Lunar Landing

by 8r0ny

Roommate Roulette

“O hey S-... you.” I said, stopping myself before I said Sombra over the magical loudspeaker. I walked inside before continuing. “What’s up?”

“Well, to cover all my bases I was going to ask for my magic back.” He said. “And if you refuse to give it to me then my next step would be to beg forgiveness from Luna and Celestia under the preface that the dark magic corrupted my mind.”

“Well no on the first account.” I said. “But the second one sounds good. I can tell that this power has a bit of a mind of its own. How long did it take before it consumed you?”

“As soon as I tried necromancy.” Sombra said simply. “It’s a pretty taboo art, and requires lots of power. When I tried, I was overcome with evil.”

“Good to know, avoid that particular path.” I said. “What brought you to try such a thing?”

“I lost my beloved to an unknown illness.” He said with far less emotions than I thought he should have. “I tried to revive her, but once I opened that path, there was no going back.”

“Sorry to hear that.” I said truthfully. “Would you like a hug?”

“No.” He deadpanned. “I would very much not. I would however like to offer you some knowledge about the power you now possess. The non-dark magic parts are that of the Crystal Empire. I got them when I was crowned King, legitimately.”

“Interesting.” I said as I magicked Luna and Ling onto a sofa in the room. “Wait, does that make me the new king?”

“You’re a quick one despite your looks.” He said. “Yes, it seems you are the new king. I’m not even sure you could deny or transfer that if you wanted to. While you got them illegitimately, you proved yourself by not only freeing me from dark influences, but also brought back the Crystal Empire.”

“Ok, but who decides if I am king or not?” I asked. “Are you passing the baton so to speak?”

“O no, I have no power here.” He said shaking his head. “The empire itself has a will. It decided that you are worthy. And once those ponies down there stop freaking out, they will realize it as well.”

“Well, can’t say I expected that.” I said scratching my head. “So I didn't fight you personally, but some crazy dark magic taking your form?”

“Something like that.” Sombra said. “When I cursed the city, it denounced me as ruler and stripped me of my power. I was then nothing more than a citizen and thus fell to my own curse. The dark magics I held decided I was worthless at that point and stripped me of most of the rest of my magic before absconding.”

“This is some crazy shit going down right now.” I said sitting on the floor. “So, since I obviously don’t have all the answers I thought I did, can you fill me in on a few things?”

“While I would, there is too much.” He said. “It seems you are aware of how to enter another's conscious. I give you permission to enter mine and learn everything you want to know. I just ask you stay out of one area, you’ll know what one it is.”

“Alright, I guess I can do that.” I said, readying the spell I used before. “Here goes nothing.”

And with that I cast the spell for the second time today. Much like his darker side, Sombra's mindscape was also one of the Crystal Castle. But brighter and less statues of him. I then cast the second spell that all but stopped time so I didn’t have to worry about the outside world. The reason I didn’t outright stop time was twofold. One, it tended to attract the attention of beings way beyond comprehension. And I don’t mean Discord either, I’m talking legit, godlike, infinite beings. Not gonna go there. And two, it took a buttload of power, more than I had. I wouldn’t be surprised if even Twilight or Tia were underpowered.

Anywho, back to exploring the castle again. It was the same layout so I obviously went to the library. This time however I found a restricted section.

“Well, I guess that answers that.” I said turning away. “Sombra can keep his secrets, I owe him that much.”

And without further delay, I went to work studying. I started with the magic section, hoping to find something that would help me glean information. Magic was new to me after all and to be honest I’m not even sure how it works for me. About three hours in, I found what I was hoping for, a spell that let you basically speed read a book. Using that spell, it was about four books and a minute later I found another spell to add. This spell boiled down information magically. I could cast it on a book and it would make a copy of said book but shorter. It could cut a book in half or more without losing any of the finer details. Between the two spells I scoured through the library, committing everything to memory.

