//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: A New Beginning in a New Land 
// by REDACTED99999 
//------------------------------//

Luna was ecstatic. She was galloping through the hospital, not caring what ponies thought of her. The princess of friendship caught her attention with a confused look.
“Princess Luna?” Luna changed directions and charged straight at her.
“Twilight!” She shouted happily as she jumped at her. Twilights expression as she came jumping at her after a full gallop was priceless. She charged her horn and activated the teleportation spell just as she hit Twilight. They reemerged in the room Luna had gotten in Twilight’s castle, landing on the bed in a tangle of limbs.
Luna quickly untangled herself and looked down on Twilight.
“He asked me to hang out!” 
“He asked you out?” Twilight asked, still dazed.
For a second Luna entertained the idea of being asked out. She had never been asked out before. But no, she knew what Jax had meant.
“No, hang out. He wants to have fun with me.” She giggled. It had been a while since she had been this excited. Things were going great!
“Well that’s great… Luna. I was actually on my way to his room, you know to talk with him like you told me to. Could you…” She took a package out of her saddlebag. “teach me how to cook fish?”
Luna looked confused for a moment.
“Why? You could not even stay in the same room last time…”
“I know… but I’m the princess of friendship, yet this is the second time I’ve been inconsiderate of him! He tried to tell me but I just… I couldn’t let it go, I didn’t want to… I knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth, so I tried to get it out of him, but why would he tell me, he doesn’t even consider me his friend!” Her voice had slowly risen, until she was shouting. She hung her head in shame. “I don’t even deserve to be his friend.”
Luna went over next to Twilight and put a wing over her shoulder. This would require all her knowledge and experience as an millennia old alicorn. She raised Twilight’s head with a hoof and looked her in the eyes, a small smile on her muzzle. 
“At least you only set him on fire once.”
Twilight half giggled half grunted, while pushing her away “You’re terrible at this.”
“Thine smile tells a different tale.” She smiled at the young princess who had indeed a small smile on her muzzle. “Besides, you taught me that. You cannot complain now.” The smile widened a bit. Luna put both her wings around her this time, along with her hooves in a comforting hug. “Do not fret Twilight. I am sure he will easily forgive you, this is next to nothing, compared to setting him on fire.” Twilight grunted at that.
“We are never going to forget that I set him on fire are we?”
“I do not think that we will, Twilight. That story will be told for generations to come.” She drew back, seeing Twilight smile. “I will teach you how to cook fish. You will earn his forgiveness the second you walk into his room.” They smiled at each other.
“Thank you, Luna.”

***

Jax looked over to the door that slowly opened. He sat fully clothed, with the book in front of him. He had started reading, but after the defeat of Nightmare Moon, the focus was on the everyday life of Twilight Sparkle and her new friends, which wasn’t bad, he just didn’t feel like reading that kind of stuff right now. So he started to sing. He wasn’t a singer or anything, he just liked to sing every once in a while. In the forest he had sang quite a lot. He felt like he had gotten better.
Twilight entered the room. Time to get it over with. “Hey Twilight.” His eyes widened as he smelled something delicious. She smiled at his reaction.
“Hello Jax. I would like to apologize for the way I behaved earlier. I should have respected your privacy. I brought you something.” She took out a paper package from her saddlebags. It was a fully prepared fish. “I had Luna teach me how to make it. It wasn’t… easy, but I managed.” A huge smile spread on his lips. He should get used to their kindness at some point, but for now he just couldn’t wrap his head around it… They were just so… nice…
“You’re forgiven.” No need to hold on to grudges after all. “I would also like to apologize… I reacted way too harshly.”
“You’re forgiven as well.” She quickly answered, levitating the package over to him. She laid it on his blanket, careful to not touch him with her magic.
He could appreciate fish a bit more now that he had both apples and salad to enjoy as well. Still, what he wouldn’t do for some variety in the meat. Twilight had a weird expression, kind of like she was disgusted and intrigued at the same time.
“What do you think about Luna?” He suddenly asked her. She looked confused.
“What do you mean?” He put down his half eaten fish and looked at her.
“I mean, what are your thoughts on Luna- you know, princess of the night? Is she your friend? Do you trust her? How would you describe her personality?” She looked at him thoughtfully.
“I definitely think of her as a friend, and I trust her completely. I think… I think Luna is pony who lives with a lot of regret. She made some bad decisions a thousand years ago, and now she has to live with the consequences. I think she has it harder than you or I realize, and that’s why it makes me so happy to see her like she is now. For some reason, you make her happy. Do you realize this is only her second public appearance? She keeps to the castle most of the time. Did she tell you about her first public appearance?” She asked with a small smile. Jax thought for a moment.
“…Nightmare Night was it? She said she had fun.” He remembered. Twilight nodded.
“Yes, in the end. But not at first. When she first arrived, ponies cowered in fear. She spoke with the Royal Canterlot Voice, blowing some of them away. She expected them to know traditions that were long gone. When everypony just kept cowering in fear, she couldn’t understand what was going on. I found her crying by the statue of Nightmare Moon... no idea why we have one now that I think about it... Anyway, you should have seen her Jax, she looked completely crestfallen. I helped her, and through sheer determination we managed to lighten the mood and have fun. I guess she’s one of the reasons you were so well received here.” She smiled at him. 
He had heard all he needed to. Anymore empathy for Luna and he would likely explode. Because of this… Limelight, she had lost so much. A thousand years of her life, everything she knew of, she even betrayed her own sister, and was feared by the populace… And he was angry at her for spying on him. It didn’t feel right anymore. It was time to forgive her. But first…
He cracked his neck. “Twilight, I need a pen and some paper…”

