Luna went to sleep as soon as the sun rose, and woke up around two in the afternoon, ready to explore. But first she had to get her wand, at least she hoped. It was a day of bright sunshine, nothing too welcome for a walk, especially to the Princess of the Night, but the sooner she recognized the place the sooner the better she would learn how to live there.
A visit to Mr. Ollivander's shop was quick. He was waiting, a box on the counter. As soon as she arrived he smiled warmly and handed her the wand.
No sooner had she touched it than she felt an energy flowing away, a link chain, something like the strange feeling of the first time she had used magic.
"Maple and alicorn core. A single wand, to a single witch. Try it."
Luna shifted her wand in the air, producing a shower of silver stars.
Five minutes later she was back to the Leaky Cauldron. She put the wand with her other school things and picked up the jacket that she had received from Star Gate. She thought for a moment to decide whether to use it with the hood to hide her ears. Putting the jacket on she decided it was too hot and kept it down. She had no difficulties in Diagon Alley. Some looks, the boy in the store, but otherwise had no problems at all.
She left the bar and stopped barely out the door, noticing how the place was different from Diagon Alley. She found herself in a sea of people passing hastily to both sides of the street, a few stopped to observe the stores, some came, some went, Luna barely had time to notice that no one seemed to even notice the Leaky Cauldron there before she was caught in the midst of a strong uncontrolled jostling, away from the site.
When she finally managed to get herself free, all she heard was a loud sound and a cry of "Look out!" before someone threw her to the ground.
"What do you think you are you doing?" She shouted, furious, to whoever had tackled her. She couldn't turn to see, but still felt the weight of someone holding her in place.
"I'm sorry." A male voice answered, irritated and Luna felt that whoever it was had moved enough to allow her to stand up. "But what do you think you're doing? Going out on the street like that. You could have been run over if I didn't reach you in time."
Luna stood up and turned to face the owner of the voice. A tall young man with blond hair and hazel eyes.
He stared back at her, as if he'd just notice something that he hadn't noticed before. Before Luna understood what was happening when he pulled one of her ears.
"Ouch! Don't do it!" She shouted angrily. But he probably wasn't even paying attention.
"It's real?!" He asked startled, before rushing out, screaming that aliens had invaded London.
Luna stood there, confused. She had no idea what aliens were. But, through the door of the bar seemed like crossing a portal to another world, where everything looked the same and different at the same time. The clothes, the shops, the behavior of the crowd, everything was different. Had those things that ran through the streets, as carriages that moved by their own...
She didn't notice the crowd bustling around, screams and running; it was as if nothing came to her in her moment of distraction. So she got back to reality with a voice shouting:
"There she is!"
She looked back at the exact time to see a pair of men advancing towards her.
"Be careful, we don't want to scare her." One of them whispered.
"You sure it's not just a kid playing a prank? We've had other false alarms like this before." The other whispered back.
"A witness said it was real, after having saved her from being run over. She disguises herself as one of us, but we don't know what she really is."
They didn't seem to have realized that Luna was watching them; approaching with caution, carrying something that Luna assumed to be a weapon from this world. She was ready to stand and fight, canceling out the rest of her spell if necessary, when she saw, in a flash, something had been fired at her, her reflexes were quick and she ran across the street.
With full awareness that they followed her, she kept running. She wasn't sure why they were chasing her, but she would take them to a place away from other people, erasing their memories and return to the Leaky Cauldron.
But plans changed when she got pulled into some bushes in the garden of a house.
"What..." She started to ask, but someone hurriedly shushed her quietly. At that moment Luna heard hurried footsteps and raised voices.
"Where'd she go?"
"Teleported to her space ship, I imagine. Such aliens are very smart."
Footsteps running away, then someone called.
"Come on, this way! Before they come back."
She was pulled to the light. Her savior was no more than a little girl, around the same age she seemed to be on this world, maybe younger, with long black hair and golden eyes.
"Come on!" The girl called again. "Before my parents see you."
Luna followed the girl to the back of the house. She peered through the door, seemed to become satisfied because she pulled Luna inside, climbed a flight of stairs and running to the only open door in a hallway, locking both inside and quickly shutting the windows.