“Some of these books are exact copies, and the originals lost to time.” I commented to myself. “Transcribing them would be easy enough but there is a limit to my memory.”

“Might I suggest something?” Sombra said, exiting the restricted section. “I see you’ve scoured the entire magic section. No doubt you saw the spells for pocket dimensions, memory transcriptions, and you’re already using the time spell.”

“Yes, but to do that I would have to dive in and out of your conscious at least twenty times. I said. “And I didn’t want to do that for fear of ill effects.”

“Yes, I’d like to avoid that.” He said. “However if you put all of the information into one book, using an alteration on the pocket dimension spell, you could give physical form to it with...well I won’t lie and say little effort, you may pass out. However, you would be able to create your own tome of all information.”

“Interesting thought.” I said as I already started creating my personalized tome. “I imagine pulling this from my own mindscape would make it easier.”

“Indeed it would.” He said. “That however requires you to merge yours with mine. And I’d understand if you were hesitant to do...you just did didn’t you.”

“Yes.” I said.

“Do you have any self preservation skills?” He asked, actually a little flustered. That's the most emotion I’ve seen out of him yet. “You realize I can waltz on in and look around your memory like you are mine right?”

“I’m aware.” I said as I continued archiving his knowledge into the book I was going to make physical. “But I doubt you could actually access it. I know how a library works, but I doubt you know how a computer works. And that’s how I stored all my knowledge and memories.”

“And here I thought the reason was because you trusted me or something equally sappy.” He said sighing. “Well, rest assured regardless, I will respect your boundaries.”

“So back to this tome, I’m only making it with this modified pocket dimension because if not I would have a room full of books right?” I asked, forgoing the condensing spell on the next batch of books. They needed to be copied word for word.

“Partially correct.” He said. “This spell reuses physical matter. To put it simply the tome is always a set number of pages, you just change what pages are displayed at will.”

“So it could be blank until I pick it up and change the pages?” I asked. This could be useful for a memory dump later.

“If that's what you wanted yes.” He said. “I came across a few wizards books that seemed ordinary spell books. But if you knew what to look for you could shift the pages and find another book entirely. Turns out Starswirl liked to write smut.”

“Noted.” I said, not sure who he was, but I can take context clues. “I have a lot of information running around in my head from another world. If anything happened to me I wanted to leave something behind for others, or at least Luna.”

“Sure.” He said.

“Well, I’ve gotten everything I can from here.” I said finishing up the tome. “I have the knowledge but not the practice, walk me through the spell if you would.”

“First you need to get that book into your mindscape.” He instructed. “For me it’s as easy as placing it on the shelf. For you and your ‘computer’ on the other hand…”

“I got it.” I said, turning the tome into an external hard drive. I plugged it in and it uploaded instantly. Nice. “It’s in. Now what?”

“Once it's in your mindscape, you need to create the physical book it will occupy.” He said. “Creating matter is taxing so it’s best to make a tome the size you want but only a few pages. You can always add pages to it later but they have to be fabricated by your magic to be usable.”

“Well, I can do that.” I said hesitantly. “But I won’t be able to hold the time spell any more. Or the mindscape for that matter. So give me the rest of the steps IRL.”

“What is IRL?” Sombra asked.

“In real life.” I replied. “Is the rest of the process taxing?”

“Ahh.” He said. “No, the rest could be done by a foal if they had a book as receptive to their magic as you will. The reason you are fabricating the book is so it will link to your mana. You will be able to do things with this book with very little effort that would take a monumental amount of mana on anything else.”

“Interesting.” I said, cutting the spells and exiting the mindscape. “Well here goes nothing.” I said ‘IRL’

To describe the experience of giving shape to matter I would say...ouch. It was really cool, and the process itself wasn't bad, but damn did it drain magic. It crossed my mind that I could make a magic laptop to contain all this information...but the idea of having a magic book like some sort of wizard did appeal to me. As such, my book looked super wizardy. Depressingly thin, maybe fifty pages, but wizady all the same.

