//------------------------------//
// Chapter the Third 
// Story: Guide You Home 
// by Magical Trevor 
//------------------------------//

Luna opened the doors to her bedroom, and immediately Galexia jumped through to run up to Moonstone, who was laying on the floor. While Moonstone had been immobile on the floor, he perked up noticeably when Galexia rushed up to him, nuzzling Moonstone happily as she chirped to him.

Luna smiled as she saw him cheer up as the ferret cuddled in his forelegs, curling up as it settled down to sleep. Moonstone sighed, lowering his head to cover most of Galexia's body to keep her warm.

Luna hopped onto her bed before curling up comfortably, turning to Moonstone on her plush carpeting. "So, Moonstone... That's an interesting name. Why do you want to kill yourself?"

"I never said I wanted to kill myself," the white unicorn replied softly, depressed. "I just... Don't know what I'm supposed to do now... My entire life's purpose, the one goal I had that kept me going against all odds, and now it's gone... What am I supposed to do now?"

Luna thought for a moment, before smiling a little, answering, "Whatever you want to do..."

"... How? Even if I knew what I wanted to do, how am I supposed to do that when I get thrown out of town every couple days or so?" Moonstone questioned bitterly, looking away.

Luna gave pause for a moment, before continuing her inquiries. "Was that because of your 'curse'? What, exactly, made you or others think that you were cursed?"

"Because I have red eyes," he sighed.

"... You're kidding... You're kidding, right? Please tell me that's a joke," Luna replied, disbelieving him.

Moonstone turned to look at the Moon Princess, his face reflecting his somber mood. "Does it look like I'm joking to you? Everywhere I've gone, Germaney, Italhay, everywhere, I'll be in a town for a couple of days, everything is going fine, but then somepony will come along, and start freaking out about how I've got red eyes, and that I'll curse them."

Luna opened her mouth to speak, when there was a knock at her door, followed by a soft voice. "Princess Luna? Princess Celestia asked my to bring your guest some pillows and blankets. May I come in?"

"Yes, thank you," Princess Luna answered, opening the door with her magic to allow the maid to enter. Moonstone nearly had a heart attack when he saw another white unicorn walk in with some pillows and a large blanket, but what surprised him was her red eyes, and pale lilac mane. He gaped at her for a moment, before Luna inquired, "Star, have you ever heard of a curse associated with red eyes?"

"You mean being albino? I-I don't think so, Your Highness," the maid stammered, looking down. "The doctors said that I can have troubles seeing sometimes, but that's not a curse, is it?"

"No, it's not. That will be all, thank you Star," Luna smiled warmly, watching as the timid maid quickly made her way back out of the room, blushing slightly since Moonstone was still staring at her.

When he finally regained his voice, he stammered, "B-but, but, but... She-"

"Has a medical condition called Albinism," Luna continued, interrupting him. "It took a long time to learn how to diagnose, but simply put, your coat, regardless of what color it was going to be, turns white, your eyes will be either a shade of blue, or sometimes red or purple, and your mane becomes very, very pale. So aside from some genetics, you're completely fine. She was made fun of as a child, sadly, but that is behind her now."

"You mean... There... Isn't anything wrong with me?" he asked quietly, almost not believing what he was hearing.

"That's right," Luna confirmed, nodding happily. "I don't know what other countries are like, but Equestria is fairly accepting, at least most of the time, so... Whatever it is you want to do, you're now free to do it! So," she prodded, curious, "what are you going to do?"

"I... don't know," Moonstone admitted quietly. "I never planned that far ahead..."

"Well, until you figure that out, I guess you can be my guest! Though there's a really boring meeting and Garden party that I have to attend, so I'm afraid that it will be rather boring."

"Well, I have nothing better to do anymore, so I'll take you up on that, thank you," Moonstone yawned, resting his head on the supplied pillow. "And sorry for... yelling at you... earlier," he murmured, already half-asleep.

After he fell asleep, Luna sighed, relaxing in her own bed as she thought, 'Well, that's one pony who wanted my help down. He may not have really had a problem, but at least I was still able to help, and he wanted me specifically, so... I'll take what I can get.'

.o.O.o.