"You're really an alien?" She finally asked, staring at Luna with a cheerful smile.
"What is an alien?" The Princess decided to ask, since the little girl was the first person who talked to her since leaving the Leaky Cauldron.
"They come from outside the Earth, from other planets, to be exact."
"I didn't come from another planet." Luna replied.
"I thought not. Martians are green, jupterians seem to be made of gelatin, The ones from Neptune look like amphibians and the ones from Pluto are small and gray, none of them seems human and have ears like yours. And none certainly speaks our language." She said. "My name is Jacklyn Williams, what is yours?"
"Luna."
"Luna means moon in Latin. Did you come from the moon? Is the center of the moon inhabited?"
"No, I didn't come from the moon." Luna replied, a bit more forcefully. "Although I wasn't very far from that." She muttered softly, as if just realizing the words of Star Gate in her first letter.
"Another dimension perhaps?" Jacklyn suggested, running to her desk, picking up a book that was on the subject and started flipping through it, looking for something. "The people here aren't very friendly to visitors." She commented. "No matter if they came from another planet, another galaxy or dimension. It's said that the government holds all them in Area 51. I think half of it is a lie." Luna had no idea what the girl was talking about, but let her continue. "If you aren't an alien then what are you?"
"I'm human, like you... This here was just an... accident." She chose her words carefully. She would try to be as honest as possible without telling her exactly.
"Your family lives around here?" Jacklyn asked. Luna shook her head in the negative "So how did you get here?"
"A friend sent me here. I lived with my sister after our parents died, but we had a fight and this friend thought it better for me to spend some time in London."
"Alone?"
"Well, I'll go to school in a few weeks, but until then, yes, I'm alone."
"Well, you can't return to the streets or so someone will warn those guys again. They are crazy. Because I've known them since they came here at home, a neighbor thought one of my cousin's inventions was a UFO and called them." Jacklyn opened a chest and returned with a cap. "Here. This will help. But we need a disguise for you now that they've seen you." She unlocked the door and pulled Luna with her. "Why did you and your sister fight?"
Now that Luna thought about it, why had everything happened?
"I think that I was jealous of her. I let the darkness take the best of me, instead of realizing what really mattered."
She then remembered the prophecy of Sapphire Sky:
The forgotten nightmare is what you should most fear,
If what truly matters you had come to forget.
Nightmare should be the forgotten nightmare. Dormant, forgotten, locked in the deepest darkness of her own spirit.
Sun and moon completing a cycle,
But when the nightmare attacks in an eclipse will close.
That part didn't make sense for Luna.
Dark feelings feed the darkness,
Dark feelings, jealousy, anger, sadness, were exactly what released Nightmare.
And the light that lit you will become your prison,
Because of Nightmare she was transformed into Nightmare Moon and Celestia tried to imprison her in the moon.
At least the stars change the course of destiny,
And instead bring light to your exile.
Those lines also didn't make sense, but Luna imagined that they referred to her being here in this world at that moment.
But be careful with the one who shines closer
Or to a sad end your destiny will work.
The star that shines closer? Luna didn't know what those last lines referred to, but they were a warning and that worried her.
During this brief analysis, Jacklyn had taken her to another room and turned over a chest, now returning with some clothes.
"I understand. I also have an older sister who always shines more than me with the story theater. The secret, as you pointed out and clearly didn't, is don't forget what really matters, the love you feel for each other."
Luna nodded. She should never have forgotten it, never should have allowed Nightmare to take control. Would she still be able to fix what she had done?
"Better to use it. Your hair draws so much attention."
Five minutes after Luna was disguised with a blond wig and a pink-neon cap, which were opposed to her clothes, which mixed white, silver, light and dark shades of blue and black, but also drew attention from any of her clothes.
"Will it be enough?" Jacklyn asked, more to herself than to Luna. "Well, if I didn't know it's you, I wouldn't recognize you, except for the symbol on your shirt, but we can give an excuse for it. Well, I was on my way to meet my sister at the cine, met you on my way. My parents will be furious if they find out of course, because I'm only ten and it's not old enough to go around London alone, but worth it to help a friend."
