//------------------------------//
// Chapter 42 
// Story: A New Beginning in a New Land 
// by REDACTED99999 
//------------------------------//

Luna left before moonrise, and Jax was left alone with Mr. Bear. After she left, Jax felt the guilt resurface again, even as his tired mind tried to avoid thinking about Rainbow. It didn’t work.
He wanted to sleep, he was so exhausted he could barely lift himself up from the bed, but he had made a promise. He looked at Mr. Bear.
“Let me just get something to eat. Then we can play for a bit.” Mr. Bear nodded happily.
Jax forced himself up, and out into the kitchen. He barely had any food left, as far as he could remember, but he had plenty of apples. He took one from the basked on his way to the fridge.
It was almost empty. Thank God for pet bears though, cause the fish that Mr. Bear had brought him was still there. Perfect. He hadn’t prepared a fish from bottom up since his time in the Everfree, but he still remembered how to do it. He had been living mostly of fish and berries after all. Actually, he had been living like a bear. And now he had a pet bear. Funny how life turned out sometimes.
He started singing softly to himself as he prepared the fish, while eating the apple.

Fate has been cruel, and order unkind
How can I have sent you away?

Wow, that song really was catchy. No wonder Luna couldn’t get it out of her head.
Just as he sat down by the table to eat his meal of fish with a side of apple, there was a knock on the door. Typical.
He somehow found the energy to get up and open the door. “Oh. Hello Derpy. You know I have a mailbox now, right?” 
The gray mare in front of him nodded, then looked at the sack beside her. “I tried, but it didn’t fit.”
He looked at the sack as well. That… was a lot of letters.
“I’m sorry, I kind of forgot about you for a couple of days, so the letters just kept hobbing up.” Derpy continued, obviously sad by her mistake.
“… And I haven’t even bought stamps for the replies back from the last batch. Damnit.”
Derpy perked up at that. “I can take them for you now if you’d like. You don’t have to pay me anything, it’s the least I can do for forgetting about you. Oh I feel simply awful, it’s the first time I forgot to deliver letters to somepony. Please let me make it up to you.” As she looked at him pleadingly, one of her eyes drifted off to the side. He wondered what was up with that, but didn’t feel it was appropriate to comment on it. 
“I don’t know… I’m not particularly mad at you for forgetting about me, I’ve been busy the last couple of days anyway.”
“Oh, but that just makes me want to do this for you even more! Please Mr. Jax?”
He looked at her for a bit more, before his tired mind just decided that it didn’t have the energy to argue. “Alright.”
She smiled radiantly at him. It made him happy that he decided to agree, even if it meant she was paying to send his letters.
He took the sack inside, retrieved the bundle of reply letters he had arranged, and went back to her. “Here you go, Derpy. Have a nice day.”
“You too Mr. Jax.” She smiled as she took the letters. She turned around, jumped into the sky… much more insecurely than Rainbow Dash normally does. He thought she was going to ram into his mailbox, but she just managed to gain enough altitude to avoid it.
She was nice. Nothing new there, with ‘nice’ being the standard for ponies. He smiled ruefully. If only humans could be like this.
He returned to his meal. It tasted good, even though it was better over an open fire. Beggars can’t be choosers and all that.

Carry the peace and the coolness of night
And carry my sorrow in kind…

Wow that song is really stuck in there. He couldn’t help but wonder when he was going to forget it.

***
Luna pranced up to her sister with a smile. “Goodnight dear Tia. How are you?” She asked happily. Celestia raised a brow at her attitude.
“Well enough. Apparently not as well as you.” She started walking towards the balcony so they could raise the moon and lower the sun side by side, and Luna followed. “Have a good day’s sleep? Or did you completely disregard what I told you the moment I left the room?”
