I would have a mane like any other pony.” She smiled at his understanding nodding. “As for how it feels… I do not know why it feels like that to you. It could be the magic in it that reacts to you, or your senses are more acute than a ponies. They normally cannot feel my mane at all when it is like this.” He laughed a little at that.
“I am pretty special, that’s true. That’s kinda awesome though. It looks beautiful.” His eyes widened at his last words and a blush made its way towards both their cheeks.
“Thank you.” She replied silently. It was nice being complimented. A smile made its way to her lips, but she realized she had made it a habit to look down at the floor. She slowly raised her eyes to look into his small green ones. His entire face was red, but a smile adorned it and he did not lower his gaze from her. They held it for a couple of seconds before they both looked over to the opening door, from which Twilight came through.
“Twilight! You owe me a meal!” Jax instantly exclaimed, foreleg raised pointing at her. Twilight looked apologetic.
“I know Jax, it’s just… Fluttershy didn’t know how to cook it and neither did I so… I brought it raw.” She took out a paper wrapped object out of her saddlebag with her magic.
“Twilight… I can’t eat it raw.” Jax deadpanned. Luna knew what the object was. She had overheard their conversation about what Jax could eat, and Twilight’s idea to get fish from Fluttershy, since she sometimes used them to feed various carnivorous. It would seem that the young ponies did not know much about cooking meat.
“I believe I can help.” She smiled proudly. They both looked confused at her. She took the paper wrapped object in her own magic while closing and locking the door. She unwrapped the fish and took a minute to identify it. Seemed to be a River Rainbow. She made a sphere barrier around it, before she sliced it open with her magic, removing intestines, bones, the head and scales. The everything was caught by the barrier underneath it.
Twilight seemed on the verge of puking already while Jax looked on excitedly. Now that she thought about, it had been a while since he had gotten a proper meal.
“Twilight, mayhap you should wait outside? This can get pretty… well, not pretty.” Jax gave a surprised laugh that made her smile, while Twilight just nodded meekly and exited through the door. Luna went over to the window and looked outside. When she could not spot anypony, she opened it. She locked the door that Twilight had exited through again, cut her barrier in half, levitating all the eatable fish into the upper part, leaving the bones, scales and intestines in the lower one. She used her magic to make a hole in front of the window and dropped all the unnecessary parts into it, covering it while closing the curtains, but leaving the window open for when she started cooking it.
She made a small fire underneath the fish in the air, making sure her upper barrier trapped the small amount of smoke made. The smell of cooked fish soon began to spread, hopefully not too far.
“So I gather cooking fish isn’t a common practice around here… where’d you learn it?” He swallowed hard, probably in response to the smell.
“I was the first diplomat in the griffon kingdom to the north-east. They taught me everything about their culture, even how to prepare their food. Fish was easier for me than other meat. They never ate anything sapient of course, but I still felt bad gutting critters.” She got lost in the memories for a moment before coming back. “Still, it is part of their diet and culture, I cannot fault them for it, just as I cannot fault you for the same thing. I agree with Twilight, however, to try to keep this as secret as possible, and only hunt in the Everfree if you need to. Except Zecora the Zebra, there should not be many sapient creatures in that forest. Although there was that sea serpent in the river… it should have made its way back to the sea I think.”
“So there are griffons here as well? Cool… Why did they teach you things that you would obviously be against?” Jax asked curiously, “And don’t worry, I already tried to hunt… It went badly. Only thing I’m relatively good at is fishing.” She smiled at him.
“Those were different times Jax. Me and mine sister had just taken down Discord and ascended to our thrones.” She lost herself in the memories again. “The word spread of our actions, and hope rose among all the species. Although Discord was never intentionally cruel or evil, he was selfish and inconsiderate. It was hard to keep sane when the world around you could change at the snap of his claws. One second it could be day, the next it could be night. When we took over, we tried to give everypony what they longed for the most… Stability. We made the first real government, and spread the practice among other species. Those were busy days, and we knew so very little of each other… So diplomats were made, for easy communication and, more importantly, to learn about each other. I was among the first to travel to another country, and learn of their culture. So, the short answer to your question would be: Because it was necessary. We needed to learn, so that Discord’s fall would be the end of fear, not the rise of a new and more powerful fear. It was a busy time, but such a hopeful one….” She blinked a couple of times, before she looked down at Jax. He was looking at her with big eyes. Well, as big as they can get.
“… I have so many questions….” He looked down at the fish she was making. “But I think I want to eat first.” He gave her a giant excited smile. She extinguished the fire, and closed the barrier filled with smoke, let it out the window before letting all the smoke out. She laid the fish on the plate that still laid there from lunch. Beating Heart must have forgotten to take it with her.
“You even took out all the bones. You’re spoiling me.” His giant smile was still in place as he took the plate. It warmed her heart to see she had made somepony this happy.
“You just earned yourself a lot of brownie points, Luna. Thanks for making this for me.”
