He missed shoes. He meant to get them made, but it just drifted away from his mind. It’s like there was nothing to do, yet everyday was filled with activities.
Going around barefoot wasn’t as bad as all that, especially inside the castle where the surface was clean and even. Grass was also quite pleasant to walk on. It was the dusty roads of Ponyville that he didn’t like. It wasn’t as bad as one would think, but sometimes a stone found his uncovered foot at he would wince in pain. Luna had offered her back a couple of times, but he refused to ride her anymore, not when it wasn’t necessary.
They were making their way over to Sugarcube Corner to buy his cake. Luna had been serious, she was going to buy him a cake. A gesture that was very much appreciated, but made him realize how unhealthy he had been eating recently. Fish, vegetarian pizza, and cake had been on his menu a lot lately. He would have to get in form again… just not right now. Now there would be cake!
“Hey Jaxie and Luna!” Pinkie said from behind the counter.
“Greetings, Pinkie.” “Hey Pinks.” They greeted her.
“We’re here to get cake!” Jax continued.
Strangely enough, her smile fell a bit at that. “Right now?”
Jax and Luna exchanged confused glances. “Yeah…? When else?” Jax finally answered.
“Oh… uhm…” Pinkie thought for a bit. “We’re out of… flour. Can’t make cake without flour!” She smiled brightly at them.
“Oh…kay?” Jax and Luna looked at each other again.
“Yep. Alright, come back in three hours, and I’ll have your cake ready for you. See you then!” She shoved them out of the door and closed it behind them.
“How does she know which cake I want?” He asked Luna.
“They must have had a busy morning to already be out of flour… a very busy morning indeed.” She answered.
“Yeah, the whole thing was suspicious.”
They looked at each other. “Party?” Jax asked.
“Party.” Luna confirmed. “But for you… or me?”
“Who cares? Pinkie makes awesome parties, and I’m excited to be a part of it.” He told her with a smile. “Now, we have some time until the psychology session… what do you want to do until then?”
“I feel like today… is a good day for flying. Want to join me?” She opened her wings and turned so he could easily get on.
Flying was an option. How cool was that? The only downside was that he couldn’t fly by himself, but had to cling to Luna. Still, it was a very special feeling, flying without being in a giant metal machine. It was like a mix of fear, adrenaline, admiration and trust. They hadn’t flown that much together, but he still trusted that she didn’t do anything that would cause him distress.
“I would be honored.” He told her.
They ascended high above Ponyville.
***
They exited Slow Healing’s clinic, neither of them saying a word and for a while, they just stood there.
“So…” Jax finally broke the silence. “That was the last session. She said I’m completely self-reliant now.” He thought he would be happier at the news. Now it just meant that Luna had to leave him.
“Yes… I heard.” The sadness in Luna’s low voice was painfully obvious.
They stood there for a while more. Eventually they had to move to let a pony through, so they started walking in a random direction, both deep in thought.
How could he rebuild Luna’s image? The book was a good idea, but that would take time. He needed something fast. When was Raven Writingdesk coming? Shouldn’t it be today? That was also good, but would it work well enough? He needed to be absolutely certain that he could be with Luna without ponies fearing for… whatever it was they were afraid of. Nightmare Moon and general villain stuff. Maybe he should send Rarity to every city in Equestria? That would probably work.
He smiled at the thought. Rarity going from town to town, doing her best to counter rumors. He couldn’t ask her that though, that would just be silly.
If he could somehow save the world… That would surely convince most ponies that he was a nice guy, and was in no way trying to corrupt Luna or take over Equestria. As far as he understood, Equestria was in danger regularily, so his chance should… come pretty soon. He was pretty sure nothing had happened since he got here. But what would he do anyway?
They were making their way over to Sugarcube Corner. It was almost time to meet up with Pinkie and see what she was up to.
Luna passed the shop as if she couldn’t see where she was walking. “Luna?” He drew her attention. She shook her head a bit before looking around.
“I apologize, dear Jax. Lost in thought.” She gave him a strained smile.
They went into Sugarcube Corner together. Pinkie was waiting for them.