Moonstone looked around uncomfortably, feeling nervous and out of place as he saw many ponies in suits and dresses starting to file in. He shuddered as he remembered how the morning had started, maids trying help him bathe, put on uncomfortable clothes, among other things. At every turn, he had to politely refuse to be helped, but with the clothes he steadfastly refused after trying on a tie, declaring it was an instrument of evil by preventing ponies to breathe properly. "It serves no purpose! It doesn't keep my neck warm, and it has no pockets to carry anything! There's no point in wearing it!"

Moonstone excused himself from the meeting before it could begin, explaining, "I don't feel well. Perhaps I should go get some fresh air... I'll be back later."

As he started to trot down the hall, however, he paused as he heard children's voices coming from a nearby room. Curious, he walked into the room, and saw a small group of fillies and colts standing around, bored. He stood there for a moment, before asking slowly, "So... What are all of you doing here? Got a birthday party or something going on?"

"No, we're here because our parents made us come. We're supposed to practice 'proper behavior', like we were adults," a colt sighed, scuffing a hoof on the ground disappointedly.

"I see... And you're left here all on your own, without any adult supervision? Wow, talk about irresponsible," he commented, surprised.

"We're not alone!" a little creame colored filly protested. "My sister will be here in just a few minutes!"

"Oh, okay then," Moonstone relaxed. "At least you're not on your own then. So... What do we do until she gets here?"

"We wait quietly," a red colt muttered, staring at the table. "We're not supposed to talk, or we'll get in trouble."

Moonstone stared at them in disbelief. "Wow. So... Would you get in trouble if I'm the one talking?"

The group of fillies and colts all shook their heads, bracing themselves for a boring lecture.

"Well alright then! Time to tell a story then! Now, let's see, what story to tell... I know! Have any of you heard the story of 'The Soldier and Death'?"

When all he received was a lot of blank stares, he smiled cheerfully, continuing, "Great! There's a moral to this story, so pay attention, deal? Now let's see, how does it start?"

(Originally, I WAS going to try to ponify the story 'The Soldier and Death', by Jim Henson's The Storyteller,  but I figured that A) that COULD lead to copyright law infringement stuff, even with claiming no credit, saying I took it form there, ect, so I won't bother with that. I'll just say the last line of the story after the break, and leave a link to the episode. (It's 22 minutes long, but seriously, it's WORTH it! Anyhoof, Enjoy!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8WQhitfMSs ))

.o.O.o.

"... And so my friend the soldier wanders the world to this day still, hoping to find death, so that he can be welcomes into his arms," Moonstone finished somberly, bowing his head. "To this day, when it's quiet out, I can still hear him whistle..."

"Wow..." The group of enthralled foals gasped, sitting in front of Moonstone with wide eyes. They remained quiet for just a moment more, before the room exploded in excitement as the fillies and colts proceeded to imitate the story, messing around, and all the other things that young ones do when they play.

"Woah, woah, hang on a second," Moonstone commanded, levitating most of them to keep them from moving for a second, before setting them down again. "You still haven't told me the moral of the story!"

"Oh, oh, pick me!" the creame colored unicorn filly exclaimed, jumping up and down. "It means that we should be generous to others in need, because we never know when we might need their help later, right?"

"Right," Moonstone chuckled, surprised that the filly had picked it up so easily. 

"Hey, Mr. Moonstone, what is this?" the red colt from before asked, holding up knapsack.

"What? Oh, that's just a burlap knapsack, nothing important," Moonstone dismissed it, turning away.

"Well, if it's just a bag, then get in it!" he shouted, commanding Moonstone as he opened the bag.

Moonstone smiled, taunting, "Do you really think that bag is the one form the story? The odds of that is l-WOAH!"

He shouted in surprise, using his magic to start dragging himself towards the bag, much to the surprise of all of the colts and fillies there. "No! It can't be! Help me! Don't let me get sucked in!"

The creame colored unicorn filly was the first to jump to his aide, pulling back on his forelegs, trying to keep him from being sucked into the bag. "Come on, help!" she cried, pulling futilely on his arms. 

At her insistence, the rest of the colts and fillies rushed to try to keep Moonstone out of the bag. Grinning to himself, Moonstone increased his magic, trying to make it look like he was trying to drag himself away, instead of in towards the bag. "I-it's hopeless! Save yourselves!"