But Luna hadn't even heard the last part, divided between her little internal conflict and a little of curiosity.
"What is a cine?" She finally decided to ask.
"Bullshit you don't know what's a cine!" Jacklyn looked as if seeing her for the first time. As the man had looked when he noticed her ears. "Cinema is the best invention of humanity! And safer too. You must come with me!"
Luna still tried to protest, but Jacklyn had already pulled her back to the street. The Princess then decided it wouldn't hurt go with her. It would probably be an opportunity to learn more about this strange new world, and would be able to fend for herself without any accidents.
Particularly when crossing a busy street, Luna decided that more questions wouldn't hurt anyone.
"What are these strange carriages?"
"Carriages! Where'd you come from? From the Stone Age?" Jacklyn laughed and rolled her eyes. "These are cars."
Luna understood nothing that the girl spoke.
"How does it move? Magic?" She asked.
"Magic doesn't exist. Or at least that's what humans say. But I believe it's real. But no. Cars don't move with magic. I don't know how the cars move, is subject to mechanics." She shrugged. "I can't believe you've never seen a car too. What else haven't you seen? I need to show you everything! First go to the cine, then I will convince my sister to let us go shopping, there are some very good games. You've played video games?" Luna replied in the negative. "Second best thing after the cine. And for dinner, we'll have pizza. Four cheeses and olives, if you don't mind, don't rely eat heavily on meat. I see no need to kill animals to eat."
Luna suddenly got sick with the comment and had to stop for a minute, silently thanking the information and that she had just eaten salad those two days, it was the closest she had at home.
"And we'll have ice cream for dessert!" Jacklyn continued without noticing. "Isn't it wonderful? There is all day I got a friend to take on a walk."
Luna was impressed with the cine. It was like a theater, but with images and not real people. The movie they watched was a gaggle of curious creatures called Pokémon, with powers and fought among themselves, created and controlled by humans, others were wild and some Pokémon were even able to talk!
A legend, a prophecy, myth or reality, to guide a destiny. A human boy, chosen against his will, for a mission that would decide the fate of the world; gather three jewels able to placate three of the most powerful Pokémon in the world.
This climate of legends and destiny made Luna feel heavy and confused, making her think of how her own destiny seemed to be controlled. The movie, as she discovered this kind of presentation to be called, cine was just the name of the place, was really fun and she was feeling better after leaving.
Jacklyn's sister, Rebecca, then took them shopping where Jacklyn insisted that her sister buy a new hat for Luna and then dragged her to the playground, where she taught a new friend to play some of her favorite games.
If Luna had been delighted with the movie, it was nothing compared to that. The game required the better of her reflexes and even some of her intelligence and she felt a strange energy inside. It wasn't like the energy of magic, she loved that.
Nevertheless, Jacklyn said those games were very simple compared to the games she had at home and promised that if Luna stayed in the city, any day she would show her one of her favorite games: Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, meanwhile challenging her to a duel over the dance mat.
Luna didn't want to stop playing, but then she reminded herself that she was there on a mission to learn more about this world. They had time before they had to find the girls' parents for dinner, so they decided to take a walk around town and check the shop windows. Every new thing, Luna asked questions, leaving Jacklyn glad she could help, most of the time, and Rebecca intrigued by her lack of knowledge, but luckily chose not to ask.
It was late when Luna walked back alone, the city now a little calmer. It had been a fun day, but she would change everything if she could reverse what had happened in Equestria, why she was here. Outside her own selfishness, she now realized. Celestia tried to be rational and she refused to listen.
"Wish you were here, Tia." She muttered, sitting on top of the big clock that seemed to guard the city. She had passed a place where no one could see her to undo her spell, and used the clouds as a cover to fly up there, as close to heaven as she could reach at that moment, hoping no one saw her there. "I'm sorry."