“Brownie… points?” She asked confused.
“Yeah… you don’t have that here?” He sounded intrigued. “With all the similarities and brownie points is where it falls short.”
“Well, if it is a new phrase, then I would not know. I am not exactly ‘with the times’ as they say.”
“Really?” He took a bite out of his meal “Mmmm that’s good. You seem pretty cool though, very down to earth considering your social status.” She smiled at him, glad for both the compliments. Her cheeks only burned a little.
“Well, Twilight taught me that. I have still had trouble getting caught up to the times though. The language was the first barrier I have been trying to get through, but sometimes I still go back to the old way.”
He looked at her in a mix of curiosity and confusion. “Yeah, I noticed… This doesn’t make much sense though. You talk as if you have been gone for decades… centuries even. As I said, I have so many questions, but you know what? I’m exhausted. I’m sure you have some kind of amazing and unbelievable story, but right now I just want to enjoy this delicious meal that you made, and explain that you get brownie points when you do something nice for others. It’s a very simple system.”
“I see…” Her heart fluttered a bit. Talking with Jax was surprisingly easy. She had thought he would be suspicious of her, keep an emotional distance, but he seemed to be happy for her company. Maybe it was the fish she had prepared for him, that seemed to make him very happy. These ‘brownie points’ that she had earned. She wondered how he would act if she had not been such a foal and broken his trust before she even held it. The realization felt like a blow to the stomach. It had been so stupid of her to spy on him. What had she been thinking? Her sister had warned her… Celestia had been right as always. She should have listened to her, but as always she had insisted on doing things her own way. She was such a foal. Now he did not trust her. He did not act suspicious or distant, but she knew he did not trust her. He did not trust many, and to make it worse, she and Twilight had shown him that he was right, he could not trust everypony, not even because they meant to, but by accident. It was a terrible thing, to break somepony’s trust without realizing you were doing it.
Luna thought back to her sister. She had once broken her trust by becoming Nightmare Moon. She had turned on her own sister, ignoring every cry for her to stop, just like Celestia had ignored the signs of her change-… She stopped the thought. There was still too much anger in it, even after all this time. It was her own fault, and she could blame nopony but herself. Yet she knew Celestia had still blamed herself for her oversight, Luna understood that much. They had never actually talked about it. Had Celestia forgiven her for leaving her to rule alone for a thousand years? Or was she like Jax, being able to hide her distrust behind a mask of friendliness? She had gone out of her way to help Luna adjust to the times, she had made time every moonset and moonrise for them to eat together… Celestia had been there for her like no other pony, yet Luna had done nothing for her. She had not even tried to earn her trust back, she had not even thought about it until now. The first chance she got, she had ran away to Ponyville…
…
She was such a horrible sister.
“Ponies have really mastered the art of looking sad. Must be the giant eyes.” Jax observed. She looked up at him. He had finished his meal and was now looking intently at her.
“I… apologize. I just thought of something…”
“Something sad I guess.” He gave her a small smile. “Well why don’t you tell me about it? We are trying to form a friendship after all.”
“Well… It is just… I have been gone for so long.” She paused, trying to word her thoughts. “I have missed so much, felt so alone and out of time, and that has been all I have been focusing on these past six months. I forgot to think about how it affected my sister. After everything I have done to her, I just realized that I am unsure of how she feels about it all, we have not even talked about it, and then I run off to come here… I have been very selfish.” She ended by looking down at the floor again.
“Well… I’m unsure what’s going on, but I can tell you this. She’s your sister, not your mom. It’s my belief that siblings are meant to fight every now and again. I used to fight all the time with my little brother.” His smile wavered a little. “Still, sounds like you did something to her. You should definitely take responsibility for what you did. Maybe buy her a gift and apologize sincerely? How serious was it?” 
“I think it was more serious than a gift can fix.” She gave him a sad smile. It was nice to talk with somepony about her problems. “Still, it cannot hurt, and I suppose I could give her a more sincere apology than I did. What I want though… is just to talk to her, like we used to. We have not been doing that lately.”
“A day at the spa.”
“I… am sorry?” She asked confused. He rolled his eyes at her.
“Your gift to her could be a day at the spa. Then you could apologize and talk to her while you both get to relax. Of course it could be any place really, spa was just the first thing on my mind thanks to Rarity.”
She thought about it for a moment before a smile spread on her lips. “That sounds like a wonderful idea Jax. Thank you.” She considered for a bit. “Do you get brownie points now? And how many?” She looked curiously at him.
“You decide how much I deserve, I think the norm is one, and brownie points isn’t about numbers.” He smiled at her. “As I said, a simple system.”
She suddenly remembered what time it was. “I need to raise the moon. Wait a minute.”
“… Raise the…” He did not say much more as she went over to the still open window and drew back the curtains to give her a clear view of the sky. It was not perfect, but it would do. She slowly began to channel magic to her horn, preparing the complicated spell matrix that allowed her to move the celestial body.