"No!" the filly refused, grunting. "Hot Streak, close the bag, close the bag!"

The red colt leg go of the rest of the group, rushing to the bag to close it. Though he pushed with all of his might, it was only closing slowly, resisting his efforts thanks to Moonstone's magic. After several more tense moments, the red colt managed to close the bag triumphantly.

Moonstone immediately ceased his magic, adding a last second forward motion instead of reverse to send him forward into the group of colts and fillies to keep up the impression that he had been pulling away from the bag. He 'groaned' in pain, before backing up as quickly as he could, panting heavily. "T-thanks! That was a close one! So what are your names?"

"I'm Milky Way," the unicorn filly declared proudly, though she was still trying to regain her breath. "H-Hot Streak closed the bag, an-"

A sharp shriek pierced the room as several of the fillies in the back panicked, running towards Moonstone yelling, "It's a rat! Kill it, kill it!"

Moonstone stepped forward, ready to defend the group, when he started to laugh so hard tears came to his eyes. "Th-that's n-not a rat," he managed to choke out, falling over as he rolled on the floor. "That's my familiar!"

"Your whobewhaty?" Milky Way asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Familiar!" Moonstone repeated slowly getting back to his hooves as the ferret climbed up his cape. "It's a physical manifestation of the mystic energies permeating in the midst of-"

"Huh?" He was interrupted, looking down to see a crowd of confused faces before him.

"... S-sorry, I meant that she's just a... Physical being made from my magic. Like-"

"What's going on?!" a feminine voice roared behind him.

Moonstone turned around to see a purple-coated pegasus before him, her wings flared. She jerked her head to the side to get her cornflower-blue mane out of her face as she asked, "Who are you?! What did you do to make them scream?!"

"Hi sis!" Milky Way chirped happily, jumping up onto her sister without a care in the world.

While the pegasus mare struggled to get her sister off to deal with the threat before her, several of the other fillies exclaimed, "There's a rat! He said it was called a, a-a famine-lord!"

"A what?" the mare asked, pausing in confusion.

"A Familiar, miss," Moonstone corrected, blushing slightly. "You know, helps a mage with their magic and stuff? Made of a unicorn's own magic? Galexia kinda startled them, so they ran away, screaming. I was in the middle of explaining what she was when you came in."

"She? That... thing has a gender?"

"Well... Yeah. She- wait, where did she go?" he asked, looking around. "She was just on my back!" He sighed, "Lex, I swear to Luna, you get me in trouble, and there's going to be hell to pay!"

He looked around, freezing when he saw Galexia on the floor, playing with Milky, who had apparently gotten away form her sister. "How... But..."

The mare looked as well, surprised at what she was seeing. After a moment of stuttering, she growled, "That thing had better not do anything to my sister, or I'll kill you!"

Moonstone replied, still stunned, "It doesn't make sense... Galexia doesn't normally take to new ponies like this! First Luna, now Milky Way? What's going on?"

They both watched in silence as Galexia and Milky Way rolled on the floor, playing some game that only they could comprehend. After a moment, the filly hopped to her hooves, Galexia in her mane as she rushed to her sister, begging, "Sis, can I get a familiar?! They're awesome!"

"I-I don't even know where they would sell one, I've never heard of them before!" the mare protested automatically, backing up a step.

"You can't buy one!" Moonstone protested, trotting up. "It's a part of you, something you can't control! It's not like you can buy one at a... a Pet store!"

"Then teach me how to get one!" she declared suddenly, setting her face. 

"T-that's not exactly something you can just teach somepony how to-" he started to protest, backing up nervously.

"Please? Can't you at least tell me how you got yours?" she begged, her eyes seeming to swell to three times their normal size, threatening to let loose torrents of water.

As a last-ditch effort, he looked to the mare for help, but she only backed up quickly, saying, "Don't look at me!"

Moonstone sighed, muttering, "I didn't want to have to tell them this..."

Sitting down, he tried to gather his thoughts, and was surprised when the rest of the colts and fillies came back up to them, though more cautiously than before. "Are you going to tell us another story?"

"Y-yeah, I'm going to tell you another story," Moonstone nodded, trying to sound upbeat. "Though I'm sorry to say that this one won't be as... Cheerful as the last one..."