Luna didn’t even have it in her to look sheepish. She was just too happy. “Teleported over to Jax right after getting some documents from the archive. Did you know that Blueblood does not even get allowance? Apparently he makes bits by selling rose-scented perfume.” Even that did not get her down. She was not able to get the bits for the orphanage from Blueblood’s allowance, but she did manage to get it from several other places instead, one of them being the bits reserved solely for cake and tea.
Celestia looked at her disapprovingly. “Luna…”
Luna rolled her eyes but the smile did not leave her muzzle. “You are not my mother, Tia. Even then, this would have been my own decision to make.” She giggled at the end. She regretted nothing.
Celestia raised a brow again. “Well… At least it would seem like he forgave you. That is what has made you so happy, isn’t it?” She finally returned the smile. “Not that I’m complaining. I do like it when you’re happy, Lulu.”
“He did.” Luna giggled again. “And then some.” She winked at Celestia who looked confused. It felt good to be this playful with her sister.
Celestia adopted a smile as well. “Oh? What else could he have done, dear sister?” Luna could hear the playfulness in her voice. “Perhaps somepony finally managed to court the Princess of the Night?”
Luna jumped in front of her sister with a bright smile. “Thou art correct!” She burst out. She was so happy it did not even phase her that Celestia found out on her own. “Jax is now my mate.” She giggled again. She had been giggling a lot since coming back. She just could not help herself, it was like her happiness had to be shared with the world somehow.
Celestia looked surprised for a second as if she had not actually expected her guess to be correct, then she drew Luna in a hug with a smile. “I’m happy for you, Lulu. According to Twilight, Jax is a very fine individual.” A playful tone snuck into her voice again. “Though if he’s going to join our little family, I suppose I should get to know him a bit better.”
Luna smiled. “Though I doubt you can, try not to scare him away. He is very dear to me.”
“I gathered as much. I’ll only scare him a little, then.” They both giggled at that. “Now then, we have a sun to set and a moon to raise.”
They smiled happily at each other.
***
Jax slept peacefully that night. After throwing the ball he got from Fluttershy for over an hour just to please Mr. Bear, he had been beyond exhausted. Who knew that so much could happen in one day? First life takes a turn for the worse again, with Big Mac going haywire, Jax having to save Scootaloo from him, Almost dying himself, being saved by Rainbow, then being saved by Rainbow again. Having a talk with Discord about love, hoping to god that Rainbow would be okay, having a talk with Beating about life, then going home to find Luna there. Then talking to Luna about love and life, ending up kissing and cuddling in the bed with her.
Such a rollercoaster. It ended on an upbeat tone, becoming Luna’s ‘mate’ as she called it, and nothing could ruin his mood entirely after something he thought would be… he didn’t even know. A small part of him believed that it would be impossible for him to end up with a princess. Then she had pulled him towards her and… For once, things were going his way. The girl… the female he liked, liked him back. Jax would be the first to admit that he didn’t have much luck in life, so this was frankly… amazing. A little miracle in and of itself.
He just wished the timing had been a little better. He couldn’t help but worry about Rainbow now. It ruined the sweet taste of happiness that he got to experience.
It still tasted pretty sweet though. Luna, the Princess of the Night, loved him, some random human.
A shiver ran through his entire body. That was a nice thought. He should try to use it if he ever got sad again.
He knew he had to get up. Now that her brother was gone to who-knows-where, Applejack definitely needed help on the farm. Plus he could most likely get breakfast there. He hoped Stinking Rich would have his money soon. Wait… Filthy Rich, that’s it.
Jax stretched and threw away his nice warm blanket. It was getting colder, that much was clear. Not winter yet, but definitely fall. Well, he had participated in the falling of the leaves, so he already knew that.
He forced himself up and put on some new clothes. Ehh… He would need to wash his clothes again soon. Working hard and not having a lot of clothes really wasn’t a good combination.
***
“Hey AJ.” He greeted the orange mare. “How are you?”