“O my balls am I tired.” I said, luckily already sitting on the floor. “My head hurts.”

“Not bad for your first time.” Sombra said looking at the book that now laid on the floor. “Quite an intricate design you have there. Any reason for that?”

“I'm a wizard Harry.” I said.

“You’re a what?” He asked, unknowingly playing into my plot.

“A wizard Harry!” I said more enthusiastically.

“Sure, a wizard.” He said, quite confused. “And quit calling me Harry.”

“To be fair you are covered in fur.” I argued. “Sooo…”

“Anyways, now that you created this book, cast the modified pocket dimension spell on it and then you can transcribe the book in your mindscape into this one.” He instructed. “Then what you do with it is up to you.”

“Neat.” I said. “I don’t really feel up to it right now though.”

“I'm sure you can do it.” He said. “Like I said before, making changes to this will be quite easy. It’s not just liked to your mana, it IS your mana. Just given physical form.”

“If you’re sure.” I said, casting the first spell onto my tome. “O wow, that was significantly easier than I imagined.”

“See, I’m more than just a pretty face.” He said, still monotone so kinda weird, but at least he had some sense of humor. “Now the other one.”

The second spell took even less power than the previous, but it was mentally taxing. Perks of my PC style mindscape, I cut and pasted most of the information. Meaning I didn’t have any recollection of the books I had previously memorized. I kept most of the magical theory books and spells I could perform handy, but a lot of the stuff was old literature lost to time. I don’t have a use for five hundred pages of pony Shakespeare poems.

“Alright, all done.” I said shaking my head and standing up. “I’m gonna go cuddle a princess for a little.”

“Sure, take a break.” Sombra said. “The ponies outside are still panicking but they can only do so much damage.”

“Fuck em.” I said, using Luna as a pillow and holding Ling like a teddy bear. “I just did a buttload of magic. And they won’t calm down till Luna wakes up anyhow.”

“Maybe I should say a few words.” He said. “Apologize and such.”

“While I appreciate what you’re trying to do, no.” I said not opening my eyes. “They did manage to catch one crystal building on fire, you would surely make it worse.”

“O my, it seems we have company.” Sombra said as I felt something cold and sharp against my neck. “You are quite a popular one I see.”

“I’m assuming that's a blade of some sort against my neck.” I said, still with my eyes closed. “And judging by the silence of the wielder I would guess it's a trained Thestral guard.”

“An astute observation.” A female voice replied. “Now care to explain why our princess has gone missing, only to find you, some strange creature, thousands of miles away using her unconscious form as a pillow while the city is rioting? Not to mention you’re cuddling a changeling, also unconscious, and having a conversation with King Sombra, who is surprisingly not only conscious but also alive.”

“Well when you word it like that I suppose it does sound rather bad.” I said finally looking to my assaulter. And damn was she pretty… Dark grey fur, black mane, and as a techie, that's uniform. And her eyes were a brilliant green. “But I assure you it's just as bad as it looks, just not for the same reasons.”

“I can’t believe I’m asking Sombra of all ponies this question.” She said, not turning away or taking the blade attached to her wing from my neck. “But is he always like this?”

“I wouldn't know.” He replied. “I just met him myself, after he stripped me of my powers and crown.”

“This is also true.” I said pushing the blade away with a finger, cutting it in the process. Damn was it sharp. “But with context I’m less evil, but more...what's the word.”

“A plot hole.” Sombra added in helpfully.

“I’m so done with you.” I said sighing. “Look...lady, I was just minding my own business when Sombra's ghost attacked me. I absorbed its power and released the Crystal Empire from it's thousand year nap and teleported over here with Luna and Ling in tow. They passed out from the teleport and then I met Sombra where we swapped some knowledge and then you showed up.”

“You forgot your speech that sent everyone into a panic.” Sombra added.