***

On the balcony of Canterlot Castle’s highest tower, Celestia looked at the empty spot beside her. It had not been long but she already missed her sister. The short time of her presence did not even begin to compare to a thousand years of her absence. And now she was gone again... 
Celestia sighed as she prepared the spell matrix.

***

Jax looked at the mare by the window. Was she really moving the moon? And if she did… why? Did gravity not work by itself here? He had seen some weird stuff in the Everfree, and he had told himself he would not be surprised by anything anymore, but these ponies kept throwing new stuff at him, and it was hard to accept some of it. He would have to assume she could, or he would have to ask her to prove it… No need to be skeptical now, of all times. They could teleport from one place to another, moving the moon wasn’t so much less believable.
She came back to his bed some time later with a smile, the full moon over the horizon while the sun was gone. He looked into her happy eyes. They looked much better like this.
Someone knocked on the door, and Twilight’s voice came through. “Luna? Jax? We need to go soon.” Luna used her magic to open the door. “I have talked to doctor Steady Hooves, Jax, and she agreed to let you go if nurse Beating Heart comes with us, and you come back here right after.”
“That sounds fair Twilight. You work fast, my plan was to jump out the window and come back before anyone realized we were gone.” He laughed sheepishly at her expression. Her plan was a little better than his, he had to admit that.