Applejack did not look happy, that was for sure, and Jax couldn’t really blame her. “Heya there sugarcube. To be completely honest, not so fine. Ah couldn’t get much sleep last night because of the whole deal with Big Mac. Apple Bloom is worried about him as well, but we donno where he is, and work still needs to be done.” She sighed unhappily. Yeah, ‘how are you’ wasn’t the best question he could have asked.
“Well… I’m here to help.” He tried. He didn’t really know what to say, it was a shitty situation with no easy answers.
“And Ah appreciate it. Listen, Ah wanted to thank ya for stopping Big Mac. Not only is Scootaloo a close friend of my sisters, but if Twilight is right and it’s Sombra controlling Big Mac’s body, Ah wouldn’t want him to have it on his conscious. Big Mac is a peaceful sort. Ah’m not sure how he would deal with… well. It was mighty heroic of you.”
Jax gave a small smile but his heart wasn’t really in it. “Thanks, but if it hadn’t been for Rainbow Dash, he would have had me on his conscious instead. She’s the real hero here.”
“Well Ah won’t deny that. Don’t mean that you aren’t a hero as well. If it wasn’t for you, Rainbow wouldn’t have known there was anything wrong at all. Now go get some breakfast and get to work. Ah don’t know about you, but Ah want to do as much as possible before the storm hits tonight.”
Jax looked at the horizon, and sure enough, pegasi were pushing clouds around in preparation for something that looked like a big storm. He hadn’t checked the weather schedule in a couple of days, so he didn’t know. He really needed warmer clothes made… He would have to see Rarity soon.
***
“Uhm… Hey there, Jax.” Jax turned around from his work of securing anything and everything for the upcoming storm, to see Scootaloo standing there, with Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom behind her for support.
He gave her a small smile. “Hello there Scootaloo. What brings you hither?”
Scootaloo looked at him in confusion. “Hither?”
Sweetie facehooved behind her. “He’s asking what you want.” She whispered loudly.
“Oh. Well. Uhm…” She started awkwardly before composing herself. She took a deep breath and pushed her chest forward. She looked like a miniature Rainbow Dash with that move. A pang of guilt surged into him, but Jax ignored it. It wouldn’t do any good to think of it now.
“I wanted to thank you for saving me. That was pretty awesome of you.”
Jax looked at her for a moment. That’s right, Scootaloo had been the entire reason he had risked his life in the first place. He couldn’t just watch her die, so he had acted. A smile spread on his face. “You’re welcome. And hey, good job on getting Rainbow there so fast. Without her, I would have been done for.”
“Don’t sweat it. With flying skills like these…” She started flapping her wings at a good speed, getting her off the ground. “It wasn’t even a problem.” She said, again reminding him of Rainbow. Until she overbalanced and fell on her side. “Arg. Why was it so easy before?!”
Jax couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it, or Rainbow will teach you when she gets out of the hospital.” He encouraged her lightly.
“Yeah, you’ll get it in no time.” Sweetie agreed.
“A bit of practice, and it’ll be easy.” Apple Bloom put in.
Scootaloo smiled at her friends.
“There ya all are. Did ya finish the preparations Jax? Twilight says that Rainbow is awake and ready to take visitors for a while. Celestia knows that pony is probably bored outa her mind already.” Applejack came over to them.
“Really? I’m almost done.” He assured.
“Alright, let me help ya and then we can go.” Applejack nodded.
***
There was a lot of ponies in the room. All of the former elements, Jax, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and as many townponies as would fit. Jax recognized Derpy, Lyra, and Bon-Bon, but there were also a lot of pegasi that he didn’t know.
Rainbow Dash herself had a confident smile on, thanking all for coming, and generally acting like herself. It would seem like the rumours had gotten around. There were different versions, as there always were with this kind of things, but they all agreed on the fact that Jax had saved Scootaloo from something, and Rainbow had saved Jax. It was amazing that they had gotten that much correctly. Now what that something was, that was where the rumours went crazy. Everything from manticores to a pack of rabbits was mentioned. A herd of rabbits? Whatever. It was ridiculous.
