//------------------------------//
// Chapter 62 (unedited) 
// Story: A New Beginning in a New Land 
// by REDACTED99999 
//------------------------------//

Jax sat by his dinner table with parchment in front of him and a pen in his hand. They had eaten an early dinner not long ago, made by Pinkie Pie. He would have to remember to buy more groceries, but that could wait. Right now he needed to write this apology.
“Can’t you just write ‘I’m sorry’ and get it over with? Come on, I’m sure Twi is already up.” Rainbow’s input was as helpful as ever.
Pinkie bounced around the table. “Yeah! We’ve already spent so much time apologizing to ponies, we’ll barely have time to apologize to them again after we prank them!”
“Well, I want to get this right. Just… help me out here. I got ‘Dear Celestia’ so far. Does that sound too formal?” He scratched his head. Why was it so hard for him to write letters?
“What? No. Twilight writes ‘Dear Celestia’ at the beginning of every letter. Every letter to Celestia at least.” Rainbow said.
Alright, so he was on the right track at least. Here goes.
***
“Add a drawing!” Pinkie shoved him aside to draw something with crayons. Where did she get the crayons from? Who knew.
“Pinkie, I hardly think… ah whatever.” He started drawing as well. It would give it a more personal feeling when he wasn’t going to apologize muzzle to muzzle. Eh, face to face. Face to muzzle? Whatever.
“Hey! Let me in on the action.” Rainbow shouldered her way in between them and started drawing a rainbow over the landscape.
Jax snorted. “Well if that’s what we’re going for…” he started drawing ponies.
In the end he added a moon on the other side of sun Pinkie had drawn, just for good measure. It didn’t have the right silver colour, but crayons can only do so much. “Alright, let’s send it.”
Trusty, who had mostly looked on passively until then, made a face. “You can’t send that to Princess Celestia!”
“I beg to… the… differ. Damn how did that go.” Jax looked at his companions as he folded the letter.
“I beg to differ.” Shot answered. “But I agree with Trust Worthy for once. Sending… that… is unacceptable.” He said ‘that’ with something close to disgust. 
“Heey!” Pinkie sounded offended. “This will be the best letter she has received in years! It’s personalized and everything, much better than those boooring letters Twilight usually sends!”
Trusty turned to Shot. “What say you, True Shot? Isn’t sending this letter something Sombra could do?”
Shot looked back with his stony face. “We have no evidence against it… better safe than sorry.”
That was all the warning Jax got before the two guards jumped at him, pinning him down. Of all the times for them to agree on something….
It was amazing they were willing to go so far, but really, this was too much. He couldn’t see what the problem was, the letter was okay. The drawing made up for the lack of words. ”Pinkie!” He managed to throw it, well as well as one could throw anything with a hoof on one’s arm, before the letter they had worked so hard on could be snatched.
“Got it!” Pinkie cheered as she swooped the letter up and avoided the guards that chased after her. “Catch Dashie!”
Jax hurridly got up to write a quick explanation to Luna but the letter landed right in front of him, and with it two guards. Two very determined guards.
***
“Throw it here!” Rainbow shouted.
“Divide and conquer!” Trusty shouted over the noise.
Jax tried furtively to string together words to form a sentence explaining the situation to Luna but….
“For fucks sake!” He managed to shout before Trusty collided with him.
***
“His leg! Pull his leg!” Pinkie shouted to Rainbow.
“Pinkie! Not my leg!” Jax shouted when he felt himself being pulled further from the dragonfire that was so close to him.
“Oops, sorry!”
***
“For Equestria! For Princess Celestia!”  True Shot declared as he held up the letters in his hoof. Big mistake.
“Hah!” Rainbow laughed mockingly as she flew by, swipping the letters from him. “For awesomeness and glory!” Her eyes widened as she got tackled mid-air by Trusty. “You better get it this time Jax!” She shouted as she threw everything over to him.
“Oh don’t worry… I will.” He said with grim determination. Shot was already charging him… but he could do this. Nay, he MUST do this!
“Ahhhh!” He screamed as he charged the jar of green fire.
***
Luna was slowly waking up, but not by her own will. Somepony was poking her, and that somepony was about to learn what it meant to poke a sleeping Princess.
She charged her horn as she rose fast enough to cause the pokster to shriek and retire backwards. “You dare poke a Pr-!” She almost made it through the drawled sentence when she realized just how tangled in blankets she was. “Uff.” Luckily she landed on the bed.
“I-I-I’m so sorry Princess! It’s just that I-I’ve been trying to wake you for the better part of a quarter, a-a-and you have that appointment…” Moondancer stopped at Luna’s raised hoof. It was too early….
She unwrapped herself from the blanket-trap with magic and then looked around. Her room looked the same as always, except her desk was overflowing with papers from last night, which she had dropped the moment the news of her Jax had reached her. She would have to get back to that… later. For now she remembered why she had had Moondancer wake her earlier than usual. She needed to meet with Slow Healing, the psychologist from Ponyville who had helped Jax let go of Luna when he could not, before she closed.
Actually there was something different in her room. There were two pieces of parchment on her bed that were not there when she went to sleep. She took them in her aura and instantly smiled as she realized they were from Jax. Then she started reading and her muzzle scrunched in confusion. Some of it seemed to be written in crayon, and all of it looked rushed.