“No, I glossed over the unimportant bits.” I said waving my hand at him dismissively. “We’d be here all day if I tried to retell it point by point. Especially with those time spells and stuff.”

“You can use time spells?” The guard asked surprised. “Aren’t those alicorn level spells?”

“Yes, but just because it’s alicorn level doesn't mean a powerful mage, or somepony attuned to that type of magic, can’t cast them.” Sombra explained. “Shawn here...well I’m not sure what category he falls under.”

“Don’t look at me.” I said as she turned back to me for answers. “I didn’t have magic until a week ago...wait no, it was an hour ago. Time is a little messed up for me at the moment.”

“Actually I believe my wayward magic had attached itself to you the moment you crossed dimensions.” Sombra clarified. “It just had to wait for a good time to present itself to be most enticing.”

“How would you know that?” I asked, curious. “You said you didn’t have control over your power.”

“I didn’t.” He said. “But it was a large part of me, so when it left I always knew where it was. I knew it was only a matter of time before the Empire returned. It was just a question if you would be evil or not. Jury is still out on that one.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I said. “Not for me, I don’t give a shit what you think, but miss batty here is still eyeing me up like a piece of meat.”

“I’m am doing no such thing!” She said suddenly, sounding slightly flustered.

“Hmm, to quick to defend.” I said smiling as I turned to her. “Classic.”

“I’m assessing if you’re a threat or not.” She defended. “And that's it, no other reasons. And keeping the Princess safe until she wakes up.”

“That's what I assumed.” I said smiling wider. “Are you insinuating I would suspect you of something else? You’re just digging the hole deeper love.”

“I think he’s evil.” She said looking to Sombra. “And you’re no saint either.”

“I plan to atone for my actions.” He said simply. “Simply making conversation with Shawn here until the Princess awakens.”

“O, well if that's the case.” I said snapping my fingers, and also subtly casting a spell to rustle Luna's consciousness, thus making her more aware that she is unconscious, thus thus waking her up. “Luna these people want you.”

“Oh my head.” Luna said sitting up and rubbing her head. “What happened?”

“That is a long story that isn’t really important right now.” I said helping her stand and steady herself. “You need to calm the Crystal Empire down, talk with your guard, and deal with Sombra. The order of those things IS important.”

“I desperately want to question that line of reasoning.” Luna replied, eyeing the rioting city, then Sombra, then her guard. “But you seem to be right more often than not, so I’ll go with your assessment this time.”

“Pro strats.” I said pushing her towards the balcony. “Don’t use your Canterlot voice, there is a spell in place already to amplify your voice and I don’t want to give Equestria tinnitus.”

She was about to reply before I made a motion to let her know she was already in range to be picked up by the spell. No need to repeat my mistake after all.

“Greetings citizens of the Crystal Empire!” She said, comically halting all motion. “First off I would like to welcome you all back. You may not have been aware of it, but you have been imprisoned in time for over a thousand years.”

There was a general muttering of confusion and fear. Luna let them murmur a bit before raising a hoof and silencing them again.

“To ease your fears Sombra has been defeated and Equestria will be here to help you get back on your hooves again.” She said, obviously totally unprepared for this speech. More apparent because of what she said next. “And now I give you the hero that defeated Sombra, Shawn!”

With that she walked off and pushed me back onto the accursed balcony. Before walking straight over to Sombra, not taking my advice on her guard. O well, her speech seemed to ease the thestral a little bit.

“Hello again.” I said looking over the more organized crystal ponies. “First off, sorry for my previous introduction sending you into a tizzy. It was just as much of a surprise for me as it was for you. Secondly, can somepony please put that building out, crystals shouldn't be flammable.”

There were a few ponies that jumped into action and grabbed water to put out the fire. I guessed they were trained firefighters by their motions and skills, but it was pure speculation.