Some of the rumours did in fact seem to include Big Mac and changelings, amazingly enough.
The ‘party’ was disrupted by a herd of angry nurses charging in. No really, the door banged open, led by nurse Red Heart, with at least five other nurses behind her, demanding to know how in tartarus we managed to get so many into one room, then proceeding to throw everybody out so that Rainbow could relax. Jax had no idea how he managed, but he got Beating, who was amongst the nurses, to let him have some time alone with Rainbow. She gave him an understanding look, and let him stay. She was a good friend, he really should spend some more time with her… and the other friends he had for that matter. Right now he was helping Applejack on her farm, and that took a lot out of him. So many friends… so little time.
“Hey Jax. Come to thank me?” She smiled cockily at him. Sometimes he was jealous of her confidence.
He sat down by the bed, and gave her a serious look that wiped her smile away. “Rainbow… You almost died.” He started. “You almost died, and it would have been my fau-“
“Whoa! Stop right there.” Rainbow interrupted him, looking almost angry. “It wouldn’t have been your fault. I saw how you tried to dodge. So what, it was your fault that the crystal didn’t go in a straight line like we both thought it would?”
“No, I mean… yes… uhm… It would have been my fault for being too slow.”
That only seemed to make Rainbow even more mad. “What?! What in Celestia’s name makes you think-“
“I know!” He stood up abruptly, tipping the chair behind him. “I know it doesn’t make sense! But if this is how guilty I feel when you survived, can you imagine how destroyed I would be if you had died?! Can you begin to understand-“
“Well if I hadn’t done anything then the roles would have been reversed! Except you would have died, because there would have been no way to get you here fast enough, and I would feel even guiltier than you because I could have acted but didn’t! Do you understand why I did it now? Because I would rather die myself than to see one of my friends die in front of me!”
Jax’ retort died in his throat at her last outburst. Wow…
He tried to sit down again, but his chair was still tipped, so he ended up falling to the floor. Despite the shouting contest they just had, it was clear that Rainbow was fighting not to laugh out loud. “You okay?” She asked with a smile.
“Ow. Yeah I’m fine.” He got up and placed the chair back to its original position, sitting down. He sighed. He should have fucking known that these ponies wouldn’t just stop surprising him. He would ask her if she meant it, but she had already proved that she did. She really would rather die herself than watch her friends die in front of her.
“Why?” He finally asked.
She sighed. “Because… It’s a long story, but I guess we both have time. Before we start, I guess I should apologize or something… actually, no I won’t. I don’t care that you feel guilty, at least you’re alive to feel something.” He couldn’t help but smile at that.
“Alright, fair enough. I’ll apologize to you then. Sorry for being so weak that you needed to save me.” She was about to protest, but he went on before she could. “And thank you for saving me. Despite the ups and downs I’ve had, I don’t want to die. Especially not now.”
“No problem. Now shut up and listen.” She looked up at the ceiling for a bit. Except the bandage around her chest, she looked like her usual self. He wondered how long she would be able to stay in bed before going crazy.
“My mom died while giving birth to me, so my dad had to take care of me by himself. He did an okay job, I mean, I turned out awesomely, but he had to work a lot. That pretty much left me alone for long periods of time. But that was fine because he made sure I knew how awesome I was. Well at least until my teenage years. Fluttershy had moved to Ponyville, and this griffon friend I had, Gilda, moved back home, leaving me alone. There was nopony else who understood how awesome I was, so I didn’t make any new friends. If you’re waiting for some kind of climax or something, get ready to be disappointed. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I figured Fluttershy could probably use my company. Moved down here and made loads of friends. Figured there was nothing keeping me in Cloudsdale anyway. Between you and me though, things almost went south. Going out to fly alone, coming home to an empty house, I realized just how much friends matter. How much they influence your life. I almost joined a stupid gang just to have somepony to talk to again.” Rainbow had a distant look in her eyes, the same look Luna sometimes got when reminiscing about the past. “Glad I didn’t though. Can you imagine how stupid that would have been? Anyway, I promised myself never to let go of my friends again. I guess that’s why I was the element of loyalty or something. There, that was my story. Happy?”