A single tear ran down her face and Luna didn't even bother to stop it. How much longer would repentance haunt her? Three days seemed too much. How much more would she have to wait?Luna went to sleep as soon as the sun rose, and woke up around two in the afternoon, ready to explore. But first she had to get her wand, at least she hoped. It was a day of bright sunshine, nothing too welcome for a walk, especially to the Princess of the Night, but the sooner she recognized the place the sooner the better she would learn how to live there.
A visit to Mr. Ollivander's shop was quick. He was waiting, a box on the counter. As soon as she arrived he smiled warmly and handed her the wand.
No sooner had she touched it than she felt an energy flowing away, a link chain, something like the strange feeling of the first time she had used magic.
"Maple and alicorn core. A single wand, to a single witch. Try it."
Luna shifted her wand in the air, producing a shower of silver stars.
Five minutes later she was back to the Leaky Cauldron. She put the wand with her other school things and picked up the jacket that she had received from Star Gate. She thought for a moment to decide whether to use it with the hood to hide her ears. Putting the jacket on she decided it was too hot and kept it down. She had no difficulties in Diagon Alley. Some looks, the boy in the store, but otherwise had no problems at all.
She left the bar and stopped barely out the door, noticing how the place was different from Diagon Alley. She found herself in a sea of people passing hastily to both sides of the street, a few stopped to observe the stores, some came, some went, Luna barely had time to notice that no one seemed to even notice the Leaky Cauldron there before she was caught in the midst of a strong uncontrolled jostling, away from the site.
When she finally managed to get herself free, all she heard was a loud sound and a cry of "Look out!" before someone threw her to the ground.
"What do you think you are you doing?" She shouted, furious, to whoever had tackled her. She couldn't turn to see, but still felt the weight of someone holding her in place.
"I'm sorry." A male voice answered, irritated and Luna felt that whoever it was had moved enough to allow her to stand up. "But what do you think you're doing? Going out on the street like that. You could have been run over if I didn't reach you in time."
Luna stood up and turned to face the owner of the voice. A tall young man with blond hair and hazel eyes.
He stared back at her, as if he'd just notice something that he hadn't noticed before. Before Luna understood what was happening when he pulled one of her ears.
"Ouch! Don't do it!" She shouted angrily. But he probably wasn't even paying attention.
"It's real?!" He asked startled, before rushing out, screaming that aliens had invaded London.
Luna stood there, confused. She had no idea what aliens were. But, through the door of the bar seemed like crossing a portal to another world, where everything looked the same and different at the same time. The clothes, the shops, the behavior of the crowd, everything was different. Had those things that ran through the streets, as carriages that moved by their own...
She didn't notice the crowd bustling around, screams and running; it was as if nothing came to her in her moment of distraction. So she got back to reality with a voice shouting:
"There she is!"
She looked back at the exact time to see a pair of men advancing towards her.
"Be careful, we don't want to scare her." One of them whispered.
"You sure it's not just a kid playing a prank? We've had other false alarms like this before." The other whispered back.
"A witness said it was real, after having saved her from being run over. She disguises herself as one of us, but we don't know what she really is."
They didn't seem to have realized that Luna was watching them; approaching with caution, carrying something that Luna assumed to be a weapon from this world. She was ready to stand and fight, canceling out the rest of her spell if necessary, when she saw, in a flash, something had been fired at her, her reflexes were quick and she ran across the street.
With full awareness that they followed her, she kept running. She wasn't sure why they were chasing her, but she would take them to a place away from other people, erasing their memories and return to the Leaky Cauldron.
But plans changed when she got pulled into some bushes in the garden of a house.
"What..." She started to ask, but someone hurriedly shushed her quietly. At that moment Luna heard hurried footsteps and raised voices.
"Where'd she go?"
"Teleported to her space ship, I imagine. Such aliens are very smart."
Footsteps running away, then someone called.
"Come on, this way! Before they come back."
She was pulled to the light. Her savior was no more than a little girl, around the same age she seemed to be on this world, maybe younger, with long black hair and golden eyes.
"Come on!" The girl called again. "Before my parents see you."
Luna followed the girl to the back of the house. She peered through the door, seemed to become satisfied because she pulled Luna inside, climbed a flight of stairs and running to the only open door in a hallway, locking both inside and quickly shutting the windows.