“Thanks. Now, like Luna said, my name is Shawn.” I said, deciding honesty was the best option here. “I am apparently your new king, that being said I don’t plan on taking up that position unless requested.”

As I thought, that brought about a lot of mumbling. I did not however expect Luna to pull me away with her magic.

“Uhh, be right back.” I said waving to the audience as I was pulled from the balcony. “Was it something I said?” I asked Luna.

“Yes!” She said exasperated. “What is this business of being King?”

“Well when I got Sombras powers and brought back the empire, the Crystal Empire decided I was a good candidate to fill the now empty throne.”

“You didn’t mention that.” Luna said, turning an icy glare towards Sombra.

“Well he hardly gave me time to.” Sombra defended. “I have a lot to summarize and frankly my life comes before his story.”

“He’s got a point there.” I said to Luna. “He is kinda currently pleading for his life and forgiveness.”

“Well, if not his fault, the blame falls to you.” Luna said, turning her icy gaze towards me. “What in the name of my dear sister do you think you’re doing telling everyone that?”

“Well Princess.” I said emphasizing her title. “You didn’t exactly give me a lot of time to think of a nice speech. And you can ask Ling...whenever she wakes up, that my default is brutal honesty.”

“It’s true.” Ling said stretching and rolling over, but not getting up from the bench. “His words match his emotions, so he’s either telling it like it is or really really good at lying.”

“And emotion eating ponies are bat-shit crazy...no offense.” I said, turning to the Thestral for the last part.

“Why would I be offended?” She said confused, and adorable tilting her head.

“Because...you know what never mind.” I said shaking my head.

“No, I want to know!” She interrupted. “What did you say that I missed!”

“Bat-shit, and you’re thestral, bat like ponies.” I explained, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I never thought I’d have to explain that. So anyhow-”

“What’s a bat?” She interrupted again.

“Really?” I asked, a little surprised. “You’ve never seen a bat?”

“Nor heard of one.” She clarified.

“Ok...uhh, how to explain bat.” I said tapping my chin. “Take a thestral, but remove pony, substitute puppy, and make it smol.”

“...” She replied.

“I know it’s not the best but I think it’s accurate.” I said looking to Luna. “Any input?”

“No, that will do just fine.” She said, obviously wanting to get back to the previous conversation.

“I WANT A PET BAT!” The thestral all but screeched out. “O my Celestia as soon as I get back to Canterlot I’m going to get a pet bat and I will love him, and squeeze him, and name him George!”

“Wait what?” I said, extremely confused now. “Where did you hear that?”

“I snagged your book while you were talking to the crowd.” She said pointing to the tome on the floor. “That's one of the things I read...thought it was funny.”

“I don’t remember writing that.” I said scratching my head. “Or setting this down...or a lot really. What kind of crazy pony are you?”

“One that can pick inter-dimensional pockets.” She said wiggling her ears and smiling proudly. “Luna ditched me and went to Sombra, so I decided to do some digging myself to decide if you were trustworthy or not.”

“This is past tense, so I assume you came to a conclusion.” I said a little nervously. Sure she was cute, but also deadly.

“Yup, you’re good.” She said smiling. “My name is Night Sonnet Fleet Wing. It’s a long name with a long backstory, but my friends just call me NSFW.”

“Bwahahahahaha!” I fell to the floor laughing. Literally ROFLing. “NSFW, hahaha!”

“What’s so funny?” NSFW asked. “It’s what they call me! It’s rude to laugh at ponies names.”

“Ok, I’m ok.” I said getting my laughing under control. “So they call you that. Giggle Well where I come from giggle it stands for ‘Not Safe For Work. giggle”

“O come on!” She said throwing her hooves up and sitting harshly. “They did that on purpose, didn't they!”

“I can only imagine.” I said, finally controlling my errant giggles. “I think I’ll call you Night Song. That ok with you?”

“Yah, whatever.” She said, now angry with a lot of ponies. “I’m gonna have a lot to do when I get back.”