Jax looked at her in thought. “I dunno… I feel like you are sweeping some things under the rug here. How long passed between Gilda leaving and you moving to Ponyville exactly?”
“Pff. Only a year.” She dismissed nonchalantly. Jax almost choked.
“An entire year?! No wonder you were desperate. As stupid as it would have been, I can understand why you would want to join a gang… Damn.”
“Yeah yeah, I know I’m awesome. You owe me a cider for saving your life by the way.” She smiled cheekily at him. A fast change of topic if Jax ever saw one. It would seem like she didn’t like talking about that time in her life. He couldn’t really blame her, he wasn’t keen on talking about his own past all that much, even if he did feel there was more to the story.
He chuckled happily. “I’ll gladly buy you some when I get the money.”
He looked at her a bit more, thinking. “You know, if things had turned out a bit differently, I might have fallen for you instead of Luna.”
“Wow, where did this come from?” She asked in confusion. “I’m glad things turned out the way they did then, ‘cause I’m not into stallions.” She laughed a bit. “Though I can understand falling for me, I am-
“You are pretty awesome after all.” He said for her. They looked at each other for a whole second before they both burst into laughter.
“But seriously, princess Luna? Somepony is aiming high.” She teased him.
“You might even say…” He started with a serious expression, before cracking a smile. “That I’m aiming for the stars.”
Rainbow chuckled at that. “You and your lame jokes.”
“Yeah I fit right in.” He shot back, which just made her laugh more.
“Ohh… Yeah, so what’ll you do about it? Need my help?”
“Hmm? Oh, no, we’re already together.”
Rainbow looked at him in shock. “When did this happen? Really, you black out for one day and suddenly your best human friend is dating the Princess of the Night.” She pouts. It’s adorable and hilarious at the same time.
“Well she waited for me at my home yesterday. I think she was worried about me.” Jax blushed. Just a little. It was just really nice to be cared about that much. “One thing led to another…”
“Really? After I told you my story you go with ‘one thing led to another’?” Rainbow reprimands him.
“Well… Alright, we started talking, I told her about you and how I felt guilty, and she kissed me on the cheek and told me if I wanted to talk about it she would listen, but I had talked with Beating about it and honestly I was exhausted after all that had happened. Instead she started singing…”
“Alright, I didn’t want that much detail. Just give me the gist of it.” Rainbow corrects.
Jax can’t help but sigh. This pony… “Alright. She sang for me, we talked about her guilt, we kissed, we cuddled, we talked some more about her past, then I told her all the details about how I ended up here.”
“Wow really? You’ve been really tight-lipped about your past. I remember when Twilight tried to ask you, and you threw her out of your room.”
“Yeah… that was a long time ago though, and Luna is much closer to me. I’m not gonna repeat though. Not in the near future at least.”
“Alright, fair enough. I wasn’t gonna ask you anyway.”
“Good. Now, about you and Fluttershy?” It’s Rainbow’s turn to blush.
“You still on about that?” It felt like she meant for the sentence to have more force behind it than it did.
“Well, yeah. You have both done a lot for me, so I want to help you in return. It’s what friends do.” He smiled at the rainbow manned mare in front of him. Honestly, he didn’t know if he would be satisfied with just that, but it was a beginning and he didn’t know what else he could do. He probably didn’t need to do anything at all, but he felt like he just kept taking from them without giving anything back. He wanted to fix that.
“Right. Well, we’re fine. Everything’s fine.” Rainbow assured him nervously.
“Right.” He smiled. “I’m still helping though.”
“Do you have to?” Rainbow facehooved.
“Yep.”
He was going to start paying back all that he owed these small ponies. Starting with Rainbow and Fluttershy.