Hello dear Luna
I hop yore wel (I hope you’re well? Some of the letters looked like smudges) 
Im goo Since you used meas postoune (I’m good. Since you used me as post once - at least that is what she thought it said.)
Make sur tis get to CeleTia (Make sure this gets to Celestia? Now he was skipping letters entirely?)

A peculiar letter… it did not look like he needed help or he would probably ask for it and it was not the ‘vibe’ she felt from the letter but… she would have to stop by Jax’ house before she returned to the castle.
She looked at the remaining folded piece of parchment. It was singed at the corners, and she could not help to be a little curius.
“Moondancer.” Moondancer, who had been looking at her curiously, straightened up. “Where is my sister?”
“Oh… uhm… I think she should be in her study. She doesn’t eat dinner until you wake up and open court has been over for a while.”
“Alright. We have to see her before we depart. The train does not leave for a little while, right?”
“Yes Princess. I think we can make it, if it doesn’t take too long.”
***
Luna opened the door to Celestia’s study. For a moment she wondered why she did not have a study of her own, but then discarded the thought. Having a desk in her room was more than adequate for now, considering she did not have any books or documents to fill a study with. Maybe someday.
“Sister. I bring news from my chosen mate. He wishes you to have this letter.” She smiled as Celestia raised a brow from behind her desk. The study was large, in a spacious way, with bookshelves by the circular walls. Luna was not entirely sure why her sister had chosen to make a round room in the middle of the castle, but it reminded her of her own study back in the Castle of the Two Sisters. The reason hers had been circular was because it was in a tower, which this was definitely not.
“Good m… afternoon Luna. You’re up early I see. What’s the occasion?” Celestia greeted as she accepted the slightly burned parchment.
“I am going to Ponyville to meet with Slow Healing. I am setting up an appointment.”
Celestia paused with opening the folded letter. “Slow Healing is… a psychologist, as far as I recall? I seem to remember Jax using her facilities.”
Luna nodded, though her sister’s eyes were still on the letter. “Your memory is as remarkable as always, Tia. Yes, I have decided to finally follow your advice and try a couple of sessions.”
When Celestia raised her eyes to Luna, it was with a smile so honest and full of feeling that Luna was momentarily taken aback. Celestia laughed, but her eyes looked tearful. “That’s amazing Luna!” Celestia said as she got up and went around the desk, the letter all but forgotten. “Let me guess, Jax had something to do with it?” She did not waste any time to pull Luna into a heartfelt hug.
“Should… should I come back later?” Moondancer asked from the side-line, clearly uncomfortable.
“Oh… I do not know how much Jax had to do with it. I thought about it while  searching for him in the Everfree, and decided that it was the right thing to do….” She left out what kind of thoughts had led her to that conclusion. “It cannot hurt to give it a chance.” She added with a slight smile.
“No. No it can’t.” Celestia let go of her, and went back to her seat. “I keep being amazed at the changes he brings out in you. I have never been happier that he landed in our dimension….” She finally opened the letter and smiled joyously a moment after. “Oh Jax…”
Luna curiously took the letter from her. Unlike her own letter, it as neatly as Jax’ could write, with a constant black ink. This was then undermined by the drawing that served as a background, sometimes even making it hard to discern the letters. In one corner was a sun, in the other her moon, or at least she assumed it was her moon. On a green field different ponies were… well they seemed to be partying. It was clear that different ponies had helped draw it, since some of the ponies looked mostly like stick figures, and others looked fairly decent, or at least not as bad. One of the stick ponies seemed to be the dj, and the rest either danced, drank, or enjoyed some game. Over it all, Rainbow Dash left her rainbow trail.