	***

Luna was raising the moon right outside the hospital. She had spent the hours after Twilight made her way to the hospital walking around restlessly, trying to figure out what to do. She had ended up in the castle library, picking up and putting down books, too excited to read very much. In the end she had just made extra sure she knew the spell he had requested. It was more complicated than she remembered, so she was actually happy she spent some time going over it.
A few ponies stopped and watched her as she raised the moon over the horizon. She did not pay them much attention, making her way into the hospital as soon as the spell was done. She felt like galloping through as she had before, but realized that that might not be the best of ideas. Getting in the way of the personnel could cost somepony their life, and she did not want that. She did have more spring in her step than usual though.
She arrived at the door to Jax’ room, hearing somepony laughing hysterically. When she opened the door she saw Jax bent over on his bed, beating it repeatedly, tears streaming down his face from the laughter. His book lay on the floor beside the bed.
“Jax, what…” He held up his hand towards her.
“I… I can’t…” He said between bursts of laughter. He tried to take deep breaths as he picked up the book and started browsing through it. He found the page he was looking for and immediately started laughing again. 
It was good to hear his laughter, it made her want to laugh as well. She was very curious about what he was laughing about.
He finally got some semblance of control again and showed her a line from the book. She had not read the book herself, being informed of all the events directly, but she was fairly certain he was at the Crystal Empire chapter. She read the line he was indicating
‘…Shining Armor then picked up Princess Cadence, sensing that intervention was required. As she saw the crystal heart, determination entered her own heart. She spread her wings as a signal to Shinning. With all his might, he threw his wife towards the crystal heart…’
He burst out laughing again, clearly close to dying. She adopted an amused smile. 
“He threw his WIFE… “ He finally got out. “… His WIFE! At a falling object, at the hopes that his unicorn strength could get her there faster than Sombrero’s unicorn magic…” He seemed to have calmed down some, drying the tears from his eyes.
“I’m fairly certain his name is Ki-“ 
“And the best part!” He cut her off, clearly not interested in Sombra’s name. “The best part is that she is totally chill with it, even expecting it. Like-“ He cut himself off with more laughter. “-Did they plan this beforehand? ‘honey, if Spike should fall with the crystal heart towards his doom, I’m gonna throw you with all my might before Sombrero can crystal his way up’ and she’s like ‘yeah, sure honey, you do that.’” He fell back on the bed. “Or! OR! They do it on a regular basis! That’s why he knew the signal! Hahaha! They participate in the yearly wifethrowing tournament! Probably undefeated champions! Imagine their surprise when they actually needed the skill!” Luna looked down at the laughing human. It started out with small giggles, then built up to full out laughter, but soon she was rolling on the floor laughing at the image of Shining Armor and princess Cadence participating in a contest of wifethrowing.
It took a while for them to calm down. Every time they almost succeeded one of them would start giggling again which resulted in a new round of laughter. In the end Jax stated that he was going to die, and cocooned himself in his blanket to calm down. Luna got some control after that, breathing heavily. It felt so good to laugh like that. How long had it been since she had laughed so hard she was rolling around on the floor? She could not ever remember doing that. She was happy she had closed the door after herself when she entered, no need for anypony to see her like this. She got up and went over to the cocoon which Jax hid himself in. She put her muzzle in and found his head.
“Luna, I swear to God, if you blow a raspberry on me right now...” 
They both started laughing again at the memory.