Luna, who had been talking with Sombra this whole time finally took a break from grilling him, almost literally. To which he looked exceedingly relieved for.

“Speaking of things to do, I believe you live alone in a large house at the moment?” Luna asked, going somewhere with this, but no one seemed to know.

“Yea.” Night Song said dejectedly. “My roommates left when they graduated from guard training. So I have like four empty rooms to fill. Why?”

“Well, I seem to have three ponies right here that will need a place to stay.” Luna said, sweeping a hoof at Ling, Sombra, and I. “The crown will reimburse you of course, along with paying their side of the rent and utilities.”

“You want me to room with him!?” Song said pointing to me.

“Hol up!” I said. “Out of Sombra, and evil pony that overthrew the Crystal Empire, a Changeling, one of the kind that invaded the Capitol not to long ago and an eater of emotions, and me...you have the biggest issue with me?”

“You are from another dimension after all.” Sombra said. “And Luna has deemed me ‘reformed’. So I’m just another pony now.”

“You trying to pawn me off onto others now?” I said to Luna. “I seem to remember coming here with you after all.”

“I seem to have a lot to do all of the sudden.” She deadpanned. “Now, I have an empire to fill in, so if you all would like to go back to Canterlot and stay with Night Song for a little, I’ll be by later.”

“If you say so.” I said, walking over and hoisting Ling up and throwing her over my shoulder. “You two come over here, it’s time for another long distance teleport.”

“Are you sure you have the magic to do that?” Sombra asked. “Getting here was easy because of the circle my magic was linked to. The way back will take more energy.”

“I’m feeling pretty good.” I said. “I can’t really say for sure, being so new at this, but I think my magic reserves are a little over three quarters full.”

“The castle is probably feeding you magic to help you recover.” Sombra said. “It really does seem to like you.”

“Ok, Song, I need you to think of your house from an aerial view so I can grasp it’s location.” I said casting a spell that would transfer freely given thoughts from mind to mind. “Ok, got it, now a view of the biggest room inside the house, the more detail the better. As well as the location inside the house.”

She did so and I got a pretty good idea of where to put us to avoid destroying anything. And also putting us inside helped us not raise alarm that our group would likely bring. I did some flipping through my tome to look at all the teleportation spells and others that would benefit us. Then, taking bits of spell runes from some and pieces from others, I arranged a new spell that should take me to where I want to go.

“Sombra, this all look right to you?” I said, displaying the new spell with my mana. “It’s my first spell so I figured I’d let someone else look it over.”

“You...made a new spell?” She said a little surprised. That was the most emotion I’ve heard from him this whole time. “It...looks fine. I think Luna would be better to ask about a new spell though.”

“She’s busy.” I said looking to the balcony to see Luna talking with the crowd. “Hmm, guess I’ll test it and come back to get you if it works out.”

“That isn’t the best-” Sombra said as I teleported away. “-idea. Well, I guess we’ll see if he survived.”

“It’s fine.” I said from behind him. “I was a little off and landed on your coffee table, but not bad for a three thousand mile teleport.”

“When did you...how did you?” Song said tilting her head. “And you took Ling with you.”

“Yah, I dropped her off at your place.” I said. “Forgot I had her, she was unconscious again when we got there so I dropped her on the couch.”

“Why is it that whenever you teleport ponies they end up unconscious?” Song said. “Not sure I want to now.”

“You’re free to take the train.” I said walking over to Sombra and putting my hand on his back. “But we’ll be at your house.”

“Ok, fine.” She said walking over so I could put my hand on her back as well. “But I better wake up in my bed.”

“Can do.” I said. “By Luna!”

Luna glanced over her shoulder and nodded before going back to her speech. With her informed that we were leaving I fired up my new spell again. Making minor adjustments so we didn’t land on the already broken coffee table.

“And away we go!” I said, flinging us across Equestria.