"You're really an alien?" She finally asked, staring at Luna with a cheerful smile.
"What is an alien?" The Princess decided to ask, since the little girl was the first person who talked to her since leaving the Leaky Cauldron.
"They come from outside the Earth, from other planets, to be exact."
"I didn't come from another planet." Luna replied.
"I thought not. Martians are green, jupterians seem to be made of gelatin, The ones from Neptune look like amphibians and the ones from Pluto are small and gray, none of them seems human and have ears like yours. And none certainly speaks our language." She said. "My name is Jacklyn Williams, what is yours?"
"Luna."
"Luna means moon in Latin. Did you come from the moon? Is the center of the moon inhabited?"
"No, I didn't come from the moon." Luna replied, a bit more forcefully. "Although I wasn't very far from that." She muttered softly, as if just realizing the words of Star Gate in her first letter.
"Another dimension perhaps?" Jacklyn suggested, running to her desk, picking up a book that was on the subject and started flipping through it, looking for something. "The people here aren't very friendly to visitors." She commented. "No matter if they came from another planet, another galaxy or dimension. It's said that the government holds all them in Area 51. I think half of it is a lie." Luna had no idea what the girl was talking about, but let her continue. "If you aren't an alien then what are you?"
"I'm human, like you... This here was just an... accident." She chose her words carefully. She would try to be as honest as possible without telling her exactly.
"Your family lives around here?" Jacklyn asked. Luna shook her head in the negative "So how did you get here?"
"A friend sent me here. I lived with my sister after our parents died, but we had a fight and this friend thought it better for me to spend some time in London."
"Alone?"
"Well, I'll go to school in a few weeks, but until then, yes, I'm alone."
"Well, you can't return to the streets or so someone will warn those guys again. They are crazy. Because I've known them since they came here at home, a neighbor thought one of my cousin's inventions was a UFO and called them." Jacklyn opened a chest and returned with a cap. "Here. This will help. But we need a disguise for you now that they've seen you." She unlocked the door and pulled Luna with her. "Why did you and your sister fight?"
Now that Luna thought about it, why had everything happened?
"I think that I was jealous of her. I let the darkness take the best of me, instead of realizing what really mattered."
She then remembered the prophecy of Sapphire Sky:
The forgotten nightmare is what you should most fear,
If what truly matters you had come to forget.
Nightmare should be the forgotten nightmare. Dormant, forgotten, locked in the deepest darkness of her own spirit.
Sun and moon completing a cycle,
But when the nightmare attacks in an eclipse will close.
That part didn't make sense for Luna.
Dark feelings feed the darkness,
Dark feelings, jealousy, anger, sadness, were exactly what released Nightmare.
And the light that lit you will become your prison,
Because of Nightmare she was transformed into Nightmare Moon and Celestia tried to imprison her in the moon.
At least the stars change the course of destiny,
And instead bring light to your exile.
Those lines also didn't make sense, but Luna imagined that they referred to her being here in this world at that moment.
But be careful with the one who shines closer
Or to a sad end your destiny will work.
The star that shines closer? Luna didn't know what those last lines referred to, but they were a warning and that worried her.
During this brief analysis, Jacklyn had taken her to another room and turned over a chest, now returning with some clothes.
"I understand. I also have an older sister who always shines more than me with the story theater. The secret, as you pointed out and clearly didn't, is don't forget what really matters, the love you feel for each other."
Luna nodded. She should never have forgotten it, never should have allowed Nightmare to take control. Would she still be able to fix what she had done?
"Better to use it. Your hair draws so much attention."
Five minutes after Luna was disguised with a blond wig and a pink-neon cap, which were opposed to her clothes, which mixed white, silver, light and dark shades of blue and black, but also drew attention from any of her clothes.
"Will it be enough?" Jacklyn asked, more to herself than to Luna. "Well, if I didn't know it's you, I wouldn't recognize you, except for the symbol on your shirt, but we can give an excuse for it. Well, I was on my way to meet my sister at the cine, met you on my way. My parents will be furious if they find out of course, because I'm only ten and it's not old enough to go around London alone, but worth it to help a friend."