***

Jax led the way. He had a blanket he had borrowed from Beating under one arm, his Bag O’ Candy under the other, there wasn’t a cloud in sight, the stars shone brightly, and it wasn’t cold. Everything was perfect.
It had been a long while since he had laughed so much, and he felt much better now. He looked back at Luna who still had a huge smile plastered on her face. Their eyes met and he smiled back at her. She went up beside him.
“So, Jax, where are we going?”
“Well, at Beating’s insistence we aren’t going very far… I was thinking… Over there.” He pointed at a small meadow not too far from the hospital where they had a good view of the stars. He went over, spread out the blanket for them to sit on, sat down and took a sweet from his Bag O’ Candy. He offered Luna the bag and she took one as well. She laid down beside him.
“Let’s see…” Jax started as he laid down, arms behind his head. It hurt, but it wasn’t that bad. “Explain which stars are used for what.”
The next hour was spent with Luna explaining different constellations and their uses. Basically they had a star for all of the four directions, and since there were so many stars, they had to be creative with several constellations to find them.
“Okay… so nobody is using…” He drew a rectangle in the sky almost directly above them. “This patch of sky, so that is where we are going to have our fun.”
Luna looked critically at the patch he had pointed out. “That is not very much space…”
“Sure it is. Well not compared to the whole sky, but for a story to unfold, it will be perfect. Now, clear the stars from that place.” She looked at him skeptically and then focused on the spell. The stars flickered a bit, then disappeared from the designated area, probably confusing some astronomer somewhere.
“Alright, let’s see how good you are. Draw a… flower.” She smiled confidently as her horn glowed. Stars began to appear again, forming a simple four-leafed flower, taking up almost all the space they had available. You had to use your own imagination to connect the lines between the stars, kind of like constellations except she used enough stars to make it pretty easy to see. “Alright good, now a… something more complicated… a pony.” The flower disappeared, and in its stead a simple pony constellation was made. “Alright… now make him walk.”
“It is a female and how? I do not have enough space for her to walk around.” She seemed a bit distracted, probably having to concentrate on the image as well.
“Easy, first of all make her smaller. About a fifth of her current size” The sky pony was scaled appropriately. “Now you just have to create the illusion of movement. It’s something humans use a lot. All you have to do to is move her body as if she’s walking, but keep her in the same place. If you want extra credibility you make the background behind her move as well.” She looked confused, but succeeded in making the constellation mare raise and lower her legs as if she was moving towards the left. It didn’t look completely believable, but for someone who was simulating movement for the first time, it was pretty good. Also, using the sky as a TV was pretty cool. “Alright, that’s good Luna. Now, if you think of the left side of the space we have available, as the edge of a screen… wait you don’t know what a screen is… edge of a mirror perhaps? When someone walks by a mirror, they appear on one side and disappear on the other. If you can make a flower appear on the left side, moving towards the right, and disappearing on the right side…” A flower materialized on the left side of the ‘screen’, all at once instead of coming into view slowly, stood still for a second, breaking the illusion of movement for the constellation mare, then started to move towards the right. It looked pretty good until the flower went behind the constellation mare. When it emerged on the other side of her, it seemed to have taken quite a few stars from her constellation. When it got to the right side, the whole spell seemed to break as Luna brought her head down with a gasp, bringing back the old constellations. He closed the short distance between them, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Luna? You okay?”
“Yes… yes I am fine. I apologize for that. I used to be able to use this spell on the entire night sky, using it as my canvas. Either I am out of practice, or working with moving stars is harder than working with static stars. Mayhap both.” She hung her head.
“Well, no need to apologize. You just used stars to draw with. That is pretty damn cool.”
“But I did not even keep it up for ten minutes.” She said sadly. She was beating herself up for this… he couldn’t have that. He went over and sat down in front of her, trying to look her in the eye but she kept her gaze on the ground.
“Listen, Luna, you just showed me something amazing, something I never expected to see in my entire life. That in itself is worth a lot.” Her eyes flickered over to him for a second before looking back down. He gently put his hands under her muzzle, and she let him lift it up so he could look into her cyan eyes. They looked too sad again. But he knew how to cheer her up.
“Thank you for showing me your night sky Luna. It’s beautiful.” She blushed but kept looking into his eyes.
“You… you are most welcome.” She finally said with the smallest of smiles. He wasn’t done though.
“I forgive you for spying on me.” He said earnestly. She pulled back in surprise, her eyes widening. Too bad, her muzzle was very soft. He almost wanted to pet her.
“You do?” He nodded.
“Really?” She obviously hadn’t expected this to happen so soon. He laughed a little at that.
“Yes, you are completely, one hundred percent forgiven.” She looked at him with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape. Then she lunged at him, knocking him over in a surprise hug.
It hurt. It hurt a lot. He got his wind knocked out of him, she was holding him too tightly, and she was laying on him. He was pretty sure he would need to change his bandages after this.
He said nothing as he got his breath back. He could feel and hear she was crying again. Her body shook slightly on top of him. He put his arms around her, and gently started stroking her.
After a while she calmed down enough to speak.
“Are you s-sure? Did you not state we had to be f-f-friends?” He didn’t expect such a strong reaction. It apparently meant more for her than he had realized.
“We are friends.” He simply answered.
“S-so you… t-trust me?” 
“Yes Luna… I trust you.” It felt weird, being so trusting all of a sudden. A good weird though, like when you carry a backpack the whole day, and your back is all sweaty and the bag is too heavy, but when you put it down you struggle to find your balance for a moment, but you’re happy to be free of it.
“Thank you…” She suddenly flapped her wings, getting off of him in record time. She was blushing and was avoiding eye contact. “… and sorry for crushing you.”
He grimaced as he got up, happy to be free of the weight.
“That’s okay…” Time to get a smile back on her face. “…It’s not like you set me on fire.” She laughed silently at that. Mission accomplished. “So… wanna just look at the stars then?” She nodded happily. They lay a little closer than before.
“Let’s make this a weekly thing.” Jax suggested.
Luna nodded.