“There you are! Let’s go… get your cake!” She bounced out of the store in her typical bouncy fashion, and they followed.
***
They were making their way out of Ponyville, towards Sweet Apple Acres. Jax expected them to make their way over to the barn, where his last party had been, but was surprised when Pinkie bounced down a less used dirt road. It looked like it went to the eastern field, the one closest to the Everfree Forest. Curious.
Pinkie was humming a gleeful tune while they walked. It was clear that she was excited, and it lifted his spirits a little.
They finally made it to something that looked like a small cottage on a small hill at the end of the apple orchard. The door and two windows were facing north towards Canterlot, the east side was occupied by the Everfree, to the west were rows upon rows of apple trees. It stood like a small bastion between order and chaos. Jax liked it immediately.
When they got closer he also noticed that it looked like it had been recently fixed. The straw roof, or whatever it was, looked like it had been recently… strewn? Assembled? Whatever. Other than that, the window panels and the glass looked new as well.
Pinkie stopped and bounced beside the door, looking at him in excitement. So it was for him then. He braced himself and opened the door.
“Surprise!” Jax was anything but surprised, but he decided to put his acting abilities to good use.
“A surprise party? For me?” He put a hand on his heart like he hadn’t seen this coming from hours away. “Why, I never saw this coming!”
“Yeah, yeah, put down the hand big guy. We all know how you look when you’re surprised, and it’s not like that.” Rainbow smiled at him. So maybe he wasn’t the best actor.
All the elements, Spike, and Beating Heart were gathered in the small cottage. It was a bit crowded.
He smiled sheepishly at them and went inside. There was a nice, thick carpet over the entire floor, which was a welcome change of surface for his poor feet. The door led directly into the living room/kitchen, with the left window he had seen from the outside lighting up the room along with another that was on the east wall, giving a gorgeous view of the chaotic forest. Directly to his right was a wall with a door leading into what he presumed would be the bedroom.
The living room was furnished with a sofa and a table with chairs. The table held all sorts of food, and, lo and behold, a giant chocolate/strawberry cake. It looked delicious. Something else that drew his attention was a small pile of presents beside the sofa, but he went on without commenting on it. Other than that, there was an empty bookcase on the edge of the kitchen.
The kitchen had all the stuff you would expect, like a fridge and freezer, oven, a knife holder and so on. The entire east wall was occupied by a counter where you could prepare the food.
Jax curiously went through the door to his right, and saw that he had been right. It was bedroom with a giant bed under a window overlooking the orchard, and a nightstand. There was a window on his right as well, the other window he had seen from outside, and on his left was another door, which he went through to find himself in a bathroom. Toilet, shower, bathtub, towels, and everything you would expect to find in a bathroom. There was a window on the south wall, overlooking the area in between the forest and orchard.
He went back to the living room where the ponies looked at him expectedly, kind of like Pinkie had a moment ago.
“So partner… what do ya think?” Applejack asked him with some pride.
“It’s a nice place, that’s for sure.” He said, unsure of what they wanted from him. “Cozy, with lots of light. The view is great as well. If you’re tired of looking out on the Everfree Forest, you can turn around and look out over the orchard.” He ended in a grin. They seemed pleased by his response.
“Good, because-“ Twilight started but was interrupted by Pinkie and Rainbow.
“This is your home now!” “You get to live here now!”
He looked from one pony to the other, before a smile took over his face. “Really?!”
“Yes.” Twilight gave the two ponies an annoyed look. “I told Applejack about how you wanted your own place, and she told me that this cottage has been vacant for some time because of the proximity to the Everfree Forest. I was fairly certain that you wouldn’t mind, so she and the other Apples renovated it.” She hesitated a bit. “You don’t mind right?”
“Of course not! This is awesome! Aw man, Twilight, you work fast.” He shuffled his way over and gave both Twilight and Applejack a hug. This was seriously cool. He had his own place now.
“That’s okay partner, Ah needed to get this place rented out soon anyway. Your still going to pay rent, for water and heat and what not, but Ah promise to be fair about it… neighbor.”