***

He looked out from behind the curtain at the ponies gathered in the town hall. Rainbow Dash had made it and was easy to recognize by her constant flying and her colorful mane. He looked back at Twilight who was coming over with a pony with light grayish coat and gray mane. Her cutie mark was a scroll bound by a blue ribbon. She looked nervous for some reason. 
“Jax, I would like to introduce Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville.” Twilight proudly introduced. “Mayor, this is Jax, the… creature I told you about.”
Jax squatted so he could look her in the eye. He felt a little silly, being wrapped in the blanket from the hospital like a toga, but what can you do? He extended his hand forward. “Is your name really Mayor Mare?” He asked, practically stunned by the… incredibility of her name. How was this possible?
She hesitated for a moment, but then put her hoof into his hand, and he shook it gently. “Yes, it is. Pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. Jax.”
“Likewise. So before you became mayor… what did they call you?” He asked, letting go of her hoof.
“They called me either Mare or Mayor Mare. To be honest it didn’t feel right until I became mayor. Being called Mare wasn’t all fun and giggles either, the jokes ponies could come up with… Still, I prevailed. Now, is there anything else I can answer before I go up and introduce you to everypony?”
“Why does this town have both a princess and a mayor?” He inquired.
“I’m not entirely sure Mr. Jax, but we are all very honored that princess Twilight has chosen our little town as her living place. Of course it wasn’t much of a choice after the castle just kind of appeared, but we are still very glad.” A smile made it through her otherwise professional behavior.
“Please, just Jax. I’m normally not very good with formalities but since your name and profession are the same, I guess I can manage, Mayor.”
Luna came over as well, which seemed to make the Mare nervous again. She quickly bowed. “Princess Luna, an honor to have you visit… again. How long will you be staying, your highness?”
Luna looked a bit uncertain at the bowing Mayor, then at Jax, and then back. “I am not sure, Mayor Mare. No more than five months, I think.”
“Five months?” the mayor seemed a bit surprised but gathered herself quickly. “We are happy to have you here, your highness. Now if you’ll all excuse me, I have some announcements to make.” With that she made her way out to the podium. Twilight turned to him. “Are you sure you’re okay Jax? You should be in bed, resting.”
“I’m fine Twilight, no big deal. I need to get this over with as fast as possible. If anything happens, Beating is right over there.” He nodded over to Beating Heart who was sitting close by observing him.
If he was completely honest with himself, he would rather have stayed in the hospital and never do this. But since he had to do it, he might as well do it as fast as possible.
“… that didn’t meet him at the party yesterday, here is Jax.” Mayor Mare said from the podium, his cue to enter and hold his amazing speech. He knew more or less what he was going to say, but he hated speaking in front of crowds.
“Good luck!” Twilight said as he made his way out. Luna looked like she wanted to say something as well but he didn’t hear her say anything. 
As he neared the podium, he made eye contact with Rainbow, who gave him a confident smile. Well, he promised some answers and he was going to give them, if nothing else than for everyone who had patiently waited for them. Time to tell them all the truth.
Looking out at a group of ponies was worse than looking at a group of humans. Must be the eye size difference. Easier to tell that they were looking.
He gulped. He could do this. No problems.
He opened his mouth but no words came out. He started to feel really hot. He noticed there was a glass of water on the podium. He quickly took it and started drinking. This was going great wasn’t it?
“Take a deep breath.” He heard someone whisper from the side. Looking over he noticed Luna looking at him, acting out a slow in- and exhale. He lowered the glass and took a deep breath… it did feel kind of calming.
“So… A lot of you are probably wondering what I am.” He started, happy that he could get words out. “I wanted to tell you all at once so I didn’t have to repeat it to all of you. I’m what is known as a human.” He paused because of the confused murmur. Apparently humans weren’t a widespread species here, just like he guessed. “So by now you probably wonder where I’m from. Well here’s the crazy part… I’m not from this world.” Every pony in the room looked absolutely shocked. There was a bright flash from the side, and looking over he saw someone had taken a photo of him with the old fashioned kind of camera they used back in the day. He sighed.
“It’s hard to tell you exactly where I’m from.” He interrupted the murmurs. “I didn’t come here with a spaceship or dimension-traveling ship. I didn’t even come here on purpose. The last thing I remember before waking up in the Everfree… is dying.”
Silence…
“That’s right. I died and woke up here. I spent a month in the Everfree forest, unaware that there was civilization so close. I have been close to death a lot of times in there, but two days ago, I really was on the brink. Fluttershy saved me.” He smiled at the timid mare beside Rainbow who was trying to hide behind her mane. “I’m very thankful for that. So I’m going to stay in Ponyville for a while, I don’t know how long but… I think I’ll figure all of that out later. I do, however, promise not to hurt anyone, as long as you show me the same curtsy.”
A mint green unicorn made her way slowly up to him. “Hey Lyra…” She looked way too sad. He started realizing that he hated when these ponies were sad. It crushed his heart a little. She didn’t say anything, but motioned for him to lower down, which he did. 
She surprised him with a hug. “I am sooo sorry. I didn’t know. You’ve been through so much, and the first thing I do when you come into town is accuse you of wanting to hurt us.” He slowly wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the spikes of pain running through his body. He needed more of that salve, and soon. He noticed the same bright flash as before, probably the same pony taking a picture.
“I remember no such thing Lyra. As far as I’m concerned, we met at the party yesterday.” She slowly let go of him, giving him a small smile. There was still a lot of pain and regret in her eyes though. He gave her a smile of his own, to calm her down. A third flash illuminated the room. It was starting to annoy him a little.
He went back to the podium, while Lyra made her way back to Bon Bon’s side. “Now, I need to get back to the hospital soon, otherwise Beating will give me a beating.” He smiled at his own joke, but nobody else seemed to find it funny. Well except a certain pink pony who laughed loud enough for everyone, which was very much appreciated. He thought he heard something from Luna’s direction as well, but he couldn’t be sure. He made his way down from the podium, as Luna made her way up.
She held a short, professional speech about being happy to be in Ponyville, that she was going to stay for a while, and that she was staying with Twilight. Definitely better than his own speech. Pinkie gasped and ran off after she said that she would stay. Wonder why…