Dear Celestia

I would like to inform you that I have apologized for my outburst last night to most of the present ponies.
I would like to extend that apology to you. You, like all the other ponies there, did not deserve to see me lose it like that, and you personally didn’t warrant the focus of my wrath.
I’m sorry. I have an abundance of excuses, but I think I’ll save them. I think you understand in any case, that I wasn’t at my best.

Kind regards
Your sister’s boy-toy

Luna could not help but smile while she shook her head. He just could not resist the allure of a joke, could he? Despite the words being misleading, as far as she knew, she could not help but finding it endearing.
“He is not my… boy-toy.” She made sure to clear up, but looking at Celestia’s mischievous smile, that might have been a mistake. 
“Oh? I don’t mind if he is, dear sister of mine, as long as you use the advice I gave you-“
A shiver ran through her body as she grabbed a confused Moondancer and made it out of the study in a dash. It was bad enough she could not look at bananas the same way again, she did not need another demonstration. It was better to disappear before Celestia had any weird ideas. At least she had confirmed Luna’s understanding of the word ‘boy-toy.’ 
Now… why had she decided to go with train instead of using her very own chariot that she almost never used? Ah… well last time had been fine. Maybe this time would be as well.
***
Jax finally made it back to the tree-castle of friendship, walking the walk of a triumphant man, greeting everyone on his path with a large smile, wave, and greeting. It was amazing how his mood had improved from wrestling over a letter with his own guards. He had been victorious, and that was all that mattered. Beside him Rainbow seemed to share his sentiment and good mood, and Pinkie was of course always in a good mood as far as he knew. Behind him, his guards walked the walk of shame, as they should. Trying to keep that perfectly fine letter out of Celestia’s hooves… shame on them!
“Hey Derpy! Be careful with that mailbox!” He cheerfully greeted a gray Pegasus that looked like she was stuffing a bit too many letters in there. “Hey Lyra and Bon Bon! We should hang out more!” They waved back with slightly confused smiles. “Hello mares that sell flowers! I might just buy some of those later!” The mares by the flower stand who’s names escaped him at the moment, but was probably something flower related, looked at each other and then back at him in a kind of ‘wtf is going on’ kind of way, which was amusing and only helped to better his mood.
Inside of him Sombra groaned as he entered the crystal establishment. ‘You were three on two, there is hardly any reason to be this proud over your small victory.’
‘Don’t be jealous just because you’ve experienced nothing but loses since… I guess since you somehow managed to become king. How did that happen again?’ He inquired with a light ‘tone’ despite his growing curiosity.
Sombra only snorted in reply, probably offended or something. Rude, but much easier to deal with than the mess he started as, or after he apparently got out of his negative magic high where he pretended to be Jax in order to make him doubt himself and keeping him up. This was so much better than being kept up at night and not knowing whether your thoughts were your own… ‘How come you can hear my thoughts all the time but I can’t hear yours except when you… speak?’ The question entered his mind out of nowhere, but now that it was at the forefront of his mind it did seem like it was true. Sombra seemed to pick up on things he was thinking about even when he wasn’t trying to ‘speak,’ while he himself only heard Sombra when he wanted to be heard. Then there was the whole ‘giving memories without using magic’ thing, which was just weird. At least he assumed that his body still reacted badly to magic, even when cast from inside of him.
He walked inside the numerous crystal halls while thinking. He didn’t think Sombra was going to answer but then: ‘Information is precious. It has a price.’
‘Uuh… interesting. What do you want?’ He couldn’t help but be intrigued while simultaneously being apprehensive.
‘I want a victory.’ He simply stated.
‘I am not killing any-‘ Jax started, already not liking where this was going.