He chuckled a bit at that. “That’s okay, I can live with that… as soon as I get some money. Bits. Whatever, I’ll gladly pay for this awesome place.”
“Anyway, renovating this place and renting it out to you was my gift to you. Twilight was the one who paid for all the furniture and so on, and the rent for the first month.” Applejack told him.
Twilight smiled at him. “Yep, the biggest challenge was to find a bed big enough for you. I had to export it from Canterlot. It’s called ‘the Alicorn’s Dream’, it should be pretty comfortable.”
“I’m sure it is Twilight. Thank you for going through the trouble… why am I getting gifts though?”
“It’s your housewarming gifts, silly! Here, I told you I would make you a cake.” Pinkie told him, showing him the mouthwatering cake.
“And I believed you.” He laughed.
“Oh… uhm, I prepared the food.” Fluttershy told him. “I borrowed a cooking book for omnivores and made some dishes from that. Oh, uhm… Everypony should stay away from the dishes on the left side of the table. Unless of course, you… but I don’t think you want to. I mean, ponies can eat a little meat, but…” Fluttershy kind of just trailed off.
“Alright, thank you Fluttershy and Pinkie.” He went over and gave them hugs. “I’m certain we’re going to have quite the feast today.”
Ponies started bringing over gifts from the pile. Beating Heart made him laugh by giving him a first aid kit, Rainbow Dash made him smile with three books from the Daring Doo series for his empty bookcase. Rarity’s gift almost made him cry of joy. To think that shoes could make him so happy. Yet the best gift he received was from Spike.
He came over with a giftwrapped box, holding it shyly behind his back. “So, I know you and Luna have gotten pretty close, and I heard that she has to leave soon, which is pretty sad. I thought that if you could have a way to communicate with each other, maybe it wouldn’t be so sad? So I got an idea, and I had Twilight help me with something. It’s not tested yet, so I’m not sure if it works but… here.” He gave Jax the gift. Jax quickly unwrapped it, revealing…
“Dragonfire...” He said as he looked into the jar it was contained in. Contained might be the wrong word, since there was no lid on the jar. It was the same green color as Spike’s own fire.
He looked at the jar with reverence. He slowly put it down, and pulled Spike into a heartfelt hug. Luna came over as well and joined them.
“Thank you Spike. This is a great gift.” He told the young dragon. He could feel Spike heating up at the praise.
“Oh, it’s nothing special… just something I came up with…” He tried to deflect the praise but Luna would have nothing of that.
“Nonsense Spike, beside being a very kind and thoughtful gift, it is also an innovative idea.” She told him fondly. Spike squirmed a bit in their grasp, but had a huge smile on his face.
“Theoretically, it should send anything you burn to Luna. You better try it out now.” Twilight told him, giving him a folded piece of parchment. Luna went to the other side of the room, which really wasn’t that far away, but it was something.
He slowly, carefully, put it in the jar, where the dragonfire greedily ate it up, sending it up into the air as ash, only to reappear as parchment in front of Luna. Everyone cheered, except Luna who looked thoughtful. “How do I send it back?” She asked.
“With love.” Beating Heart snickered as Twilight made her way over to show the spell she had made for the purpose.
Jax felt his ears heat up, and saw Luna blush slightly. Many of the gathered ponies grinned innocently. He didn’t know what to say to that. Suddenly he didn’t even know what to do with his hands. They felt awkward just being by his side, but where else would he put them? He looked over to see that Luna was very focused on learning the spell Twilight was teaching her.
“Alright, alright.” He finally caved under the looks he was getting. He didn’t know what they were expecting but he felt like he had to say something. “Thank you for your gifts everyone, they were all very thoughtful.”
“We all know you liked Spike’s the best.” Beating Heart teased. She got a few chuckles out of the gathered ponies.
“Alright, I wasn’t going to say anything but yes, I liked Spike’s the best.” Some more good-natured chuckles, and a prideful smile. “That doesn’t mean I disliked the others though. To be honest, I’m a bit overwhelmed. This was a very nice surprise, and I’m really happy.” He gave them all an honest smile, and they smiled back.