But Luna hadn't even heard the last part, divided between her little internal conflict and a little of curiosity.
"What is a cine?" She finally decided to ask.
"Bullshit you don't know what's a cine!" Jacklyn looked as if seeing her for the first time. As the man had looked when he noticed her ears. "Cinema is the best invention of humanity! And safer too. You must come with me!"
Luna still tried to protest, but Jacklyn had already pulled her back to the street. The Princess then decided it wouldn't hurt go with her. It would probably be an opportunity to learn more about this strange new world, and would be able to fend for herself without any accidents.
Particularly when crossing a busy street, Luna decided that more questions wouldn't hurt anyone.
"What are these strange carriages?"
"Carriages! Where'd you come from? From the Stone Age?" Jacklyn laughed and rolled her eyes. "These are cars."
Luna understood nothing that the girl spoke.
"How does it move? Magic?" She asked.
"Magic doesn't exist. Or at least that's what humans say. But I believe it's real. But no. Cars don't move with magic. I don't know how the cars move, is subject to mechanics." She shrugged. "I can't believe you've never seen a car too. What else haven't you seen? I need to show you everything! First go to the cine, then I will convince my sister to let us go shopping, there are some very good games. You've played video games?" Luna replied in the negative. "Second best thing after the cine. And for dinner, we'll have pizza. Four cheeses and olives, if you don't mind, don't rely eat heavily on meat. I see no need to kill animals to eat."
Luna suddenly got sick with the comment and had to stop for a minute, silently thanking the information and that she had just eaten salad those two days, it was the closest she had at home.
"And we'll have ice cream for dessert!" Jacklyn continued without noticing. "Isn't it wonderful? There is all day I got a friend to take on a walk."
Luna was impressed with the cine. It was like a theater, but with images and not real people. The movie they watched was a gaggle of curious creatures called Pokémon, with powers and fought among themselves, created and controlled by humans, others were wild and some Pokémon were even able to talk!
A legend, a prophecy, myth or reality, to guide a destiny. A human boy, chosen against his will, for a mission that would decide the fate of the world; gather three jewels able to placate three of the most powerful Pokémon in the world.
This climate of legends and destiny made Luna feel heavy and confused, making her think of how her own destiny seemed to be controlled. The movie, as she discovered this kind of presentation to be called, cine was just the name of the place, was really fun and she was feeling better after leaving.
Jacklyn's sister, Rebecca, then took them shopping where Jacklyn insisted that her sister buy a new hat for Luna and then dragged her to the playground, where she taught a new friend to play some of her favorite games.
If Luna had been delighted with the movie, it was nothing compared to that. The game required the better of her reflexes and even some of her intelligence and she felt a strange energy inside. It wasn't like the energy of magic, she loved that.
Nevertheless, Jacklyn said those games were very simple compared to the games she had at home and promised that if Luna stayed in the city, any day she would show her one of her favorite games: Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, meanwhile challenging her to a duel over the dance mat.
Luna didn't want to stop playing, but then she reminded herself that she was there on a mission to learn more about this world. They had time before they had to find the girls' parents for dinner, so they decided to take a walk around town and check the shop windows. Every new thing, Luna asked questions, leaving Jacklyn glad she could help, most of the time, and Rebecca intrigued by her lack of knowledge, but luckily chose not to ask.
It was late when Luna walked back alone, the city now a little calmer. It had been a fun day, but she would change everything if she could reverse what had happened in Equestria, why she was here. Outside her own selfishness, she now realized. Celestia tried to be rational and she refused to listen.
"Wish you were here, Tia." She muttered, sitting on top of the big clock that seemed to guard the city. She had passed a place where no one could see her to undo her spell, and used the clouds as a cover to fly up there, as close to heaven as she could reach at that moment, hoping no one saw her there. "I'm sorry."
A single tear ran down her face and Luna didn't even bother to stop it. How much longer would repentance haunt her? Three days seemed too much. How much more would she have to wait?