***

They were making their way back to the hospital, Jax having his gaze up at the stars, while Beating, Luna, Twilight, and Rainbow made sure he didn’t walk into anything. Luna seemed to be especially happy.
“You really like stars, huh?” Rainbow asked. He didn’t even look at her, he just nodded.
“Why?” She asked, looking up as well.
“Where I was from, we had this terrible thing called light pollution. It meant that we had so much light in the cities, that we couldn’t see the night sky properly. You had to go far out into the countryside to enjoy a night under the stars. Then I land here, and the first thing I see is the most beautiful night sky I have laid my eyes upon. At first I was scared, since I didn’t recognize any constellations. But then, the second night, after an exhausting day, I realized that it didn’t matter. It gave me a sense of… calm. Like everything was going to be alright. They have lulled me to sleep every night since then... except yesterday at the party of course.”
He looked around and realized they were all looking at the stars now.
“I’ve always found them fascinating.” Twilight said from his right.
“I always just thought of them as dots in the sky, but I guess when you really look at them…” Rainbow faded out from his left.
“They are beautiful aren’t they? I guess I just never took the time to really appreciate it.” Beating said from up front.
He looked behind him at Luna, who was wearing the biggest grin he had seen on her yet. Her eyes practically shone with happiness. It was a beautiful sight.
“Looks like we’re here guys.” He said as they neared the hospital. “Thanks for walking me back, but I think me and Beating got it from here.”
“Alright, I’ll come by tomorrow.” Rainbow flew up to eye level, and they bumped their fist and hoof together. “See you.” She was off in a… Dash.
Twilight motioned for him to lower down, much like Lyra had at the meeting. Of course she was going to hug him, everyone wanted to hug him after he had sustained serious burns all over his body. Not a single hug before that.
He lowered down anyway, and bit down the pain when the hug came. Pony hugs felt better than human hugs for some reason. Maybe it was their soft fur, or their honest feelings, but it felt less awkward. Even though they had brought him a lot of pain so far, he would take every hug he could get. It felt nice, even with the pain.
It was both a relief and a disappointment then, when Luna stretched out her hoof. He took it in his hand and gave it a gentle shake. They shared a smile.
“I’m coming tomorrow as well Jax. We have A LOT to talk about.” Something told him he couldn’t keep Twilight away if he tried.
“I shall drop by as well.” Luna simply stated, before they both turned and made their way towards the crystal tree castle.
“Yeah, see you both tomorrow.” He turned around to Beating who was waiting for him.
“Taking hugs with those burns? You know you can excuse yourself, right? They would understand.”
“Yeah, well… I’ve been alone for a month. Physical contact feels nice, even when it’s painful.” He told her truthfully.
“Come on, I’ll get you some more salve. You deserve it.” He liked Beating more and more.

***

“Princess? What are we doing?” Twilight asked her as they made their way on the other side of the hospital.
“I told you to call me Luna, Twilight. I have a hunch, and I want to see if I’m right.” She told her fellow princess. They made their way to some bushes and waited for a while.
Finally Luna’s hunch was proven right. Jax carefully crawled out of one of the hospital windows, blanket and pillow in hand. He made himself comfortable on the ground, looking up at the stars. It filled her with glee.
“Okay, let’s go then. This day has been way too long, and I think we can all use some sleep…” Luna yawned. Too much had happened for her liking. Hopefully the next couple of days would be calmer.