“Well there’s one more gift for you.” Twilight said with a smile and a look to Luna. Luna charged up her spell, and the parchment caught on fire. Unlike before, it disappeared completely, until it was spit out and reassembled by the dragonfire in the jar. Magic was cool.
“Open it.” Twilight said.
When he unfolded it, he couldn’t help but laugh. “If this had actually caught on fire, we would have to start all over with signing stuff, wouldn’t we?” He asked.
“It was a calculated risk.” Twilight said with slight embarrassment.
“Well? What is it darling?” Rarity asked impatiently.
He turned it around so everybody could see. “Proof that I am now a citizen of Equestria.” He told them proudly, with a huge smile.
***
They ate the food, they drank the applejuice, Rainbow tried some of the omnivore dishes, Twilight puked on the floor… good times.
After Luna used some magic to clean up, they tried the cake. The chocolate and strawberry, to nobody’s surprise, but everyone’s delight, mixed well together. As Jax had predicted, it was a delicious cake and he couldn’t get enough. It was so huge, that after everybody had their fill, they had to cut it up into several pieces to fit it in the fridge along with the left-over food and juice. There was enough for a couple of days there.
They tried to dance a little, but the house was just too small, or there was too many of them, so they settled on playing some games instead. They played until late into the night, when Spike couldn’t keep awake anymore and fell asleep. After Twilight took him home, other ponies started to excuse themselves as well, until it was only him and Luna.
She looked very uncertain of herself as he went about cleaning the place. His place. He couldn’t get the smile of his face if he tried.
“Should I… Should I go?” Luna finally asked. That got the smile off his face.
“What? Why? Where?... Why?”
“Well… You don’t need me anymore, and you have your own place now…” She said while looking down on the floor.
“Ohh… Well you are free to do as you want… but…” He fumbled for a reason that wasn’t ‘I want you to stay.’ “With you leaving soon, we don’t know when we can see each other again… These are the last moments we can be together until… who knows.”
Luna was still looking undetermined. “Well if you want me to, I can stay.”
Relief washed over Jax. He knew he had to let her go soon, but her presence still filled him with peace and confidence.
“I do. Now come on. It’s late and that bed looks really inviting.” He was tired. Exhausted really, and that bed did really look like it might be as comfortable, or even more, than the one in the palace. Twilight had really gone all out. It was good to have friends, especially friends like these. They all deserved something in return.
Feeling warm to his core, he prepared for bed with Luna by his side. They had a routine down, but had to adjust some things because the bathroom here was smaller than the other one.
After that they went to bed, and instantly snuggled close together. It was nice, it was warm… it was perfect. Everything had been good since he and Luna had been forced together. Maybe she neutralized his bad luck.
“Jax?” She asked hesitantly.
“Yeah?”
“I…” There was silence for a long time after that, so long in fact that Jax almost fell asleep. “I have something to tell you.” She finally continued. “When we can be together again without everypony suspecting us, I am going to tell you something important, okay?”
“Mmm… verily.” He answered groggily, on the edge of sleep. The last thing he registered was her hooves wrap around him a little tighter.
***
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Jax started that morning by falling off the bed. “Huh? Wassat?” He looked around, eyes burning, his entire body telling him to get back into the warm bed.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Luna opened one eye, looking at him expectedly. “Yeah, yeah, going.” He told her. “Oh, this better be important.”
He made his way out and opened the door to find Applejack looking all fresh and ready for the day.
“Howdy there, neighbor! I just dropped by to give ya this here basket of apples.”
“Time ‘s it?” He asked with all the tiredness of a hibernating bear. He looked over and saw that the sun wasn't even over the horizon.
“It’s already six! Well Ah better be going, enjoy the apples!” She told him cheerily, and made her way back into the orchard.
It occurred to him that he should probably thank her, but he just stared at the apples. It was a big basket. Nice gesture. Why did she come so early though?
Suddenly a blueish aura enveloped the basket and levitated it inside. Looking back he saw Luna look at him with a smile. He closed the door.
“Sleep.” He told her and made his way back to the bedroom.
“Actually…” She said and he stopped with a bad feeling what was about to transpire. “Since we are up already, I need to lower the moon, and I am leaving today… I thought we could enjoy as much of the day as we can together.”