Not a second later I arrived in the center of Songs living room. Song was a limp noodle but Sombra was holding on...barely.

“You need to...work on that.” He said before falling to the ground.

With no one to talk with, I decided to fulfill my promise and take Song to bed. I threw her over my shoulder much like I did Ling and started exploring. Avoiding as many windows as possible, I looked in the rooms one by one. And, obviously, hers was the last one I looked in. It was at the end of the hall on the second floor, and the only room with any sort of furniture in it.

After laying her down, and tucking her in, I made my way back downstairs to put Sombra somewhere other than the floor. Not that there were too many options, Song’s house was depressingly barren. I didn’t dare look into the cabinets in fear I would only find one set of dishes.

That could come later though. First I flopped Sombra into a recliner, that happened to be the only other piece of furniture in the living room. For those of you keeping track at home, that's one sofa, one recliner, and one broken coffee table. Speaking of which, I went to work of repairing it.

“Stupid coffee table.” I said to myself. “Couldn’t even take the weight of Ling and I from a little fall of like four feet. Who made this, pony IKEA?”

Done talking with myself, I assessed the damage. It was honestly pretty bad. Normally I would call it bust and buy a new one. But now, with my fancy magic, and nothing better to do, I decided I could fix it. Surely one of the spells in my book could help. Why I didn’t keep a repair spell handy was a mystery to me. It seems so obvious that I’d need it with the kind of ponies I attract and the situations I seem to get into.

I grabbed my tome out of...well the air, and started flipping through it. I really needed to add a search function to this thing. There was an index to tell me where spells started but after that it was just a lot of flipping pages. Eventually I found the spell I was looking for and committed it to memory.

“Let's get you fixed up before some-bat sees.” I said, casting the spell on the table. It undramatically morphed back into what I assumed was the correct shape. I assume because the first time I saw it was after rolling off of it.

“Well. I expected more flashes and lights.” I said thumping the table to test its sturdiness. “But I guess it’s not all magic is like that.”

It was about this time my body finally decided to remind me I haven't eaten in over a day. It’s usually pretty chill about eating, or the lack thereof, but after a day or so it decided that it had enough. Long story short, I was hit with a wave of dizziness, my head started to hurt, and my hands started to shake.

“Shit, I need to eat.” I said stumbling towards the kitchen. “Sorry Song, but I’m raiding your pantry.”

I stumbled into the kitchen and opened the door that was most likely the pantry. I was greeted with a fenced in backyard.

“Shit, that's not it.” I said quickly closing the door.

Opening another door, slowly this time, I was rewarded with what I sought. However, it was worse than expected. Nothing but the pony equivalent of military rations stocked her pantry.

“Song, you poor poor mare.” I said deciding to check the fridge next.

Fridge contents included; beer, some condiment packages, and some leftover fast food from three weeks ago judging by the receipt.

“Who lives like this?” I asked the fridge, throwing my hands in the air. “I need somepony to wake up so they can get me some ingredients to cook with.”

Or so I thought, before my body emphasized how long it's been since I ate. In other words, I passed out for a few seconds. One moment I’m exasperated and the next I’m on the floor and my head hurts even more so than before.

“Military rations it is.” I said, crawling over to the pantry and grabbing a vacuum sealed meal. “Pasta with red sauce. Prepares in under three minutes. Sounds good to me.”

I went to work ‘cooking’ the impromptu meal. Meaning I added the contents of two packets and some hot water into a bowl and put it in the microwave. Then I ate it as fast as I could. One to get my energy stores back up, and two because it tasted like ass. I then downed the oatmeal bar and mixed up and drank the ‘orange’ drink.

“Now I’ll lay down for a bit till my body processes that I ate.” I said making my way back to the living room. “Then I’m waking Ling up and sending her to the store.”

Plans made, I laid on the couch, holding Ling. Sure beats the floor. As I patiently waited, I drifted off to sleep.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!