‘I know that you weak-minded fool. I know how painfully ‘good’ you are. No, it does not have to be a big victory. It does not even have to hurt anypony. Just…’ his ‘voice’ faded out and didn’t return. Maybe he had trouble putting into words exactly what he wanted… but that victory remark Jax made must have hurt more than he realized.
He looked over at Pinkie. He looked over at Rainbow. They both smiled back at him. A plan was forming in the back of his mind that would hopefully be good enough for Sombra.
He smiled excitedly.
***
His good mood faded somewhat as they kept walking around the halls and rooms, making way for anxiety. He didn’t actually think Twilight would have a problem forgiving him - he did forgive her for setting him on fire after all - but the longer they took to find her, the more nervous he became.
She wasn’t in the library, the throne room (or meeting room or whatever it was), random room 1-27, or any or the hallways they went through. This place was bigger than he thought it was. He didn’t seem to have these problems when he lived here.
They finally stumbled upon Spike in one of the rooms, trying to scare his mirror image. “Oh… uhm… hey guys. What’s up?” He asked, trying to play it off like he wasn’t just making faces.
“Hey Spike!” Pinkie burst out. “Where’s Twilight?”
“Oh, she’s in the kitchen. When I told her you were looking for her she hurried out and returned with a… actually, come see for yourselves.” He smiled as he jumped off the stool he had been standing on. Spike led them to the kitchens, where a familiar scent met Jax’ nose. ‘She didn’t…’ he thought in disbelief as he recognized it for what it was. 
As they entered the kitchen, he was proven right. Twilight looked very closely at a prepared fish cooking on a pan. She looked a bit green and… pained. His heart instantly went out to the purple alicorn.
“Can you guys give us some privacy?” His friends nodded and left, but the guards stayed. “Also you, Trusty and Shot.” He added, looking back at them.
They looked at each other in a silent conversation. In the end Trusty nodded and Shot saluted. They closed the door behind themselves.
“It’s almost done.” Twilight said from the stove. She used her magic to flip the fish.
He slowly walked over to her and put a hand on her head. “Twilight-“
“I heard…” she interrupted him, “that the best way to apologize is to show that you mean it.” She finally looked up at him. She had dark circles under her eyes. “I’m sorry… for saying those things. Please don’t leave for the Everfree.”
He was confused for a second before he remembered. ‘Maybe I’ll go back to the Everfree, where I can be the monster you won’t accept!’ He had foolishly said. As if he would ever willingly go back there if he had a choice.
“Shh you silly pony… come here.” He pulled her into a hug. He put the fish aside so it wouldn’t burn as well. “I was a bit upset, but I won’t be going anywhere. Don’t worry about it.” He started stroking her mane, hopefully calming the mare. “Listen, I can understand why you were upset with me eating meat. Things are different here, where everypony is a herbivore. And I’m glad that you are trying, but really Twilight, you don’t have to go so far for me when it makes you uncomfortable. Where did you get it from anyway?”
“I was going to catch it myself… but I couldn’t do it. So I got it from Fluttershy.” Her voice was low, but she wasn’t crying. He wasn’t sure what to do, so for a while they just sat there, with Twilight in his arms.
“I forgive you, if it wasn’t obvious. Thank you for the fish.” She pulled back, and he was happy to see a small smile on her muzzle. “And I would like to take the time to apologize as well. I said some stupid stuff back then… and then again last night. I’m sorry… I brought you a present though.” He took out a box and presented it to her. She seemed to recognize it immediately.
“I already have five of those Jax.” She smiled at him.
“Yes, alright, should have foreseen that. But this one is special because you got it from me as a sign of our continued friendship.” He was feeling a bit corny but… Ah well. She accepted the pen with a smile.
“Thank you.”
With that they shared one last hug. “Hey can you summon Discord while I eat this?” He asked with a smile. Things were going to go crazy now that he was finally done with all the apologizing.