Jax looked at her in a bit of a daze, his tired brain trying to understand. “You’re… leaving today?”
She nodded patiently.
“It’s not even six in the morning… we got like five or six hours sleep.”
She nodded again.
For a couple of seconds he just stood there, debating. On one side, sleep. On the other, time with Luna.
He admitted defeat pretty quickly.
“Alright… le’s get some bre- *yawn* - akfast.” Luna smiled, before she went out, most likely to lower the moon. When she returned she went straight over to the fridge. There was lots of food from the day before. Jax had stayed where he was, still trying to wake up.
“I am certain that it is unhealthy eating dinner for breakfast but… with all the pizza we have been eating, I would say it is not so bad.” Luna informed him.
“Ah, it will be fine. I’m getting in form soon anyway. Might as well enjoy this, and I’m not in the mood to go into town to buy some real breakfast.”
“Indeed. Actually I was curious about how this fish stake tastes but I did not want to taste it in front of everypony like Rainbow Dash. Mind if I try a bite?”
Jax waved her off. Of course he didn’t mind. “Just heat it up first. Make some for me too.” He went over to the basket Applejack had brought and took an apple. He had, of course, tried apples from Sweet Apple Acres before, and knew they would be superb. Much better than the standard tasting ones he got in the hospital. What was up with that? Did they buy their apples from a different place or something? That wouldn’t make much sense though…
He took a bite and enjoyed the crunchy feeling and sweet taste, just as there was another knock on the door. He looked over at Luna but she just shrugged and continued frying the fish on a pan.
He opened the door to find not Applejack as he had expected, but a reddish unicorn. He had a pleasant smile on his muzzle, and when Jax leaned a bit to the side, he noticed that his mark was a raven writing something on a desk. Of all the marks he had seen, this may be the weirdest…
“Ah… Raven Writingdesk I presume?” Then again, it fit the name perfectly.
“Yes, and you must be Jax. I apologize for coming so early, I meant to find you yesterday, but you weren’t at the castle and nopony could help me find you. Miss Applejack said that you were up though.”
“Yes, please do come in, Raven. We were just about to have breakfast, if you wish to join us.”
“That would be lovely, I only had a light - Ah, Princess Luna.” He bowed down when he spotted Luna.
Jax looked dissatisfied at his plate where two entire fish stakes rested, then over to Luna’s which she had filled with various fruits and vegetables. Well he couldn’t fault her for not wanting to eat meat in front of a journalist.
He found a plate for Raven, sat down, finished his apple, then filled his plate with a pasta salad that had tasted excellent the day before.
Raven looked a bit curiously at him eating, but didn’t say anything and didn’t look sick. He sat down beside Jax and chose some salads.
The fish stakes were still half cold. He imagined Luna had panicked when she heard Raven was here and had quickly thrown them on his plate. It made him smile. He looked up at her to find she looked a bit guilty. She did relax a bit at his smile though.
After the breakfast, Jax and Luna sat down at the sofa, while Raven moved his chair over. They waited patiently for him to write down some notes with a quill and parchment he had brought with him.
“Sorry.” He gave them another pleasant smile. “As you both probably know, I am a journalist for ‘The Canterlot Informant.’ If you don’t mind, I have some questions for you both. Oh, and this story will most likely be on the front page by tomorrow.”
They both gave their consent.
“Okay, let’s start with you Jax. It is my understanding that you are an omnivore - meaning that you can eat both meat and vegetables, as I saw at breakfast. Why not only eat vegetables?”
Jax almost rolled his eyes. He knew that there were vegetarians and vegans back on Earth, so it was very possible that he could do that, but he had no idea how they got all the needed vitamins and such, and he liked meat too much. So…
“The fact that I’m an omnivore means that I need both to survive. I can live on only one or the other for a while, but I will get sick in the long run. To live a healthy life, I need both. I’m sure some of your readers are worried that I’ll start eating ponies or something stupid like that. They can stop worrying. I have never eaten a sapient being before, and I don’t intend to start now.”
Raven scribbled down more notes. He finally directed his blue eyes back at him. “Alright. Speaking of rumors, there have been a lot going around about you. How do you feel about that?”
Jax shrugged. “It can’t be avoided, I think. I’m new and unknown. I can deal. Ponies here in Ponyville have taken it quite well. I already receive more greetings than avoidance, and I don’t really take it personally if a pony avoids me. It’s not the worst that could happen. What I really have a problem with is that Luna is being dragged down as well. You can say what you want about me, but Luna has been nothing but nice and welcoming, and she does not deserve what is said about her. Ponies should be ashamed, spreading such rumors about their own princess.” Jax could feel Luna move a little closer to him.
Raven took a pause at writing down and looked at him with approval. “I completely agree. You would think that after over a month of nothing happening… but let’s move on. Princess Luna, how do you feel about the rumors?”
“Well…” She shifted a bit, while Raven started writing again. “I cannot say that I am not accustomed to being made out as a villain in various rumors, no matter how much I hoped for everypony to move on. That being said, it always saddens me to hear about them, especially in this context. Jax has done nothing to deserve those rumors. He has followed our rules, and has even become a citizen of Equestria.” This didn’t seem to surprise Raven at all, who just kept writing. “So, in the hopes of remedying some of the misconceptions about me, I have decided to take a page out of Princess Twilight’s book - so to speak. I am going to write a book myself, explaining everything that has happened to me so far, and hopefully calm everypony down.” Good advertisement, Luna. He hadn’t thought about that.
“You are?” This did seem to surprise Raven. “Well I’ll look forward to reading it then.” He quickly bounced back. “Now, a few more questions…”
***
After the interview, they informed Luna’s night guard that she was leaving with them. They said they would take care of the ticket for the train. They then informed all of the bearers, Spike and Beating Heart what time she was leaving. They all agreed to meet at the train station.
He and Luna had a couple of hours until then. They walked through Ponyville (Jax enjoying the feeling of his brand new shoes), went flying, bought a pizza at ‘The Great Circle,’ bought a muffin at Sugarcube Corner, and yes, even held one last shower concert together. The shower wasn’t as big as they were used to, but they managed.
None of them said very much during the time. Jax didn’t know what to say. He was secretly preparing a farewell speech for when she had to depart, but he could only guess what was going on in her mind. He liked to think that she was doing the same. She seemed to get more and more nervous as the time neared.
By the time they were making their way to the station, she was moving so slowly a snail could pass her. He didn’t rush her, since they went out in good time. It just meant they were going to be there on time instead of before time.
He noticed that she kept glancing at him, before looking down at the ground. Was she… embarrassed? That was the vibe he got from her… but why?
When they finally arrived at the station, all the ponies were already there along with the train.
“Your Majesty, the train is leaving in three minutes. We will wait on board while you say goodbye.” One of the guards told them, Jax couldn’t remember which one of them it was.
Luna was instantly tackled by Pinkie. “I’ll miss you, Luna! Remember to come visit, and write letters. I know you can write with Jax now thanks to Spike but don’t forget about the rest of us, okay?”
“I won’t.” Luna quickly answered as she was being crushed in a hug.
The next to say her goodbye was Twilight. She gave Luna a hug. “It has been a pleasure having you over, and it’s been nice getting to know you, Luna. Come visit whenever you want.”
“Yes dear, my shop will always be open for you, if you ever want to get together for some tea.” Rarity told her.
“Yeah, or if you ever want to go on a flight.” Rainbow added.
One by one, they all said their goodbyes. Spike’s and Fluttershy’s were pretty short, but Beating Heart whispered something into her ear that made her blush profoundly.
“All aboard for Canterlot!” Some guy yelled.
Finally, Jax felt like it was his turn. “Luna.”
She froze, then slowly, oh so slowly, she started turning around towards him… before her horn charged, and she teleported away.
Jax stared at the spot she had been on, then over at the train. Then back to the spot. Then back to the train as it started leaving, his brain drawing a blank. She was leaving without saying goodbye.
He barely registered the looks of pity he was getting from the others. He turned around. “I… need some time alone.” He told them, and made his way back to his house.